Racking/Secondary/Cleaning/Fruit flavour plus a few more Q's

[jared1984]

Apologies for multi questions but I cant find a solid answer that clears up my questions, and everyone seems helpful so why not.

Racking - I'm relatively new and had some good batches some bad. I have always followed the instructions, took a SG, waited until its reached its FG (or there abouts) and then bottled straight through the tap (Little Bottler) as I never liked the idea of having to do even MORE cleaning sterilising. I have a cider on at the min and I fear I cant get away with not racking off into another FV. Is this right? If I HAVE to go into a Secondary do I have to use a wand (seems a pain in the a..) or could I attach sterilised tubing to the tap, run it to the bottom of the other bin and do it this way? If I'm honest I'm very confused (and put off) by racking, but I want to do a Festival Summer Ale and cant see a way round it due to the hop pellets (could put in a musiln bag but might not produce the best results)

Cleaning/Sterilising (I don't really know the difference) - I give my bottles a good rinse, then leave in a VWP solution, scrub with brush and rinse again. Should I rinse again after they have dried as sometimes it has a scent of the steriliser? Also does everything have to be BONE dry or will a few moisture drops not do any harm?

Fruit Flavour - Ive had this on a few brews now, its a tangy/bit raspberry aftertaste, possibly a bit chemically. I think this may be due to temp being too hot during fermenttion as the least one (Better Brew Czech Pilsner) got up to 26 by accident! I struggle to keep a 100% constant temp to be honest. Could it also be VWP being too strong?

By this point you probably know i'm desperately trying to better my results!!!

 

[PD]

Give your beers more time in the bottle, lots of off flavors at the begining, but they will diminish with time
Ferment below 20C if possible then cool for a couple of weeks before bottling.
Learn to enjoy racking, its part of the brewing game. Theres nothing to fear with it, just make sure your equipment is clean and well steralised. From fermenter to fermenter you can't beat an auto syphon, they are very quick.

Clean means clean...scrub off all the visible deposits until the vessel looks...er..clean
Steralise means to treat with your chosen chemical to kill off the unseen things. Then rinse well, and rinse again.

If you use a no rinse steraliser like Videne or Star San you don't have to dry the vessel, bits of liquid or foam is preferable.

 

[rpt]

No rinse sterilisers are definitely the way forward. No need to worry about leaving off tastes behind.
You can't sterilise something that isn't clean, so they are two separate processes. Some products, such as VWP, can do both. I use Starsan to sterilise (strictly speaking we are only sanitising) but I clean first with Oxyclean. Cleaning removes dirt. Sanitising kills bacteria.
Your fruity tastes may be due to using sugar in your brew. I have only done one kit that involved adding sugar and it has a definite cidery taste to it.