Howdy!
Been on a bit of a 5 year hiatus in homebrewing. Life has been busy!
My first two brews this year had some wild issues because its been so long since I brewed! Still pretty good thankfully, that I can enjoy them though.
Getting back into the swing of things, I had some question about one of my last pieces of equipment to acquire. I bought a carbonation stone to use in my unitank fermenter. I got it at glacier tanks. The link to a similar product is: https://www.glaciertanks.com/tank-carbonation-stones-cbst-400.html. When I called to ask them how to clean, they referred me to the PDF online at the link I shared. I didn't really cover cleaning however.
So my question is, and I already called them to ask, how to clean? They referred me to their document. It tells you everything NOT to do, but does NOT address how to actually CLEAN the thing!
I've used it like two or three times so far. I installed some fittings so as to prevent wort from entering the stone in reverse while fermenting, and also to introduce O2 prior to pitching yeast, and also to carbonate after primary. This included a small SS shut off valve and short pipe nipples to connect to the stone. I think that the CO2 carbonation is a bit of a bad idea, because the only one time I tried it, the beer over foamed when I transferred to the keg, and left a lot of dead space, and still needed several days to carbonate to proper levels anyway - maybe I was doing it all wrong. I don't really know. Primarily will be used to introduce oxygen into the wort prior to pitching, and maybe later with some more experience, to carbonate in the unitank.
Main purpose for this thread is to ask, how do I clean the thing without damaging it?
It seems in good condition having used it about twice since I bought it in 2015 (like I said I have been on hiatus!)
After fermentation is complete I remove it without handling the porous part and rinse and spray rinse in the sink. Then I leave to dry. To Sanitize it, I took to work where I have access to an autoclave. Each time I've done this, which has been twice so far, the processing bag has leaked wort-like fluid from inside the stone into the bag even though I thought it had been thoroughly cleaned and dried. I suspect the autoclave process sanitizes even the unclean stone, but ideally would want both a fully sanitized AND clean stone!
Wondering if there are any folks here who know how to clean these suckers without damaging them! The PDF says don't soak overnight, particularly in plain water. I'm wondering about PBW though? I am also wondering about using a sump pump to reverse pump PBW water through the stone, but worry about too much pressure. Maybe could use CO2 in reverse first I blow dry the stone then soak for an hour and then repeat?
I'm really just grabbing at straws here and want to know the real way its done.
Thanks!
TD
Been on a bit of a 5 year hiatus in homebrewing. Life has been busy!
My first two brews this year had some wild issues because its been so long since I brewed! Still pretty good thankfully, that I can enjoy them though.
Getting back into the swing of things, I had some question about one of my last pieces of equipment to acquire. I bought a carbonation stone to use in my unitank fermenter. I got it at glacier tanks. The link to a similar product is: https://www.glaciertanks.com/tank-carbonation-stones-cbst-400.html. When I called to ask them how to clean, they referred me to the PDF online at the link I shared. I didn't really cover cleaning however.
So my question is, and I already called them to ask, how to clean? They referred me to their document. It tells you everything NOT to do, but does NOT address how to actually CLEAN the thing!
I've used it like two or three times so far. I installed some fittings so as to prevent wort from entering the stone in reverse while fermenting, and also to introduce O2 prior to pitching yeast, and also to carbonate after primary. This included a small SS shut off valve and short pipe nipples to connect to the stone. I think that the CO2 carbonation is a bit of a bad idea, because the only one time I tried it, the beer over foamed when I transferred to the keg, and left a lot of dead space, and still needed several days to carbonate to proper levels anyway - maybe I was doing it all wrong. I don't really know. Primarily will be used to introduce oxygen into the wort prior to pitching, and maybe later with some more experience, to carbonate in the unitank.
Main purpose for this thread is to ask, how do I clean the thing without damaging it?
It seems in good condition having used it about twice since I bought it in 2015 (like I said I have been on hiatus!)
After fermentation is complete I remove it without handling the porous part and rinse and spray rinse in the sink. Then I leave to dry. To Sanitize it, I took to work where I have access to an autoclave. Each time I've done this, which has been twice so far, the processing bag has leaked wort-like fluid from inside the stone into the bag even though I thought it had been thoroughly cleaned and dried. I suspect the autoclave process sanitizes even the unclean stone, but ideally would want both a fully sanitized AND clean stone!
Wondering if there are any folks here who know how to clean these suckers without damaging them! The PDF says don't soak overnight, particularly in plain water. I'm wondering about PBW though? I am also wondering about using a sump pump to reverse pump PBW water through the stone, but worry about too much pressure. Maybe could use CO2 in reverse first I blow dry the stone then soak for an hour and then repeat?
I'm really just grabbing at straws here and want to know the real way its done.
Thanks!
TD
