Measuring Sanitation

[wuertele]

Is there a way to measure the level of sanitation of a system of hard-plumbed tubing and components?

I'm sure the beverage or dairy industry must have some techniques for this. Maybe pass some solution through the system then analyze it for boogers?

Is there a standard measure for sanitary-ness? "The S-value after our cleaning process is less than one booger per square centimeter of equipment" or some such thing.

 

[Budzu]

Yes you could run a solution through the system (maybe wort) then culture and analyze it. Read up here and then decide whether its worth pursuing

Simple Tests for Identifying Bacteria
Make the following observations of any bacteria colonies before disturbing the colony with stain or other tests:
 odor (vinegary, rotten, sulfury, fruity)
 acid production (halo surrounding colony, with color change and/or clearing of medium)
 colony color, size, texture and shape.
Then determine the
 catalase and oxidase reactions
 gram reaction.
The gram stain takes advantage of certain differences in cell membrane properties of bacteria. All bacteria are
divided into two categories: gram-positive (takes on crystal violet stain and turns blue) and gram-negative (takes on
safranin stain and turns pink). Yeasts are gram-positive. Armed with all the above information, check Table of
Brewing Bacteria for bacteria’s identity.

http://www.brewingscience.com/PDF/BSI_brewers_lab_handbook.pdf

 

[Tom]

That is a great site.
Is this system pre-boil? If so you shouldn't worry because the boil will sanitize the wort. But you still want to keep it clean to prevent off-flavors.