A clean-in-place (CIP) system is a combination of mechanical components and equipment for a solution that combines water, chemicals, and heat to clean brewery equipment. The chemical cleaning solution is pumped or circulated by the CIP system through other systems or equipment and cleans the brewery equipment. Therefore, the purpose of the CIP system is to provide cleaning functions for other process systems or equipment without the need to move or disassemble any equipment. We’ve put together a guide that outlines the principles for choosing the right type of CIP system.

Beer fermentation is the core of the beer brewing process. During the fermentation process, the wort made from raw materials is transformed into beer by yeast. Fermentation is usually divided into four phases: lag phase, active phase, stationary phase, and conditioning phase. Fermentation is the process by which yeast produces all the alcohol, aroma, and flavor compounds found in beer. The control of temperature, oxygen level, and the selection of yeast strains will significantly affect the production of aroma and flavor compounds produced during the fermentation process.

Brewing water is the most important raw material for beer equipment, so brewing water is also called “the blood of beer”. The particularity of the world-famous beer is determined by the respective brewing water, so the brewing water quality not only determines the quality and flavor of the product, but also directly affects the whole brewing process. Therefore, the correct and rational use of brewing water produced by water treatment is of great significance in production.

Beer equipment is ubiquitous in life, and because of beer equipment, people can brew a lot of beer. The cleaning of beer equipment is also related to the quality of brewed beer, so the cleaning of equipment cannot be ignored.

Heat exchangers are used to optimize heat transfer from one gas or liquid to another during processing and cleaning in place (CIP). Fouling or aging can result in degraded heat exchanger performance and additional operating and energy costs to compensate for the difference in target temperature. Therefore, the cleaning and maintenance of the heat exchanger are very important to keep the brewing equipment running efficiently.

A bright tank is a tank used to clarify beer and beer carbonation, and is also called a “brite tank”. In most breweries, the fermented beer will leave the fermentor, be filtered, and transferred to the bright tank for further clarification and maturation of the beer. If you want to force carbonation of beer, you can also do it in a bright tank. After carbonation, the beer can be barreled or bottled directly. Because the bright tank is the last stop before packaging, so you need to pay extra attention at this stage.

The dirt on the walls of the fermentation tank is a mixture of inorganic and organic matter, which is difficult to clean with a single cleaning agent. If only caustic soda is used for fermenter cleaning, it only serves to remove organics. Only when the cleaning temperature reaches above 80 ℃, can the cleaning effect be better. When cleaning, single nitric acid is used for cleaning, which only has a certain effect on inorganic substances and is almost ineffective on organic substances. So, fermenter cleaning requires an alkaline cleaning solution and an acidic cleaning solution.