Page 27 - Beverage Master_AprMay2022

Brewery & Distillery
Craft Brewery
brewers should “have a robust quality assurance fermentation monitoring and analytics are a new
program that tests and verifies complete and thor- development in the commercial brewing world.
ough CIP and tank sanitation.”
“These systems use a special tank probe that
“Cleaning the tanks is absolutely paramount and automatically measures dissolved oxygen, pH, grav-
requires appropriate spray balls, pump curve calcu- ity, pressure, temperature and conductivity and
lations and process piping,” said Legler from Sonder allow the brewer to remotely monitor all of these
Brewing. “Attention to detail is crucial for pressure important parameters,” Lewis said. “Traditionally,
and flow rate provided to the spray ball for proper the brewer would pull a sample from every fermen-
wetting and cleaning. Inspection of the tank after tation tank each day to take the desired measure-
the cleaning cycle, along with ATP swabbing, should ments. These new systems allow the brewer to be
be performed. Annually, the spray balls should be more proactive for fermentation control, as well as
inspected for blockage and to ensure proper rota- saving time and labor.”
tion. All connections on the tanks, such as zwickel,
carb stone and racking arm, should be removed However, there are still improvements that
and cleaned. Ports should be hand-scrubbed and need to be made. Lewis said that with the surging
removed during the CIP process. Manway gaskets demand for craft lagers, many brewers struggle to
should also be removed and cleaned by hand, or produce crisp, clear lagers in a reasonable amount
better yet, in a clean-out-of-place pot.” of time using the same cylindroconical tanks as ale
fermentations.
“We use Brasso to clean the outside of the cop-
per steel to make sure it stays nice and shiny,” said “Since lager yeast requires different conditions for
Boggs from Palmetto Distillery. “We use powder a healthy fermentation, including colder tempera-
brew wash on the inside of the copper steel and ture and more surface area on the bottom of the
our mash tanks.” tank, the right equipment really does pay off,” said
Lewis. “BrewBilt offers professional-grade horizon-
BrewBilt constructs tanks with 304 stainless steel tal lagering tanks that stack to maximize floor space
and food-grade welds done as smooth as possible and eliminate weeks of aging time to achieve the
and unable to harbor microbial contaminants. desired clarity and flavor profile.”

“The tanks also feature CIP spray balls for efficient Dave Silva, owner and operator of Craftmaster
recirculation of cleaning chemicals,” Lewis said. Stainless, Inc., said there have been a lot of chang-
“BrewBilt tanks are ‘shadowless,’ which means es in fermentation tanks and brite tanks through-
that there are no areas of the tank that cannot be out the years. These include advanced technologies
effectively cleaned by the spray ball, including the involving the quality of material, thicker insulation–
manway. specifically zoned glycol jackets–and simple clean-
in-place attributes to allow better sanitation during
All Craftmaster Stainless tanks come pickled and cleaning procedures.
passivated, and this Rancho Cordova, California
company provides cleaning instructions for its “Over the years, Craftmaster Stainless has closely
equipment as simple guidelines. These procedures worked with brewers to design the ultimate brite
provide instructions for first-time cleaning, remov- tanks and uni-tanks, along with many more prod-
ing brown spots and dark staining, removing krau- ucts for our customers. A few unique features of
sen deposits, removing manufacturing residues our tanks are industry-leading, three-inch-thick
and removing white powdery and calcium-looking insulated glycol jackets, oversized racking arm han-
deposits. dles, huge two-inch yeast outlets for drainage, and
dedicated blow-off tubes to prevent clogging your
Tank Improvements & Recommendations CIP ball during fermentation blow-off. Also, all of
our tanks come complete with a 10-year warranty,
In recent years, improvements have been made and all hardware with gaskets and tri-clamps are
to tanks and tank systems that brewers and distill- included.”
ers may be interested to learn. For example, Lewis
from BrewBilt said that real-time, comprehensive Silva said the biggest complaint he hears from his

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