How to Effectively Remove Beerstone Buildup with Controlled Rotational Cleaning Devices
In every brewery’s aging tanks, serving tanks, and kegs, there’s a lurking enemy that can have devastating consequences for beer. This enemy is beerstone buildup. As anyone in the brewing industry knows, beerstone is incredibly difficult to remove, especially if it has been accumulating for a long period of time. If beerstone is not completely removed from the tank during cleaning, disaster can ensue for the final beer product. Thankfully, with the help of rotational cleaning devices, you can ensure that your tanks become beerstone buildup free during the cleaning process.
The Basics of Beerstone Buildup
Before diving into the details of rotational cleaning devices, it’s crucial to understand why beerstone is so important to remove from your brewery tanks and kegs. Let’s begin by exploring the basics of beerstone buildup and how it can affect your industry.
How Does Beerstone Affect Beer?
Beerstone is a bothersome scale that forms in tanks, creating an unsanitary surface that harbors microorganisms. At the minimum, beerstone can shorten the shelf life of beer and create “off” tasting flavors. At the worst, the microorganisms harbored by beerstone can completely ruin the batch of beer, costing your brewery valuable time and resources to replace. To avoid these potentially dire consequences, it’s important to make sure that your tanks are properly cleaned. Unfortunately, beerstone buildup is a resilient substance that is not easily removed once formed.
Why Is Beerstone Buildup Difficult to Remove?
In the brewing industry, the chemical reaction between alkaline cleaners, hard water minerals, and proteins creates a new solid of calcium oxalate. This new solid, also known as a precipitate, is what forms the beerstone buildup scale.
Unlike other types of inorganic scale deposits, such as hard water scale, beerstone contains carbon in the form of protein. This protein acts as a “binder,” making beerstone a very stubborn substance. Caustic solutions can adequately remove protein-based deposits; however, an additional problem arises when you consider the reaction of a caustic with the other components of beerstone.
As the name calcium oxalate suggests, beerstone also contains calcium. Inadequately formulated caustic cleaners can actually precipitate calcium, only aggravating the problem of buildup. One answer, of course, is to use a non-caustic cleaning solution. However, when dealing with such a resilient type of scale, non-caustic cleaning solution alone is not the answer. You will also need the help of a proper cleaning nozzle to achieve optimal results.
Removing Beerstone Buildup with Controlled Rotational Cleaning Devices
Not all cleaning nozzles were created equal. Each type of nozzle was designed with a specific purpose. With this in mind, make sure your brewery tank cleaning procedure includes the proper cleaning nozzles for your specific application. For brewing industry related needs, including the troublesome beerstone buildup problem, rotational cleaning devices are the ideal option.
Controlled rotation nozzles utilize an internal turbine wheel and are driven by fluid. The slower rotation of these nozzles provides higher impact and fuller spray coverage, which is crucial for removing difficult scale buildup like beerstone. Even at higher pressures, controlled rotation nozzles maintain the proper speed. These features make rotational cleaning devices the best contender to fight beerstone buildup.
Tank Cleaning Solutions for Your Brewery
Beerstone buildup cannot be left unchecked. If your brewery tanks are not equipped with the proper rotational cleaning devices, it’s not too late to make a change. Lechler can help protect your brew with a range of controlled rotation nozzles. Contact us today to learn how you can tackle your beerstone buildup problem with rotational cleaning devices!