Cleaning in place - pumps, tubing, hoselocks etc

[lancsSteve]

What's the best bets for cleaning gear in place? I have my new setup all ready to go but not sure how I'll clean it all up.

My first thought and design is to take the outflow from the cooling immersion chiller/s into the HLT and then add cleaning solution to that warm water and use a mix of gravity, pumping, tap water with hose attachment ec. to clwean stuff out.

Suggestions on best things to use (soda crystals? Oxy? Acid?) and avoid (bleach presumably given the stainless kegs) and any tips and tricks on brushes for silicon tubing, cleaning hoselock disconnects etc et MOST welcomed!

I've been reading bits of http://www.beer-brewing.com/beer-brewin ... tation.htm and http://www.murphyandson.co.uk/BrewingAr ... eaning.htm

Really I'm after info on everyday terms/brand names and sources for cleaners
(e.g.:
Wilkinsons, soda crystals, job done... or
Boots, caustic soda, rinse well, don't spalsh, scrub a bit where necessary)

rather than chemical names and confusion!

More importantly though are the reasons for asking on a forum rather than reading in a book: practical tips and warnings from experience rather than industrial practice or schoolboy error.

[Martin G]

What did you end up doing and using?

[lancsSteve]

I add soda crystals into the run off from my immersion chiller (i.e. re-using the hot water) then pump that through everything and scrub out then rinse through with lots of water - seems to be OK so far... Rely on heat for pasteurisation e.g. recirculating boiling wort through pipes at end of boil for the recirtrculation over my chiller.

[Froggit]

I dont have experience with CIP in brewing but i do have experience in CIP in milk processing and we always used to finish with circulating a weak chlorine/water solution around the system and then drain down. Everything would then be left to let dry for the following day. This was common practice for all the kit.

[Kev888]

I tried CIP after upscaling, but unless you want massive quantities of chemical solutions you really need to spray it, and the spray helps agitate dirt off too. Unfortunately my lids weren't sealed enough to contain the sprays, and my improvised spray-ball/head wasn't that even either. So now i only fill/soak the FV and recirculate the same solution through my hoses at the same time (any pre-boil stuff I just clean roughly by hand and non-stick scrubby pad).

For the time I tried it though, soda crystals worked fairly well and PBW was better, things you can use hot seemed best. Then i'd rinse with cold water and finish off with saniclean. It worked extremely well but was all a bit costly..

I'm meaning to have a go with steam from a wallpaper stripper at some point - damp steam sounds promising for loostening stuff and I'd like not having large quantities of water and chemicals, but sadly my plastic conical isn't up to the temperatures.

Cheers
kev