Ask The Brewmasters

Hello,

We are having trouble with nucleation on our beer mugs in the taproom. We use a bar maid system in a 3 bowl sink. All other glassware cleans fine. Only the mugs are problematic, this has happened on different style mugs. Does anyone have any tips on getting these mugs clean?

This is the mug we currently use: Vienna Tankard 24.25oz (0.5l)

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Vienna Tankard 24.25oz (0.5l) Vienna Tankard 24.25oz (0.5l), Tankards View this on Sahm-glass >

Thank you,

Zach

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Zachary Gordon
Old Thunder Brewing
Pittsburgh PA
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I am not familiar with those mugs, or the thickness that they are, but I have noticed at one of our bars that our bubble mugs don't clean well either, and over time develop a visible layer of scale. We use automatic dishwashers, and the only thing that I can surmise is that the thermal mass of the mugs is such that it isn't able to reach a high enough temperature during the wash for a full clean. This could be a situation where you might be developing some scale, but it might not be visible yet. I would try to do a fairly concentrated overnight white vinegar soak on some glasses that you know are problematic and see if that helps with your nucleation points. There could be multiple other issues, but this is one that I have dealt with in my experience. I'm interested to see your results. 

Cheers,

Austin

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Austin Edwards
Brewmaster
Stats Brewpub
Atlanta GA
(770) 570-0160
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Your problem is likely related to the large diameter of the mug. Bar Maid does have larger brushes for pitchers, but the larger diameter could cause breakage if you used on fragile glassware, especially small diameter pilsner glasses.  Maybe consider replacing one of the end brushes with a pitcher brush and seeing how that works.

Depending on how many mugs you have and the frequency of the build-up of nucleation sites, you could periodically clean mugs with caustic before your bar staff shows up. When I wore boots, we had a full-size triple sink in our brewhouse area and could easily and safely do these sorts of special projects.  Start with the larger brush and see how that works!

Cheers, Ashton

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Ashton Lewis
Manager of Training and Technical Support
BSG Craftbrewing
MBAA District Great Plains, Technical Chair
Springfield, Missouri
(417) 830-2337
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