8 Helpful Tips for Keeping a Brewery Clean
One of the first things any aspiring brewer learns about is the importance of cleanliness and sanitation in the brewing process. If you ever want to successfully make more than one batch of beer using the same equipment, you can’t get around the cleaning process. Given how important it is, there are plenty of products and methods you can use to ensure that brewing spaces and equipment are ready for anything.
When you move on to a larger operation and even have your own brewery, the importance of sanitation and cleaning doesn’t go away. It’s just as crucial to the process as ever, but it becomes more difficult as there are more things to keep track of and larger pieces of equipment to clean. Feeling a little overwhelmed by how much cleaning there is to do is totally normal.
We here at Craftmaster Stainless want to make sure that every brewer can effectively keep their equipment and facilities clean. Here are a few helpful tips for keeping a brewery clean, as well as some things to keep in mind as you clean to make things more efficient.
Regularly Clean Equipment Exteriors
Most breweries diligently clean the internal components and surfaces of their brewing equipment, but it’s also vital to clean the exteriors as well. The exterior surfaces of brewing vessels also accumulate contaminants that you don’t want to leave behind. Acid washing the exteriors of your brewing vessels helps keep them looking their best and reduces the chances that any sort of biofilm will form on the surface. This step helps you protect the beer from possible contamination.
Separate Chemicals
What seems like a fairly basic concept to most brewers is still something that we need to emphasize because of the disastrous results that could happen should you mix up your chemicals. A common method of effectively separating chemicals is color-coding them based on their purpose. Sanitation chemicals and products used for caustic and acid cleaning should sport different colors. You should also store them in different areas for safety reasons. It’s not just to ensure that your beer still tastes good; you don’t want to harm anyone thanks to a mixed-up chemical solution.
Label Cleaning Chemicals Clearly
Along with keeping chemicals and cleaning supplies separated based on their purpose, you should also make sure that you carefully and clearly label the containers that you use for each chemical. You need to do this no matter what for legal reasons, but using clear labels also prevents serious mistakes from occurring. Mislabeling containers can damage your equipment, cause a ton of wasted product, and potentially cause harm to employees or customers. Check your chemicals regularly to replace any labels that have rubbed off or faded from use.
Seal Floors Beneath Brewing Equipment
If there’s one thing you can count on in a brewery, it’s that making a mess is inevitable. You can seriously reduce the negative effects of those messes by sealing your floor. Standard concrete floors might be cheaper than sealed floors, but they are porous and can absorb chemicals and contaminants that could come back to haunt you later. Unsealed concrete floors also pose a greater risk to employees as they undergo heavy weight loads and steady foot traffic. You don’t want to discover that your floors now host mold and bacteria just because someone spilled something on them.
Clean and Sanitize All Tools After Use
Another basic but helpful tip for keeping your brewery clean is to emphasize the importance of cleaning and sanitizing all tools after their use. It’s easy to get a little lazy and think that a simple rinse will do just fine, but you never know what might be going on at the microscopic level. This rule goes for everything you and your staff might use: buckets, pitchers, hand tools, carts, kegs, and more. For anything that interacts with your beer, like your kegs, sanitization becomes even more crucial. A commercial keg washer can go a long way toward keeping your production line sanitary.
Purge Hoses Before and After Use
Every brewery has a whole host of rubber hoses for transferring liquid, but those hoses pose their own threats to cleanliness. Rubber hoses that don’t undergo a purging and sanitation process are breeding grounds for bacteria because of the excess moisture in them. Before you use or store away your hoses, it’s worth it to purge them and sanitize them thoroughly. While you’re at it, you should also look them over to make certain that there aren’t any cracks or tiny holes that could invite moisture.
Focus on Cleaning Drainage Systems
Out of everything that you need to clean in your brewery, you might not realize that one of the dirtiest things you pass by every day is your drainage system. Floor drains are a must for breweries, but their function leads them to be a hazard zone. Dirt, grime, beer, and bacteria from outside can all find their way into your drainage system and cause issues. Check your drainage system often so that you aren’t surprised by a huge build-up of nasty contaminants. If you notice a particularly foul smell or the presence of fruit flies, address your draining system before it becomes a more significant problem.
Adapt Your Cleaning Methods
No matter how sure you are that you and your staff have your cleaning routine down to a science, it’s crucial to check in every now and then to see if there are any ways that you can improve. A lot of cleaning and sanitation issues arise from brewery owners believing that they’re doing everything right despite forgetting about something important. Every few months, you may want to examine your cleaning and sanitation procedures to see if there are processes you could streamline or improve. Spotting these opportunities allows you to change your processes and improve your business.
Keeping your brewery clean is a crucial part of ensuring your success in the long run. With Craftmaster Stainless brewing vessels, it’s easy to keep your brewery sanitized and safe for both employees and customers.
