Commonly used chemicals in brewery CIP cycle

As a brewer, you need to understand that a hygienic brewing environment is very important to ensure the quality of your beer, which is where a good clean-in-place (CIP) system comes in. A good CIP system needs the associated chemicals to clean the brewery equipment.
The CIP system is a cleaning method mainly used to clean:

Sanitary Process Line
Vessel
Common equipment in breweries

Clean-in-Place (CIP) systems provide a full range of brewery cleaning without removing or dismantling piping or equipment.

Importance of using chemicals in the CIP cycle

The CIP system pumps cleaning, rinsing, and sanitizing solutions through the same plumbing path as the product to remove product fouling from all interior surfaces.
These chemicals include:

Caustic
Scid
Sanitizer/Disinfectant
Sterilizer

Considering that there are many variables in choosing the right chemicals for different CIP systems, it is recommended that you contact your CIP system partner to purchase the right chemicals for your needs. Below are more details on the chemicals used in common CIP cycles and general guidelines for their use. The right chemical cleaner at the right concentration can have a significant impact on the cleaning efficiency of a CIP system.

If properly cleaned the CIP system will:

Lowers the surface tension of the water, making it easier for the cleaning solution to penetrate the soil.
Breaks down the direct bond between soil and equipment surfaces.
Soften the fat so that it can be rinsed off in the next step.
Dissolves dirt for easy cleaning.
Emulsifies water-soluble soils in the cleaning solution for easy transport.

Keep in mind that most CIP systems will still achieve a reasonable level of cleanliness and safety without chemical additives, but the time required, operational difficulty, and cleaning temperature will increase. Additionally, in manual CIP systems, operators often add more chemicals than are required for the cleaning cycle. Such overcompensation may increase the operating cost of the CIP system. Understanding the role of chemicals in cleaning protocols and employing automation for dose control and concentration monitoring can help control CIP system operating costs.

Caustic

It is also known as caustic soda, sodium hydroxide, or NaOH. This is a base with a very high pH, typically used in concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 2.0%, and concentrations up to 4% can be used on highly contaminated brewing equipment surfaces.

Typically used as the primary cleaner in most CIP wash cycles.
Soften the fat, making it easier to remove from the device.
The foam-free formula helps reduce pump cavitation and increases cleaning efficiency.

Acid

Nitric acid is the most commonly used cleaning agent for descaling and temperature pH after alkaline cleaning. At a typical concentration of 0.5%, it can be used effectively at lower temperatures than caustic solutions and therefore requires less heating. Phosphoric acid may sometimes be used but is less common.

Ideal for brightening discolored stainless steel by removing calcified mineral stains.
They must be used with caution as they can attack certain resilient objects in the brewing system, such as gaskets or valve seats, causing premature degradation or failure.

Sanitizer/Disinfectant

Sanitizers (also known as disinfectants) work to reduce microorganisms to levels that do not pose a risk to food safety or public health. Various hypochlorite solutions (potassium, sodium, or calcium), also known as “hypo”, have been used as disinfectants in many CIP cycles over the years. Because their active ingredient is chlorine (bleach), they:

Relatively cheap to use.
Disinfecting and rinsing soils that are prone to bacterial growth is very effective.
May be harmful to stainless steel, causing staining, corrosion, and pitting.
It can cause some serious environmental problems by killing important microorganisms in streams and waterways and dissolving them in wastewater streams.

Sulfur dioxide is already emerging as an alternative to hypochlorite solutions for cleaning applications with high organic loads, such as poultry or fruit processing.

Has stronger oxidizing power than bleach.
Less corrosive to brewery equipment.
Less harmful to the environment.

In recent years, more and more health managers have moved away from bleach-based disinfectants in favor of peracetic acid (PAA). PAA is a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid.

A powerful disinfectant even at low temperatures.
After rinsing, there may be little or no chlorine residue left to corrode stainless steel.
Effective against all microorganisms, including spoilage organisms, pathogens, and bacterial spores.
Also proven to be more environmentally friendly in wastewater streams.
Peracetic acid has a strong, pungent odor, so it should only be used in well-ventilated areas.

