Passivating Stainless

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

How often do you passivate your kettles, etc? I've only done my SS Brewtech kettle once and that's when I got it. I have read that it should be done at least once per year. Any thoughts?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Have you read this, I only boil mine and use Star sans
https://beersmith.com/blog/2017/01/...e accomplished at,rinse any residual acid off.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Have you read this, I only boil mine and use Star sans
https://beersmith.com/blog/2017/01/09/passivating-stainless-steel-beer-brewing-equipment-to-prevent-corrosion/#:~:text=Passivation can be accomplished at,rinse any residual acid off.

1st read. Good information!

 

[Minbari]

Never have, never had an Issue.

Star San being stored in the fermentor seems to do it

 

[Hawkbox]

Yeah I haven't done it in years.

 

[Semper Sitientum]

Ditto. Probably more important on a commercial level.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

You really don't need to passivate stainless steel unless you get it super hot (like, red hot), weld it, braze it or expose it to high levels of chlorine. A sure sign it needs to passivate is if it shows signs of rust. Normal cleaning routine is typically enough to passivate it on a regular basis. If it needs passivation or you are in doubt, citric acid works really well and scrubbing it with Bar Keeper's Friend works too. You can pick up citric acid anywhere canning supplies are sold.

 

[vinobrew]

I decided I would do a Citric Acid passivation process on my brew equipment today. Not every day is a brew day. There were a few spots in my HLT and boil kettle that I had concerns over. Also, a top to bottom thorough additional cleaning couldn't hurt. I have a Spike Trio 20 gallon system I bought 7 years go and never did one in the past other than the initial break in. Easy peasy with a heating coil and spray ball recirculating. I just finished the HLT, and it's clean and bright looking like new. The spot I had appears to have disappeared. How did it get there? After cleaning, I put my HERMS coil on the bottom of my HLT thinking it was dry and good. Next brew time, I lifted it up and there was a bit of "rust fusion" between the bottom of the HLT and coil. I scrubbed, and it mostly came out, but you could still see the outline. Barkeepers friend? Maybe. I use it on my stainless gas grill with no issues, but wasn't keen on using on my brew gear.

I caught an e-mail from 5 Star on the passivation process a few months back that sparked the interest. It doesn't sound like many are doing this.

Five Star Passivation Process For Stainless

 

[J A]

This is something I've been needing to catch up on...I just got some new equipment and want to passivate it. I've done it before with Star San but it's problematic to mix 10 gallons or more at the rate recommended for passivation. Anyone use Citric Acid? Anyone know the dosage rate using powdered Citric Acid?

 

[vinobrew]

I just did the citric acid at a ratio of 2 ounces per 1 gallon water. For my 20 gallon system, I was recirculating 10 gallons using 20 ounces of citric acid powder. The article from 5 Star has a good process to follow if additional chemical treatments are needed. I heated everything up and added my citric acid and went to have lunch. 30 minutes spray ball time between my HLT, Mash Tun and Boil Kettle. Everything popped bright and clean. Something to consider for an "off" brew day.