I have to admit that this is most challenging area I have encounter so far.
Every manufacturer has different chemicals and they are hard to compare (I am not a chemist).
If you have BT in walking cooler you need to use different chemicals then on fermenters and you might need to use another chemicals in BK and hot side equipment.
I have found my cleaner after 4 years for BK and hot side equipment.
I started with PBW then HD Caustic 2 to StarLine.
They all clean to some extend.
Some of them required long soaking to be effective (PBW)
Some of then required higher concentration (HD Caustic 2)
and Star Line is really design for low temp cleaning and not that effective at all.
So I got me Supper CIP.
160F at 1 oz per gallon and stuff is shiny again.
For my BK in walking cooler I use mostly acid.
If I want to use Alkaline cleaner there I use StarLine.
These are all from Five Star Chemicals.
What is your experience with cleaners and what do you use?
I have a friend (Black Husky Brewing) telling me about Chlorinated cleaners. I was skeptical at first but I have to say, they work quite well. I did always gravitated to lower temp cleaners.
One word of cautions. make sure the powder is well mixed because when I was done cleaning, there was a stain on the bottom of BK where I dumped the powder.
We use lerapure caustic and oxygen cleaned together hot for all organic solids such as baunhefe and boil kettle. Acid for BBTs. No problems getting stainless clean.
It’s free chlorine that’s the concern, and even then only when it gets above ~25 ppm. In alkaline solution the chlorine remains bound - I want to say the threshold is ~11 pH, but I can’t recall offhand. As long as the caustic is mixed appropriately and not allowed to dry on the surface, and there’s no residual beer or CO2 to acidify it, there’s no risk of pitting.