Cleaning a Fermenter: How I Run CIP in the Brewery

[@jennyred808]

New cellar(person) here! Thank you so much for your tutorials. I have absolutely zero experience working in a brewery and just started so this is helpful!

[@adammakesbeer]

Thank you Jenny, that makes my day!

[@8ymat]

As someone who overthinks the CIP Process, including the steps and remembering which goes first, I greatly appreciate your sound, step by step process. As a kinesthetic/visual combo learner, this made a lot more sense for me and definitely empowers me to do this process correctly as well as efficiently so I can store beers knowing the tanks are as clean as possible! Absolutely love your channel and man do I need to make a trip to your brewery in the future, what a great brew house y’all got there!

[@adammakesbeer]

Thanks so much!

[@PartyTimeBrewing]

I would be so happy to have a floor drain in my garage so I could clean and not worry as much about the mess! I'm a bit smaller scale with 1/2 barrel fermenters, but the info is great! Cheers!

[@adammakesbeer]

😂 for sure, floor drains are the best!!

[@alvaradobrewhouse6387]

Good stuff Adam! Anytime we can get a real life look at how a large scale brewery works, it's invaluable. Thanks for the content....

[@adammakesbeer]

Thank you!

[@matthiasliew7059]

Loving the videos bro! Thanks for showing details, will be using the video as a guide/SOP in my small Craft Soda manufacturing company because we use similar tanks.

[@adammakesbeer]

Good to hear! I would suggest talking to your chemical provider about chemicals/temps/and concentrations that may be specific to the type of beverage you are producing. Thanks for your support!

[@danhain5452]

Love the Greyline T man. Thanks the solid videos.

[@adammakesbeer]

Me too! That place will always be special to me! Thank you!

[@igors.787]

Loved 😍 to watch, being home brewer. 🍻

[@adammakesbeer]

Thank you!

Hey Adam! Thanks for providing these videos! How long do you have to rinse after the caustic CIP?

[@adammakesbeer]

Until the rinse water exiting the tank returns to the ph of the source water.

[@A8nobodybusiness]

🍻🍻🍻

[@stuker69]

Hello Adam! How do you store your clean fermentation tank while waiting for it to be filled next? Like if you cleaned it today but going to be filling it up next week….. or do you sanitize again prior to filling day? 😊

[@adammakesbeer]

Great question. I leave the man way door cracked upon, and typically I put plastic caps on the rest of the tank ports. That way when we are splashing about in between uses, soil isn’t getting into those ports. Then day of filling the tank we re-rinse the tank and then sanitize it.

[@stuker69]

@@adammakesbeer thanks adam!

[@-Scraps-]

Another great video! How long does it typically take you to properly clean out a fermenter?

[@adammakesbeer]

With good planning and nothing else to slow you down about two hours.

[@-Scraps-]

@@adammakesbeer Oh man! Each?! I guess that makes sense. I feel like prospective brewers looking to start a brewery can easily under estimate both the importance, and the amount of time it takes to clean and sanitize something of that size, along with all of the extraneous parts that come with jumping up to that scale of brewing. And i'm sure there's always something that comes up that will slow you down... like a beer!😂

[@adammakesbeer]

@@-Scraps- Also, it’s the prep and tear down from cleaning as well. We usually multi task so it can totally take that long in a setting like ours.

[@jayspies9860]

Hey, if you CIP soon after the prior batch is out, do you do anything specific to get the CO2 out, or do you just rely on the hot water rinse to do that? I know CO2 can neutralize caustic to a degree. Jasper over on Brewery Life uses a shop vac to suck out the CO2 from the bottom port. Thoughts? Awesome video, as always!

[@adammakesbeer]

Great question. I have done that in the past. Currently I am getting the tank door open as soon as I can as I am breaking down the tank. I do relatively aggressive HLT pump driven rinses as I heat the tank for cleaning, and that seems to do the trick quite nicely. However, your mileage may vary.

[@yannlemaire1105]

After the rinse are you running the same CIP cycle for sanitization? If yes are you using an acid, I've heard some brewers use steam. Great video, thanks for sharing your experience.

[@adammakesbeer]

Yes I use an acid based no rinse sanitizer that is then completely evacuated from the tank. Steam is a great sanitizer. I think most folks in breweries the size I work in use chemical tho. Steam sanitizing in kegs is more common for us tho.

[@Pahadilifestyle786]

Create a video for CIP step by step.....I'm waiting

[@ludmilasalvagno6275]

Hi Adam, I have a daily production of 1250L with tanks dimensioned for it. What should be the capacity of my CIP system?

[@adammakesbeer]

You would probably just be fine running a pump like i am and not need a seperate cip skid.

[@matthewsharp961]

Adam do you keep the valves closed that you’re not running chemicals through during cip

[@adammakesbeer]

Great question. I usually like to keep an elbow facing up on one of the ports, so that the tank is technically not closed during the cycle. The elbow prevents chemical from coming out, but let’s the tank “breathe” with temp differences. Does that explanation make sense?

[@matthewsharp961]

@@adammakesbeer it does. Thanks for the response!

[@CoryFinessesGaming]

How do you clean the out side of one?

[@axislaser1]

I've not seen the curved pipe in the fermenter. (5:40 mark) How does it work for you?

[@suryakantbrewr]

Maybe it's a racking arm used for beer transfer, without disturbing yeast

[@litoquayle283]

Do you use same time in all ports with cleaning product?

[@adammakesbeer]

Yeah, but what may not be shown is that I also hit them with a brush manually.

[@cabinvibesebaystore8956]

New sub! Liked 🙏👍🧨🐟

[@adammakesbeer]

Thanks for the sub!

[@patrickglaser1560]

Math is the same as I use for starsan calculations.

[@suwirwong]

Have you ever get beer infection in the brewery? Ever?

[@CartersBrewing]

Seems like youre breaking down and reassembling the tank prior to cleaning instead of cleaning the Tank, soaking the parts and then reassembling with sanitary methods. seems kinda extra steps and backwards to me.

[@adammakesbeer]

I will discuss this on tomorrow livestream!

[@MrBrc3404]

No offense but lots of extra steps.

[@adammakesbeer]

No offense taken.