Secrets for removing tartrates

So, I have a wicked build up of tartrates on my crusher/destemmer. Anything out there that will make removing them a breeze? So far sodium percarb and powdery brewery wash don’t seem to be making a dent.

The cleaners (in very hot water) will help loosen the build up, and then a pressure washer will blast them off.

Interning this year has given me plenty of chances to clean tartrates. The only thing that consistently worked for me is hot water at a high pressure or an overnight soak in peroxy followed by hot water with high pressure. The overnight soak just loosened everything and saved me a few minutes on the water.

One of our clients who has a decade of winery experience says tartaric acid will take them right off but I’ve been hesitant to try it as we never seem to have enough around to risk wasting it on cleaning tartrates.

Second Hank’s advice on removing tartrates. Also, you might give this product (Cleanskin) a try:
http://www.cellarwise.net/products/cleanskin-5-kg/

I’ve used it a couple of times when helping Ed Kurtzman at his winery and it seems to work really well, better than other products I’ve tried. Like other cleaning products, it needs hot water to work well on tartrates. I’ve tried various cleaning products with cold or warm water and they don’t work nearly as well as with hot water. As Hank noted, the water needs to be very hot - try boiling water if you don’t have access to any other source of really hot water.

Make a paste out of the peroxy and apply it over the worst areas, leave for a few hours, overnight, see what you need to do but that can help a lot.

Thank you so much for the suggestions everyone. No access to hot water. Soaked overnight and will try Vincent’s paste suggestion if that didn’t work.

I love cleaning

Tim,

If that still doesn’t work, I can send you some Cleanskin, or if the equipment fits in your car, bring it over, we have plenty of hot water.

Tim,
If you plan to make wine out of this place for any period of time, you’ll want to figure out how to get some really hot water and a pressure washer. Hotsy and Aaquatools have some module options. Best of luck.
Ian

I tried a combination of the suggestions and make a very concentrated batch of powdery brewery wash and let it sit for a few days. Worked like a charm.

The suggestion about accessing hot water from your hot water heater was also huge. I had never thought of that. Still not keen on using hot water from the hot water heater in barrels since I am not sure how much chlorine is in our water here in livermore.

My sincerest thank you to all who contributed to this thread. [thankyou.gif]