Shell egg pasteurizer with automated clean-in-place system

A method for cleaning a shell egg pasteurizer, the pasteurizer comprising:

• a water bath having a floor, two side walls and two end walls;
• a plurality of heating coils located in the water bath generally above the floor;
• perturbation elements located underneath the heating coils;
• an air system that supplies pressurized air to the perturbation elements;
• a plurality of shell egg carriers that are set into the water bath above the heating coils;
• a drive mechanism that moves the shell egg carriers, and, when loaded, stacks of eggs through heated pasteurization water in the water bath;
• a hood spanning over at least a portion of an open top of the water bath;
• and
• sprayers mounted to the hood to clean or rinse the side walls and end walls of the water bath and empty carriers located in the water bath;
• the method of cleaning the shell egg pasteurizer comprising the steps of:
• placing empty carriers into the water bath after removing shell eggs from the carriers;
• draining pasteurization water in the water bath until the pasteurization water remaining in the bath reaches a level above the height of the heating coils but below the height of the bottom of the empty carriers placed in the water bath;
• adding a first cleaning agent into the remaining pasteurization water in the water bath resulting in a first cleaning solution with the heating coils submerged in the first cleaning solution;
• operating the air system to perturb the first cleaning solution in the water bath with the heating coils submerged in the first cleaning solution;
• pumping some of the first cleaning solution from the water bath to the sprayers on the hood to clean at least a portion of the walls of the water bath and the empty carriers in the water bath.