Extreme Cleaning

[ghandlin]

I picked up a few Blichmann 20 gallon G1 kettles that were in a flood. I have torn them down and used a power washer to get the main gunk out. I've also ordered all new o rings from Blichmann directly.

My question is how should I go about giving these guys a really deep, extreme cleaning and sanitation?

 

[augiedoggy]

a super fine abrasive cleaner like bar keepers friend will take everything off the surface if thats your goal... I would think though that just soap and water followed by star san acid solution should remove any gunk from a flood? It wasnt baked on or anything.. got pics?

 

[ghandlin]

It was from this flood. To see just how bad it was, go to about 2:45.

 

[Atlmustang]

Wow! Man that's a nice setup. I'm sorry for the flood. Agree with the above post regarding barkeepers friend. Costs $3 at the store. They have a liquid and a powder based cleaner. I use the powder. It's kinda like comet, but for stainless steel. It really gets the gunk off.

Follow that with a star san bath and I'd say it'd be perfectly sanitized and cleaned for beer.

 

[augiedoggy]

still from the looks of it ... hose them off and wipe them down with a cleaner like oxyclean or pbw and then spray or soak them in starsan if your worried about sanitation.
Stainless is not a porous surface so it wont absorb the nasties into the surface requiring extra "deep" effort to get them clean.... I use to work in a restaurant and I can tell you on a normal give day when raw chicken is cutup on the stainless worktops there the surface is more dangerous than what you have there and we just cleaned them and sprayed an antibacterial cleaner on it to do so...
Also think about this... everything in those kettles will be boiled and sanitized that way as well so.... You can always boil water in them for extra piece of mind if it bothers you but its completely unnecessary.

I would dissassemble all the valves and clean and soak in starsan as well.

 

[ghandlin]

I wish I had taken a shot of the insides, but about the same as the worst outside. Thanx for all the comments guys!

 

[ghandlin]

Is this what you are referring to? On Amazon there are several different options. http://amzn.to/2e57DVV

 

[kh54s10]

They shouldn't be too hard to clean. Stainless steel is not very porous so stuff is on the surface. I would say a "good" cleaning is needed, not an "extreme" cleaning.

I think that is the right stuff.

If the equipment was submerged, check the thermometers for accuracy before use.

 

[ghandlin]

Great! Thanx! The thermometers are going to be secondary. I'm in the process of building out a system based on http://theelectricbrewery.com which uses inline probes.

 

[augiedoggy]

Is this what you are referring to? On Amazon there are several different options. http://amzn.to/2e57DVV

You can actually find it at any grocery store in the isle with the cleaners but yeah thats the stuff...