Cleaning FAQs

Water comprises 96-99% of cleaning and sanitation solutions. The chemical and microbiological impurities in water can drastically alter the effectiveness of a cleaner or a sanitizer, and the outcome of your process.

Hard water (water that has a high mineral content) can leave mineral deposits on the surface of equipment which can cause filming and staining and provide a surface for biofilm development. Hard water also interferes with the ability of a cleaning agent to do its job. The minerals react with bulk caustic and carbonate cleaners to produce the film which leaves less chemical available for cleaning. This is one of the reasons that you should use built formulations.

It is important that the final water rinse does not re-contaminate your sanitized equipment. Use of a 0.2 micron cartridge filter should be used for the final rinse of previously sanitized equipment.

A built formulation is a synergistic blend of compounds that allow the cleaner to clean the surface while solubilizing the soil and removing it from the system.

Soil is the presence of a material in the wrong area. It can be visible or invisible. Winery soils can be generally categorized as organic, inorganic or combination. Winery soils can be grape based and include sugars, acids, salts, color pigments, tannins, and proteins, or they can be process based. Process based soils can originate from wine additions, microbial activity, water quality or residual cleaning agent.

Initial rinsing with warm water will tell you if the soil is generally water soluble (examples are sugars and tartrate crystals). If the soil does not rinse freely with warm water, likely candidates are proteins, tannins, polyphenolics or baked on residues that could have been removed with warm water when fresh. In general, these soils are acid-based. This is why an alkaline-based agents is used for cleaning.

It depends on the equipment. Generally, a warm water rinse <40°C (104°F) as soon as the equipment has been emptied will stop stains from drying onto the surface, which makes removal much more difficult.

Follow the W.A.T.C.H. formula and compensate for lack of temperature or time by increasing the other parameters (water, action, time, concentration and heat).

You would generally use approximately 10% of the equipment volume when cleaning manually. Depending on the stage of the process this water can be re-used (final rinse water can be used as the initial rinse water in a neighboring piece of equipment).

More chemical does not always equal more effective cleaning. If more than the recommended is used you can leave chemical residues behind and have to use more water to rinse out the excess. Depending on the cleaning agent, handling may be more difficult due to the physical properties e.g. foaming, heat generation, neutralization, etc.

After a thorough cleaning the equipment is ready for the sanitation phase. All cleaners have differing anti-microbial abilities but sanitation is not their primary function. After cleaning, all equipment should be process ready, whether a sanitation step is required is process dependent. If unsure always conduct a sanitation step after cleaning

AIRD Wineglass is much safer than using quaternary ammonium. It is free-rinsing, does not leave residue, and is highly effective at removing wine soils and lipstick.

AIRD formulations are biodegradable in 30 days.