Best way to remove beerstone/caustic residue in a sankey?

Hey all-

Tried a search, but couldn't find anything. I have an old sankey I plan on using as a fermenter. It had a bit of old beerstone on the sides and bottom, so I did an overnite strong PBW soak. Afterwords it had what appeared to be a caustic residue where the beerstone used to be. I took it to a friends brewery, tried an overnight Peracetic acid soak, still no luck.

Some folks recommended using CLR clear, but I'm not sure of the strength used or soak times. Anyone have any experience with CLR or recommendations on other methods to knock this crud off?

Thanks!

fd

*edit* It's just a sankey with the spear removed, in hindsight that might've helped to post.

clr full strength, soaked overnight (multiple bottles) did nothing for me. I had to use a stainless scrubbie to grind the crap off. I then used bar keepers friend.

BKF works pretty good for heavy deposits. To keep it from accumulating, I cut a lemon in 1/2 and rub the lemon after each brew. I haven't had to use BKF in a long time.

I'm pretty sure the BKF would knock that stuff off in a heartbeat (it does for my keggle or anything I can reach into). Crappy thing is that I can't get any leverage with anything I can get thru the small opening- it's just a sankey with the spear removed, with the intention of keeping that way for a fermenter.

Hey lowlife, did you do that to a fermenter or a keggle? If you did it for a fermenter, what was your method?

it was a keggle. I couldnt get the junk off to save my life. I tried soaking it in multiple gallons of vinegar (for about a week) to some degree of success. I kept scrubbing it with a dish washing green scrubbie. It took a lot off but the get the remainder I had to use a metal scrubbie. This particular keg was stubborn.

I was just researching this on probrewer, seems like acid treatments will loosen the scale, but it still need to be manually wiped/scrubbed. Now how the hell do I get in that tiny opening? grrr.

carboy brush??

Actually caustic is pretty good at getting beerstone off.

I use PBW.

I've had deposits left from PBW before. The key is to do a hot soak and not let it cool overnight. If the solution is still hot, a hot rinse should not leave residue.

I think I remember hearing a strong Starsan (acid) soak will help remove scale. If all else fails, I don't think it will hurt your beer. My scale went away after a few batches and I don't taste a difference. Now I make sure I always do hot PBW with a hot rinse.

BreWirfel said:

carboy brush??

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I tried that- can't seem to get enough leverage for a good scrub. I was talking to a friend last night- seems he went through the same thing - ended up modifying a broom handle to a 45º angle and attached a green scrubbie. Might have to try that.

fartingdog said:

I was just researching this on probrewer, seems like acid treatments will loosen the scale, but it still need to be manually wiped/scrubbed. Now how the hell do I get in that tiny opening? grrr.

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Marbles or ball bearings and a good amount of shaking.

I've had success with citric acid (a white crystalline powder, pretty harmless, in my humble opinion) - got it from Ebay, fairly inexpensive. Couple of big teaspoonfuls in half a gallon of water and let it soak as long as you can.

Still need to scrub it though.

Cheers

Update: I tried CLR but still ran into the scrubbing issue. I tried the carboy brush, but due to not have a thick bunch of bristles at the tip, I scratched the SS and rust appeared right after rinsing (a thickish BKF slurry couldn't even get it all).

I rigged the jet carboy washer to a garden hose, and that blasted a darn good chunk of the caustic residue off. Then I rigged up a contraption out of a curved bamboo trellis, with a scrubbie zip tied over a wadded rag in the end and went to town w/ a thick paste of BKF. That got about 99% of the residue off. There's a few small spots left, but the keg is going through a heavy duty caustic soak right now (figured not a bad idea after all that acid). I'll rinse it in a few hours followed by a light acid rinse. Figured I won't worry about those little spots if the caustic doesn't knock it off.

Thanks for all the tips, and everyone was right, scrubbing really seems to be the only way to get it off.

This is why I love the plastic bucket, and why, if I ever move to a large metal fermenter, it will have a large removable cover. Can't play that game of cleaning through a keyhole....

rico567 said:

This is why I love the plastic bucket, and why, if I ever move to a large metal fermenter, it will have a large removable cover. Can't play that game of cleaning through a keyhole....

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Oh, I have the plastic buckets as well, and love them. It's just that since I've moved to 10 gallon batches I've been dying to have a single fermenter per batch.

i have been trying to find out how best to remove beerstone too, and i can't remember where i read it but people were suggesting phosphoric acid. After spending 30 mins in Ace Hardware looking at ingredients i found Naval Jelly (Caution:Contains Phosphoric Acid!), does anyone have any idea how i should proceed from here? I was thinking i should fill up the keg with warm water and mix in X amount of Jelly but not sure how much . . . or i could always use it full strength

Here's a good article on removing Beerstone from Dana Johnson of Birko Corp.



Brewery Products - Removing Beerstone | Birko Corporation | 1.800.525.0476

The best way is to start with a clean vessel.

After every brew I do the following without using elbow grease.
1. Water rinse
2. PBW wash, circulating for 30-45 min at 100°-110° F (my pump heats the water).
3. Water rinse
4. Acid wash with Acid Cleaner No.5 circulating for 15-30 min., 1 oz per gallon, at 100°-110° F

Acid Cleaner No.5 contains: Nitric acid and Phosphoric acid

BENEFITS
Low Foam for CIP
Penetrates and Removes Scale, Protein & Beer Stone Rapidly
Passivates and Brightens Stainless Steel

DESCRIPTION as per Five Star Chemical
ACID CLEANER # 5 is a new blend of inorganic acids with a low foam detergent designed to
rapidly attack scale and stone to leave metal surfaces sparkling. It is ideally suited to perform
a variety of tough cleaning jobs in the Food and Beverage Industry. This special acid blend will
help remove the stubborn protein stain (blue rainbow) as well as food deposits like starch.
ACID CLEANER # 5's low foaming characteristic enhances cleaning action when applied by
circulation, spray or agitated soak cleaning. ACID CLEANER # 5 is especially formulated to
passivate and repassivate stainless steel.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB