Six of our ten will burn you

Corrosive is not the same as irritant. An irritant makes skin red and angry. A corrosive destroys tissue on contact, and with eyes the damage can be permanent and fast. Six substances on site are corrosive:

Brewery: CIP-8 Alkali Cleaner (8.2B), Phosphoric Acid 85% (8.2C), V-Trol 242 boiler treatment (8.2C).
Canning: Clark Saniphos (8.2B), Quatrol sanitiser (8.2B), Ultimate Ultra Low Foam Acid (8.2C).

Every one of them is 8.3A on eyes. That is the most severe eye rating there is. There is no such thing as a small splash to the eye with these.

Acids and alkalis, and why they never meet

Two of our corrosives are alkalis and three are acids, and this is the distinction that matters most day to day.

Alkalis: CIP-8 (caustic based) and V-Trol 242 (sodium hydroxide based). Process CS, the powder, is alkaline too.
Acids: Phosphoric Acid 85%, Ultimate Ultra Low Foam Acid, and Clark Saniphos.

Mix an acid and an alkali and they react violently. It generates heat fast, and it can spit corrosive liquid out of whatever it is in. This is why acid and alkali are never stored together, never transferred with the same jug, and never put into a vessel before checking what was in it last. If you are switching a CIP set from caustic to acid, the line gets rinsed first. Every time.

What each one is for

CIP-8 Alkali Cleaner — the main cleaning caustic. Kettle, fermenters, bright tanks, canning lines and beer lines. It attacks aluminium, zinc, tin, brass, light metals and glass, so it goes in stainless only. After the rinse, check with a pH strip before the vessel goes back into service. See the section below on CO2 — caustic in a tank is the most dangerous thing we do.

Phosphoric Acid 85% — food grade, used to lower the pH of the beer. Also corrosive to ferrous metals, and it releases flammable hydrogen gas on contact with aluminium, carbon steel and magnesium alloys.

Clark Saniphos — a blend of phosphoric and sulfonic acid, used as a foaming sanitiser. CO2 bubbled through it fills a tank with foam that pushes the oxygen out, and it sanitises the centrifuge and lines before centrifuging while scavenging oxygen. Corrosive and flammable — Module 3 covers the fire side.

Perform Sanitiser — peroxyacetic acid: a blend of 30% hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid. Sanitiser only, never a cleaner. The peroxide is why it is an oxidiser, which Module 3 covers.

Ultimate Ultra Low Foam Acid — acidic detergent for keg cleaning, kept in canning by the keg washer.

Quatrol — quaternary ammonium, used as a general cleaner on floors, conveyor belts and in the foaming gun. Also ecotoxic, covered below.

Process CS — alkaline powder cleaner.

V-Trol 242 — boiler water treatment, kept by the steam boiler.

Caustic and CO2: how a tank implodes

This is the one that has killed brewers, and nothing about it is obvious.

Caustic absorbs CO2, quickly and in large volume. Put caustic into a closed vessel that still holds CO2 and the gas is pulled out of the headspace, so the pressure inside drops below atmospheric. A tank built to hold pressure is not built to resist a vacuum. It crumples inward, often in seconds, with no warning and no way to stop it once it starts.

So: purge the CO2 and open the vent before caustic goes anywhere near a tank, and keep it vented for the whole clean. Never close a manway or a valve on a vessel that holds caustic and CO2 together. The same applies in reverse — do not push CO2 into a vessel that still has caustic in it.

If you are ever unsure whether a vessel is vented, do not start. Check.

What to wear

Eye protection is the one that is never optional. Every corrosive we hold is rated 8.3A, the most severe eye classification there is, and eye damage from these is fast and can be permanent. Skin can be flushed and will usually heal. An eye often will not. If you are opening, pouring, dosing, connecting a line, or standing near someone who is, your eyes are covered.

Safety glasses are the minimum. For decanting, dosing or anything overhead, wear goggles or a face shield — safety glasses leave gaps at the sides and above, and that is exactly where a splash comes from when a line lets go under pressure.

Alongside eye protection: chemical resistant gloves and covered footwear, as a minimum, every time, including for a job that takes thirty seconds. Most splash injuries happen during short jobs, because that is when people skip the gear.

When you are decanting, transferring or dosing, add an apron as well. Pouring is when liquid moves unpredictably. Nitrile gloves suit most of what we hold, and the safety data sheet Section 8 tells you the glove material for that specific product. Filling a Bettix bottle counts as decanting — full gear, every time.

Keep containers upright and closed when they are not in use, and check them for leaks.

Quatrol, and what our drains actually do

Quatrol is classified 9.1A, very toxic to aquatic life. That is the most severe aquatic rating there is, with a toxicity estimate of 1 mg/L, and it is why the canning area sign carries the environment pictogram.

The floor drains in brewing and canning run to trade waste, which goes to the sewage treatment plant, not to a waterway. So sanitiser rinse at working strength going down them is normal and fine. That is what they are there for.

Spilt concentrate is a different thing entirely. Do not hose it away, even into a trade waste drain. Quats are biocides: enough neat product reaching the treatment plant kills the bacteria that do the treating, and it breaches the limits we are allowed to discharge under. The safety data sheet is specific — contain it, absorb it with sand or other inert material, and seal it in a labelled container for disposal. If concentrate does reach the sewer, that gets reported.

Any drain outside is stormwater and runs straight to the waterway untreated. Nothing goes down those, at any strength, ever.

First aid, from the safety data sheets

In the eyes. Start flushing immediately with whatever is nearest. We keep Redcap Eye Wash and Skin Flush at several stations. It is a phosphate buffer solution, so it actively neutralises an acid or alkali splash rather than only diluting it, which cuts down the flushing time and the volume needed. The eye cap works whether you are standing, sitting or lying down, the perforated plate turns the stream into a gentle spray, and used fluid drains away instead of running back into the bottle.

Use the Redcap first if it is within reach or on your way. Do not go hunting for one — water on the eye now beats buffered solution thirty seconds from now.

Redcap is the start, not the finish. Once you have used it, keep flushing with water at the eye wash station, eyelids held open, until medical help arrives. The safety data sheets put that at 15 minutes as a minimum. Do not stop early because the sting has eased — with an 8.3A chemical the damage can continue after the pain settles.

On skin. Redcap is a skin flush as well as an eyewash, so use it on a splash if it is to hand. Remove contaminated clothing and flush the skin and hair with running water. For a large contamination, drench first and strip the clothing off under the water. Cover burns with a clean dry dressing. Do not break blisters.

Swallowed: rinse the mouth, give a glass of water, and do not induce vomiting. Bringing a corrosive back up burns the throat a second time. Never give anything by mouth to someone who is unconscious. Ring the Poisons Centre on 0800 764 766.

Breathed in: get the person to fresh air without becoming a casualty yourself. Keep them at rest and warm. Seek medical advice if effects persist.

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