Cleaning and maintenance of beer brewing equipment

Like any other industry, the brewing industry continues to evolve, advance and transform throughout its life cycle. And the way breweries maintain and clean their equipment is no different. Go back 60 years or so, and the term clean-in-place (CIP) is no longer the everyday language of today.

To clean the craft kit that is integral to the brewery, you need to take apart said equipment and do it manually. Fortunately, those days are long gone. Today, the interior of containers, tanks and pipes can be cleaned in a number of ways, often without manual elements.

The management of CIP is in principle no different from the management of open factory cleaning. In open factory cleaning, certain tools, such as brushes, cleaners, and hoses, are manually cleaned by hygienic operators. With CIP, tools and operators are replaced by CIP suites.

The advantage of CIP is that once specific aspects of the processing plant (soil and cleaning parameters) have been validated for cleaning, it is easy to repeat the process and perform validation checks to ensure adequate cleaning (ie, as originally validated). The downside is that many procedures and maintenance procedures or inspections are required to ensure that the CIP unit performs the same cleaning.

Cleaning is considered effective when all surfaces have achieved the required level of cleanliness; physical (debris, allergens, chemical) and microbiological. Validation involves showing that the defined cleaning sequence and associated parameters achieve the desired cleaning results for a given set of contamination conditions.

Cleaning sequence

Once a cleaning sequence has been validated as being effective repeating the sequence should always achieve the required result. Validation is used for the original commissioning of a proposed cleaning methodology and then when process or product changes are made.

Demonstration of cleaning sequence and parameters is required irrespective of the type of CIP system.

When dealing with manual or semi-automatic systems, control of the clean relies on the operating procedure being followed, a record of the cleaning sequence and parameters being made and a check that the cleaning sequence and parameters were the same as those when validation was carried out.

For automated systems, flow rate, conductivity and temperature can be monitored on the CIP feed and/or on the CIP return. The purpose of the monitoring is to provide reliable information to allow control of the cleaning sequence and recording of the cleaning sequence.

If the feed is monitored, at least one flow switch must be installed at the return to ensure that the loop is complete. The control of the cleaning sequence is usually automated, usually performed by a plc.

The plc program may only provide instructions without interacting with feedback from sensors. In this case, the cleaning sequence and parameter records for each cleaning need to be evaluated and validated to ensure that they meet the minimum standards set during validation.

The plc program can interact with feedback from sensors. In this case, the program can be designed to ensure that the cleaning sequence and parameters are met. Deviations in cleaning sequences and parameters can halt the system until these requirements are met or cleaning is aborted due to cleaning failure.

Cleaning validation can be done with quick methods that provide enough information to decide if re-cleaning is required. These include rinse water ATP, protein or specific allergen testing from specialized swab points and manual visual inspection.

Verification of cleaning performance can also be assessed by traditional microbiological methods, including testing of the final rinse water and sampling of the first product. This can be verified by microbial sampling of synthetic process samples. For example, a buffered saline solution can be passed through a process such as cooking, cooling and filling. It can then be sampled and used as a measure of factory cleanliness.

The planned maintenance and inspection schedule should be based on the manufacturer's guidance. These maintenance checks should include a variety of factors to provide the best cleaning regimen. If applicable, tank level sensing devices and proximity switches, as well as any spray devices, should be inspected regularly.

It is important to calibrate the instrument as part of the regular inspection. These will include instruments such as temperature probes, flow meters, flow switches and conductivity probes.

It is also important for the business to check the condition of any alarms contained in the CIP machine in use, as well as look for any worn pumps and fittings and replace the seals at any time.

If your system includes a heat exchanger, periodic descaling may be required. Backup software should also be checked as part of any planned maintenance to ensure that the software is in place and up to date in case it is needed. Replacing air, water or steam filters is a critical part of maintenance.

Brewery Cleaning Procedures

Whether producing thousands of barrels of craft beer or millions per year, breweries face the same three main challenges: delivering the best flavor; managing resources to conserve water and energy; and optimizing operations.

When it comes to taste, the requirements are obvious - to keep the product safe while maintaining its flavor. Every beer must provide consumers with the perfect sip. Quality cannot be underestimated, and breweries must invest to ensure quality production of their unique flavors. Cleaning and washing must complement the process. The chemicals that make the malt sour and delicious must also keep the bottle clean and safe.

To do this, clean-in-place (CIP) processes must be established to meet industry hygiene standards. Although they are the most important, they can place a burden on brewers who need to spend time and effort manually monitoring CIP performance. Failure to comply with the CIP can result in product contamination, production downtime, and wasted resources.

While keeping the premises clean is important, it's not necessarily a brewer's number one priority. New technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data solutions aim to automate the cleaning process and make it more reliable.

With confidence in the control of cleanliness and hygiene, the brewer's priority is resource management. As businesses around the world become increasingly concerned about water scarcity, more and more breweries are rethinking their operations to improve water efficiency and set ambitious water targets.

With the right partners to help perfect their processes, breweries can save water and energy and optimize operations. Ecolab's goal is to do more with less, and this can be achieved by partnering with breweries large and small. By helping these customers do more with less, we reduce our environmental impact by using fewer resources.

Various programs can be implemented to achieve ambitious water and energy conservation goals. We provide sustainable solutions for breweries.