Normal sanitation procedure. Am I doing it right?

[Bobtheblob]

Am I doing it right?
On brewday, fill the 5 gallon bucket up to the brim with hot water and the appropraite amount of VWP cleaner. Stick the lid in vertically and airlock in the solution and leave for half an hour. Rotate the lid 90 degrees after 10 minutes so the other half gets a soak. Then rinse all. I think all that does the job.

On bottling day - fill another bucket up to the brim with VWP and submerge all the bottles in there for half an hour and rinse well.

Or could I get away with just filling the bucket with a few inches of hot water and VWP and wiping around?

How about sterilising the bucket tap? Just run some sterliser through it?

 

[Clint]

If it works for you...

 

[kelper]

I do the same as you except I push the lid down so it's fully immersed. I also soak the trial jar, hydrometer and siphon. The lid warps but recovers when clipped to the FV.

 

[DavidDetroit]

That seems like a lot of work just to sanitize. I'm not familiar with that product. I'm sure you'll get some useful responses from other members.
I clean with unscented soap ensuring that I don't scratch anything that's plastic. Rinse well. Then I use Starsan here but you may have some issue getting ahold of that.
I can suggest this from another member:
"I now use the Bleach & White Vinegar method, Mix is 1 teaspoon of bleach to 1 gallon of water first and then 1 teaspoon of White Vinegar mix well. Amazing results and very quick because you don't need to leave stuff in soak just rinse and drain for a minute of off you go! DO NOT MIX BLEACH & VINEGAR TOGETHER, dilute the bleach in the water first!"

 

[sunners1]

i fill the bath (downstairs at the back of the house) up with sterilising solution and drop everything in for ten mins max then rinse. When bottling I fill the bath again then fill an fv with rinsing water, speeds up the process too.

 

[Graz]

As above, whatever works really.

I'm pretty lazy with respect to it so do the minimum I can get away with.

Fermenting buckets get a wash with hot water and a little washing up liquid after use followed by a good rinse with cold water. If it's one I use regularly I'll then pour a dollop of diluted StarSan in and put the lid on. When I come to use it next I'll give it a shake so the StarSan covers all the surfaces and then a while later drain it off (often back into my container of dilute StarSan). Ready to use then. If I ever want to give my stuff a really deep clean then I'll soak in Oxy Clean for a while but I rarely do this. If it's a bucket that I don't use often (the wine making ones) then I'll let it dry but again next time it gets used just a sloosh round with StarSan.

Pretty much the same procedure for pressure barrels.

Bottles I'll rinse well with hot water after use, let the dry and then a good squirt with the StarSan from a bottle rinser when they next get used for beer.

All good so far (done it now, next brew will be vinegar!).

 

[Duxuk]

I just wash things with a tiny bit of washing up liquid (since there's no grease involved). I then rinse with sodium percarbonate in warm water. Brews-a couple of hundred. Infections-non.

 

[Leic brewer]

I used milton on some of my bottles.you dont need to rinse and its good for 24 hours.i think if ots good for babies bottles its good for beer bottles

 

[gingerneil]

I rinse any major debris off the FV with warm water and a soft cloth after bottling. I then do the following straight away, and again when I'm ready to brew again...
Turn the tap round so its screwed on pointing inwards. Then I chuck about a table spoon of no-rinse sanitiser into the bottom of the FV, then about 5l of water. Put the lid on, with the spoon, airlock etc inside and give it all a good shake/roll around. Leave it for 10 mins. Take the lid off, put my hand in and open the tap so the sanitiser slowly runs out through that. Put the tap back in the right way, tip out any excess, and away I go with the brew.
For bottles - rinse out when I've drunk the beer from one - just part of the normal washing up that night. Rinse with clean water then store covered or upsidedown. When I want to bottle beer, I use a squiter battle washed thing with no-rinsem shaking out any excess. Quick and easy.

 

[Ghillie]

Don't use VWP since my first ever brew, threw it away after.

Personally, the concept of a sanitiser that isn't no rinse confuses me. I don't understand why you would sanitise something and then make that surface come into contact with something that may well not be sanitary. i.e. water you will rinse your sanitised surface with.

But, in saying that, I've done multiple brews where I've not bothered with sanitiser. Just a good rinse with nothing more than cold water. No issues, no infections. Ultimately it boils down to how quickly your yeast takes off and overwhelms any other organic medium therein, IMO.

VWP is a faff as it takes time, extra steps, the need for warm water (which I don't technically have in my garage). No rinse sanitiser is better and definitely something you might want to entertain further down the line.

With no rinse sanitiser I make up a 10L drum of the stuff, it keeps for a good while. Pour it in the clean FV (maybe 5L), lid on and shake like an ***** for 30s. Pour the sanitiser back into the drum and that's it. Job done.

For those who argue starsan is expensive, well they're right. But, using the method above - it will last years. I'm not yet half way through the bottle I bought about two years ago. And for the first 8 months or so I was pouring it away!

 

[gingerneil]

I've never thought to keep it afterwards!! In the overall scheme of life, a pack of no-rinse brewsafe it very cheap. You don't need much if you use the shake method rather than mass-soaking. A bag will last years.
I've also got a small tub of the Mangrove Jack's no-rinse from their brew day pack bought off brew2bottle, and another on the way. Its one of the reasons those bundles are such great value - it's pretty much free. That'll have me sorted for about 20 brews!
Brew2bottle have loads of no-rinse options:
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/collections/sterilisers-stabilisers

 

[John powell]

I use Milton to sterilise water tank on motorhome and I find it leaves an aftertaste unless I give tank a good rinse.