Breweries should always take care to thoroughly flush all sanitizers in the system to reduce the risk of corroding stainless steel and potentially forming toxic chlorine gas when mixed with acid. Of course, it is also possible to sanitize the system without applying any chemicals: hot water (about 195~205°F for 15-20 minutes) or low-pressure steam. Both of these non-chemical options lead to a significant increase in energy costs because they are not very common.

Sterilizer

Sterilizing the system means complete removal of all living microorganisms, and can be sterilized using chemicals, but is usually sterilized using autoclaved steam (about 250°F for 30 minutes). While food, dairy, and beverage processing plants rarely sterilize during the CIP cycle, it is a common cleaning operation for pharmaceutical or extended shelf life (ESL) products.

CIP system cleaning steps

Clean-in-place (CIP) systems are one of the most common unit operations throughout a brewery and are essential for cleaning brewing equipment between batches. Today, the CIP cycle is fully automatic and a central CIP station is installed to meet the cleaning and sanitation needs of the brewing equipment throughout the plant. Typically, the cleaning steps for a CIP system are:

CIP cycle step	Purpose	Cleaning agent	Challenges
1. Pre-rinse	Remove the majority of particles, organic material before cleaning the agent.	Water.	High water demand, wastewater loads.
2. Caustic or acid cleaning	Clean organic material and particles which have adhered to internal surfaces. Acid cleaning may also remove inorganic particles to avoid scaling. Remove surfaces that enhance microbial growth.	Sodium or potassium hydroxide, various acids.	Chemical handling is costly.
3. Rinse	Rinse away caustic or acid in order to avoid product contamination.	Water.	High water demand, wastewater loads.
4. Sanitation & disinfection	Ensure microbial (bacteria, viruses, algae) free process equipment. Even a few microbes may cause infections in the final product.	Chlorine-based agents, peracetic acid (PAA), hot water, steam, iodophors.	Ensuring complete removal of bacteria. High costs.
5. Final rinse	Rinse away sanitation chemicals to avoid contamination of brew.	Water.	Adds time and water consumption to the CIP cycle.

Additional Tips When Using Chemicals

Increasing the temperature of the cleaning solution will increase its decontamination efficiency. The extra capacity required to heat the solution increases the cost of the CIP cycle process, but hot molecules with high kinetic energy remove soil faster than slower-moving molecules in cold solutions.
Concentrated cleaning solutions can clean more dirty equipment surfaces than dilute solutions. More chemicals mean more money, but higher concentrations increase surface binding capacity, resulting in better and faster cleaning.
The cleaning effect of the detergent for a long time is better than that of the contact for a short time. More cleaning time means less time to produce a profitable product, but over time, chemicals dissolve hard dirt from surfaces.
Chemical solutions will gradually lose strength over time. Check the concentration of wash solutions daily and adjust and replace them as needed.

How to Calculate the Right Cleaning Temperature

Calculating accurate solution temperatures is critical to effectively cleaning brewing equipment while reducing energy costs. Several studies have shown that for every 1°C reduction in CIP solution temperature, energy demand is reduced by 1%, which can result in significant energy savings over a year.
We all know that higher solution temperatures can increase the effectiveness of chemical and mechanical action, and can also reduce the time required for proper cleaning. But given the energy cost of heating the solution, the temperature of each cleaning stage needs to be calculated and controlled as accurately as possible. Each stage of the cleaning process has its optimal temperature range to balance effective cleaning with energy savings.

CIP cycle stage	Approximate temperature range
Pre-rinse	104~140℉
Alkaline washing	140~185℉
Intermediate flush	Ambient temperature ~140℉
Pickling	130~150℉
Final rinse	Ambient temperature
Disinfectant	Ambient temperature

Knowing the common chemicals used in the CIP cycle helps you use the right chemical cleaner at the right concentration, which can have a major impact on the cleaning efficiency of your CIP system.

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