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| Printable Page The BIRKO Tech Desk Chlorine Dioxide in the Brewery |
| Q. What are some of the uses of Chlorine Dioxide in the brewery? |
| A. Post-rinse Sanitizing behind CIP (75 to 100 ppm), Yeast Washing (1 to 2 mls of 5% to 5 gallons of slurry), Keg Sanitizing (50 to 100 ppm), Bottle Rinse (2 ppm). |
| Q. Do I have to activate Chlorine Dioxide? If so, what's the best way to do it? |
| A. Yes. The material comes to you in a stable form, Sodium Chlorite, which is converted, on contact with acid, to water soluble Chlorine Dioxide gas. Organic acids such as citric and lactic are the first choice, mineral acids like phophoric and hydrochloric, while high yield and economical, have safety and corrosion drawbacks. The best way to activate is to add acid to a small amount of water, say 1 gallon, until you achieve a pH reading of 3.0 Then add your chlorite solution, with a mild stirring action. In a short while, the mixture will get color, somewhere from yellow to green. At that point you can add the mixture to your water charge for your application. Now, you are ready to go. By activating a small amount, you can avoid using a lot of acid, which is costly, and leads to corrosion issues. |
| Q. Does Chlorine Dioxide form carcinogens? |
| A. No. It donates radical oxygen, in much the same way as peroxides, NOT chlorine, so it does not make suspect carcinogen molecules, such as trihalomethane. |
| Q. Are there significant differences in the products on the market? |
| A. There are two common strengths, 2% and 5%, based on equivalent Chlorine Dioxide content. The lower strength ships as a nonhazardous material, and the higher strength ships as a DOT corrosive. There are two styles of material, plain alkali stabilized chlorite, and the modified buffered chlorite. There are claims of broader spectrum efficacy with the modified buffered chlorite style, but we see similar results between the styles in the brewery at the same active concentrations. |
| Q. Does the unactivated Chlorite solution provide residual activity against microbials? |
| A. No. At best, there is only a preservative effect. |
| Q. Does Chlorine Dioxide corrode stainless steel? |
| A. No. Only if you were to activate with Hydrochloric acid, or apply solutions with pH less than 3.0, then a corrosive element exists. The Chlorine Dioxide, itself, cannot penetrate a properly passivated stainless steel surface. We don't recommend packing heat exchangers, tap lines or other equipment with Chlorine Dioxide. |
| Q. Can I reuse my solutions? |
| A. Our general rule of thumb is to discard used solutions. Virgin solutions may be held for up to one shift, then discarded. All sanitizing solutions that are based on oxidizers should be made fresh each shift, as they degrade rapidly with a number of factors (UV exposure, water hardness and gasses, organic contamination, heat, etc., etc.) Contact the resident hopheads in the lab (Dana or Fred) for further information. BIRKO is a member of the Institute of Brewing Studies. Dana is a member of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas and American Society of Brewing Chemists. |
| For more information E-Mail the Tech Desk |