Wineries & Distilleries
Wine and spirits production puts stainless steel through punishing service. Distillation exposes tanks, piping, and evaporators to high temperatures and ethanol vapor, while winemaking means prolonged contact with acidic product like tartaric acid. Over time, both environments break down the passive layer that protects stainless steel, opening the door to pitting, rouge, and localized corrosion in equipment that represents a major capital investment.
Astro Pak brings decades of high purity cleaning and passivation experience from the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and aerospace industries to wineries and distilleries nationwide. We support new construction, where general contractors and engineers increasingly specify professional pre-operational cleaning and passivation before systems ever touch product, as well as the ongoing maintenance of tanks, piping, water systems, and process equipment already in service.
This is more than a citric rinse. Our crews apply engineered chemistry with documented process control, and post-passivation verification testing is available to confirm results, from surface analysis to monitoring iron content in water systems.
Cleaning & Passivation Services
From pre-operational cleaning of new construction to remediation of in-service systems, our field crews support wineries and distilleries with:
Pre-Operational Flush Cleaning
High-velocity pre-operational flush cleaning services ensure optimal system performance. We remove contaminants like welding debris using advanced filtration and flow techniques for efficient cleaning.
Sanitization & Biofilm Removal
Sanitization and biofilm removal services target bioburden challenges with advanced, multi-stage strategies. These methods effectively strip away biofilm layers, ensuring long-term system cleanliness and compliance with industry standards.
Derouging
Derouging removes corrosion and discoloration from stainless steel systems, ensuring product safety and extending equipment lifespan. Various types of rouge require specific chemical or mechanical treatments to restore system integrity and prevent contamination.
Passivation
Passivation chemically treats stainless steel to remove contaminants and form a protective layer, enhancing corrosion resistance. Our Ultra Pass® process uses a citric acid blend for superior results, ensuring equipment longevity.
Systems We Support
Our teams work across the full range of winery and distillery process equipment: fermentation vessels, storage and bulk tanks, process and distribution piping, dry house systems, thin stillage tanks, evaporators, cookers, CIP circuits, and the RO, demineralized, and city water systems that feed production. Heat exchanger descaling restores thermal efficiency as mineral scale builds up and heat transfer declines, and water system flushing and disinfection support both new lines and remediation work.
Whether it’s a pre-operational clean on a brand-new build or bringing a decades-old tank back into service, our chemistry removes contamination and restores the protective passive layer, protecting equipment life and product integrity alike.
Whether you're a general contractor commissioning a new distillery, an operations team protecting product quality and equipment life, or a contract producer whose tanks and piping carry your reputation, Astro Pak delivers the engineered cleaning and passivation these systems demand, with crews that mobilize nationwide.