Sanitising - How anal about it are you?

[proost]

Oxi and starsan...biggest ball ache I find is cleaning bottles but as per Dutto....RINSE THEM OUT AFTER YOU REMOVE THE CONTENTS!!
I did have creepy crawlies in some after keeping them in the shed so now I stock pile my nicely rinsed empties at strategic locations around the kitchen...which bizarrely annoys the Mrs??

I bottled a kit a few years ago and when I came to start drinking them, one had a big spider in it. Tasted ok though, well to be honest I didn't actually try it. After I removed it, my mate necked the whole pint. Thought it wise not to tell him....

 

[GerritT]

Not very but everything that goes anywhere near something that is going to become beer gets rinsed with a sanitizer solution if only briefly.

And if it get's a boil somewhere in the process?

 

[BridgeBrew]

Never had a brew go off (touch wood) Pretty anal about cleaning. I always use a cleaner/steriliser like chempro, i really dont trust no rinse stuff like starsan. Got away with sticking my arm in a bottom tap king keg when the tap nut stripped. My arm was in there for a good few minutes, and the beer was fine.

 

[RichK]

And if it get's a boil somewhere in the process?

ah, yes. Good observation. Boiling does negate/replace the requirement

 

[Sadfield]

Indeed, they do. Beer was popular during the Middle Ages because it was much safer to drink than stream water. At an acidic 5% ABV ethanol, it is not an attractive home to most bacteria.

The boiling is the main thing, of course, as it destroys the cell wall protection for the bacterial nuclei.

Although, all the wild yeast and bacteria that we are avoiding contaminating our beer, would have been what fermented it in the middle ages.

 

[An Ankoù]

just put some cling film or foil over the bottle tops if storing in the shed etc Clint

Or rinse them the morning after using, add a squirt of metabisulphite and crimp the old cap back on. Then on bottling day, it's open, pour, rinse and bottle.

 

[Clint]

Some good tips from the spider men! I might just force myself to enjoy it until I raid the wife's purse and get a tall larder fridge and some of those nice shiny growlers...

 

[Richard Lander]

For the last year or so I have been using a "no rinse" sanitisation method that works really well for me. I scraped it off the internet, so can't take credit for the method, but can endorse it, either I am consistently lucky, or it works, or both.

The method is to put 1 teaspoon of thin bleach, and one teaspoon of white vinegar, minding not to mix them neat, into a rough gallon of water. Rinse all in this solution, drip the drips off, and then use in brewing.

Let me work out the references.... unsure if I can post the direct link.

https://beerliever.com/bleach-no-rinse-sanitiser-home-brewing-beer/

Ha ! Typical, I find this discussed here earlier too https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/bleach-no-rinse-sanitiser.66838/

But regardless of the recycled information, the main message is, that this method has been working just fine here.

 

[BrewRubha]

Pre boil ....clean....post boil.... sanitise....no problem! In large scale production the most likely source of infection is in the filter. The first contact between cooled wort and a potential breeding ground, if not handled right. Run boiling wort through counterflow or immerse chiller for 10 mins prior to cooling and make sure FV is sterile. Where is the chance of Lactobacillus or other nasties? I think we get too anal about sanitisation. Post Boil yes but as long as fermentation takes off quickly CO2 protects. CO2 is our friend.

 

[MickDundee]

So-so. I’m not totally anal but make sure I sanitise everything on the cold side

I make sure everything is clean, then tend to just give my Fermentasaurus a good spray with Starsan and it’s always been fine. When I use my Spiedel fermenter I slosh it about with boiling water while I’m chilling.

About an hour before bottling I stick my bottles on a 30min 65C cycle in the dishwasher.

 

[Sadfield]

and make sure FV is sterile.

Sterile? How are you achieving that?

 

[HarryFlatters]

I'm careful about it. If I'm spending a day making a brew, I'd hate for 5 minutes of laziness to ruin it.

I clean everything after I'm finished, so I only do a rinse, slosh about with StarSan and drip dry on brew day.

If something's really got manky, I'll use bleach or VWP on it, but that's only really if something has gotten stained or burned onto the element in my Peco.

 

[Robbo851]

on my current brew I spent the usual 45 mins or so rinsing the bottles in sanitizer once dry putting them in boxes to take to the garage only this time made the stupid decision to carry two boxes stacked on top of the other so the clean bottle tops in the bottom box had the dirty box resting on it (boxes had been sitting on garage floor) I only realized what I had done when I was clearing away after bottling.

 

[CD]

Antiformin S is all I've used for years. Made by Murphys and supplied by my friendly brewer, I see it is also now stocked by the Hop Shop in Plymouth. Potent stuff neat, but used at 2% in cold water, I have a bucket of it on the draining board by the sink in which hydrometer, thermometer, sample jar etc live, and use it to clean and steralise pressure barrels. Once you have used this stuff you will use no other.

 

[bobukbrewer]

So, I rinse a pyrex jar under my hot tap (~50 deg C ) and pour in 200 ml of bottled water. I add a sachet of safale 04, a spoon of brewing sugar, and a soupcon of vitamin C. I stir well with the (unsanitised) spoon then clingfilm it. I rinse my burco under the hot tap, fill it with 22 litres cold tap water, add half a camden tablet, wait 30 minutes, add 22 ml of CRS, wait 30 minutes, heat to 73 deg C, add grains, maintain 67 - 68 deg C for an hour, then strain into my other burco, bring to boil, add hops etc etc. Then strain and cool in a 13.5 litre stainless steel pan which was - you've guessed it - rinsed under the hot tap, then pitch the hydrated yeast. That was 4 pm Monday. Today wednesday it is nearly done and clearing from the top. I shall bottle tomorrow at 4 pm ie 72 hours after yeast pitch. So that's me.......

 

[strange-steve]

@bobukbrewer why the vitamin c in the rehydrated yeast?

 

[CD]

Slight correction to earlier post. Been down to the brewery to check (and enjoy my daily quart) and see I use it at 1.5% dilution, 60cc in a 2 gallon bucket and 150 in a 5 gallon PB.

 

[GerritT]

@bobukbrewer why the vitamin c in the rehydrated yeast?

Yup, same I thought, an anti-oxidant? Bit of a waste.

 

[bobukbrewer]

why vitamin C - it turbocharges yeasts - I also use it in breadmaking............

 

[bobukbrewer]

A bit more info - the brew had an OG of 15.6 BRIX and I expect it will finish this afternoon at 8 BRIX giving me a 6% abv beer.

ps I buy vitamin C at £10 for 250 gm so my soupcon costs just 4 pence...............