Cleaning Variable Capacity Tanks

[HalfpennyJames]

Does anyone have a good protocol for cleaning variable capacity stainless steel tanks? We currently use hot water and steam, but this is either not effective enough or too time consuming. We have been considering trying a caustic-acid wash, but I'm not sure how safe this would be with the moving lids. Has anyone tried this before? Or is there a better way?

 

[Rice_Guy]

The standard for dairy plant stainless equipment is an alkali based detergent followed by a citric acid rinse. The rubber gaskets crack and need to be replaced roughly once a year. You are not dealing with calcium and dairy protein so alkali probably is excessive but works every day with a CIP system. Stainless is quite robust. Most solids will come off with a pressure spray. DON’T scratch, that is when we worry about micro build up.

Grape has tartrates therefore the citric wash makes sense. What I have seen in ads says that the gasket on floating lids is an inflatable vinyl. A guess is that every few years that gasket needs to be replaced.