This information has been cobbled together from communications with the PicoBrew folks.
For some reason, the information they give publicly on their website and information in forums and private emails differs.
In lieu of them publishing a comprehensive cleaning guide, I have assembled this here.
Run a rinse before and after each brew. These should be at least 2 gallons ran from one vessel to another but should be more during the post brew if it has not run clear yet. Hot water is best.
The pre-brew rinse is to ensure the Zymatic is working properly and to clear out anything that wasn't washed away by the last post-brew rinse.
The post-brew rinse is to clear away the majority of the residual sugars left from the brew (it's important to note that this will not always clear out all of the sugars; more on this in cleaning section below).
Run a cleaning after every 3rd brew (right after the post-brew rinse; don't just let it sit and run the cleaning weeks later).
A cleaning should be run ahead of this 3 brew schedule if it has been 3 weeks since your 1st brew in the current cleaning schedule (this is because not all of the sugars are washed away by the rinse and you should not let them fall out of solution to "clog the arteries" of your Zymatic).
This is to help work as a descaler and should not take over the use of a normal cleaning tab (best to run a cleaning, citric, cleaning, rinse about every 5th cleaning run).
Keep in mind this says "cleaning run", not just rinse.
To do this, simply add a couple tablespoons of citric acid to the water and run the cleaning process.
- If you perform back to back brews to make a 5 gallon batch, you should run the cleaning cycle after the second batch's post-brew rinse
- If you brew high OG beers, you may want to up the cleaning schedule to every 2 brews.
I bought this citric acid for the citric acid clean: http://www.northernbrewer.com/citric-acid