13,701
edits
Changes
added data on enzyme cleaners
Caustic cleaners can errode glass when the pH gets above 9.0 <ref>[http://www.vitroglazings.com/VitroGlazings/media/sitedocuments/TDs/19_TD105F.pdf "How to Prevent Glass Corrosion". Paul F. Duffer. Glass Digest, November 15, 1986.]</ref><ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/2223548741006661/?comment_id=2223604231001112&reply_comment_id=2224717294223139&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D Shawn Savuto. Milk The Funk Facebook group post on caustic erroding glass. 08/12/2018.]</ref>.
Enzymes have been reported as a solution to helping to clean biofilms from within dispensing tubing. Dispensing line cleaners have been reported to be inneffective at cleaning established biofilms due to the protective exopolysaccharide (EPS) layer of biofilms and the proteins that yeast cells excrete during flocculation, which help them adhere to each other and to surfaces. Polysaccharases, polysaccharide lyases, and to a lesser extent, proteases, will catalyze EPS and proteins. Microbes secrete these enzymes themselves in order to free themselves from the biofilm when their environment becomes stressful, and the effect of a particular enzyme degrading a particular EPS depends on other EPS types in the biofilm; degrading one EPS type can lead to the growth of another species present in the biofilm. Thus, the effectiveness of enzyme cleaning depends on the enzymes used and the types of microbes in the biofilm. This is one potential problem with using enzymes for cleaning <ref name="Walker_2007">[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2007.tb00257.x Removal of Microbial Biofilms from Dispense Equipment: The Effect of Enzymatic Pre-digestion and Detergent Treatment. Samantha L. Walker, Michail Fourgialakis, Belen Cerezo, and Stephen Livens. 2007.]</ref>.
For example, Walker et al. (2007) found that a mix of the enzymes alpha-amylase, beta-glucuronidase, glycose oxidase, dextrinase, protease, and pectinase followed by the use of a line cleaning agent reduced the number of viable ''S. cerevisiae'', ''Lactobacillus brevis'', and ''Leuconostoc mesenteroides'' by 2 logs, but the number of ''Flavimonas oryzihabitans'' increased. A doubling of the enzyme content resulted in more effectively elimating ''Flavimonas oryzihabitans'', but it still wasn't as effective as elimating the other microorganisms. Additionally, the enzymes were less effective on dispensing lines than they were on stainless steel. On dispensing lines, the bacteria were reduced, but yeast was not. The study concluded that a broad range of enzymes should be used, and might assist with breaking up biofilms when used in conjunction with line cleaning agents, but this depends on the types of microbes/EPS in the biofilm and some microbes might be more resistant to this treatment than others <ref name="Walker_2007" />.
===Homebrew cleaners and disinfectants===