Ask The Brewmasters

I recently bought some Caustic CIP liquid from a new supplier and we are having issues with excessive foam during CIP of Brites and FV's. I am wondering if there is an antifoam product out there that would help stop this foam?   Any suggestions would be great, thanks

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Landon Swanson
Head Brewer
Pueblo Vida Brewing
Tucson AZ
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From my experience any standard antifoam that you'd use in the kettle or fermentor will work.

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Nathan Denzin
Gnarly Cedar Brewery
Greenleaf WI
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I know we run into excessive foam once moving over to the dry hop arm. Mainly because the caustic is coming from the side of the tank as opposed to the top through the spray ball. I also notice excessive foam if the tank still has slight Co2 in it. 

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Matt De Leon
Chattahoochee Tech/Tilray Beer
Acworth GA
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Hey Landon,

Personally, I would lean on your chemical supplier to supply a built caustic that does not foam. I would lean on them to bring you a formulation that works for your application. It's important to specify how you want cleaners to perform in your brewery and they should be open to providing samples and for you to do trial runs to make sure it works. 

We have had a similar issue in the past when switching from liquid to powdered built caustic, and our provider was able to find a similar product in the portfolio that did not foam and met our cleaning needs.

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Jonathan Porter
Owner/Brewer
Smog City Brewing
Torrance, CA
porter@smogcitybrewing.com
310-980-8201
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Hi Landon:
Since you are mentioning that this is a new supplier and I read this as a new issue that occurred with the new product, I would conclude that the new caustic product is not well formulated and does not suppress the foam that occurs during caustic CIP.  Rather than addressing the issue with another chemical, you should find a product that is formulated to suppress the foam that occurs from protein removal during CIP.
Unless there is a mechanical issue at hand, in which case your chemical supplier should be able to figure this out with you, you are better off changing vendors and using a caustic that is better formulated.  You can e-mail me for more information.
Cheers,

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Dirk Loeffler
SEKA Chemicals
(404) 239-2700
loeffler.dirk@sekachemicals.com
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