Sterilising long things?

[StFlipper]

Yes, ho ho.

Has anyone got a solution for how to fully immerse and sterilise all these long items of brewing equipment like a 5 gallon auto-siphon, a Fermtech wine thief, a long plastic spoon, or a 5 gallon degassing stick? The auto-siphon for example is over 60cm long, which won't completely fit into a 30L fermenting bin, so it has to sterilised at one end, then turned over to do the other end, while the flies circle around. It just means I never bother using it, and stick to simple siphon tubing with a removable end piece. Of course it's possible to fill up the bath with steriliser, but that would be a huge quantity of liquid to waste to sterilise something narrow. Besides which we're on a septic tank and it's not a good idea to empty steriliser into that.

It seems like there ought to be a piece of equipment like a long, narrow piece of drainpipe, sealed at one end, made of food grade plastic, and with a wide base so it can be stood on its end. A bit like a a really massive hydrometer test jar I suppose. That way you could make up just a few litres of steriliser to immerse something 60-70cm long.

I'm sure it's possible to make such a thing, but has anyone seen something like that for sale, or come up with a better solution themselves?

 

[LeeH]

Star san in a spray bottle. You only need a a minute or so contact time.

 

[BarnBrian]

I can't wait for Gunge to reply :hat:

 

[braziliain]

Agree with LeeH above. Works for me and has very little wastage.

 

[MyQul]

I can't wait for Gunge to reply :hat:

You got there before me

And to answer the Q, star san in a spray bottle

 

[-Bezza-]

Baby bath. Remove baby first.

 

[BarnBrian]

You got there before me

And to answer the Q, star san in a spray bottle

Or perhaps Gunge is waiting for the "Sterilising Small Things" thread. Taking cover!!!

 

[MyQul]

Or perhaps Gunge is waiting for the "Sterilising Small Things" thread. Taking cover!!!

<Puts on tin hat> :tinhat:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I lay my long spoon down in a washing up bowl of steriliser (with all the other small stuff) and use my hand to apply steriliser to the uncovered part every couple of minutes until the 15 minute time is up and have never had problem.

 

[Mavroz]

Just pour some over the long parts in a bucket. Or spray as suggested.

 

[StFlipper]

Spraying and pouring seems fine on sticks and spoons and the like, and spraying's what I do on the degassing stick, but I'm not sure it would work too well on something hollow like the auto-siphon. I can imagine trying to spray inside a 1/4" curved tube then twiddling it around, trying to get the steriliser to trickle over all the internal surfaces and not being sure if it's really done the job.
A baby bath seems like an idea, and lot less waste than with a grown up bath. Could buy one off Amazon I suppose, but then there's years of "people who bought this..."

 

[Mavroz]

If that's what you want to do, fire away.
Spraying and pouring has never caused me issue in any way.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @StFlipper
I put my autosiphon into a FV holding the sanitising solution. Get the siphon going and then every surface that your beer/wine will touch has been sanitised. Why are you wanting to sanitise the top of the autosiphon? It never comes into contact with beer/wine. I use a spray bottle to spray the external parts of the tubing that will contact the beer/wine.
Remember that Star San only needs 30 seconds contact time.
I don't use total immersion to sanitise. I use an adapted garden pressure spray to sanitise tubing; FVs and bottles get a few ml of solution and a good shake.
I also use the spray to sanitise the exterior of my wine thief; the interior is sanitised by pouring solution into it while holding a finger over the narrow opening.
One further point: it is very easy to get overly anxious about sanitisation - there are a lot of OCD brewers out there.

 

[LeeH]

Spraying and pouring seems fine on sticks and spoons and the like, and spraying's what I do on the degassing stick, but I'm not sure it would work too well on something hollow like the auto-siphon. I can imagine trying to spray inside a 1/4" curved tube then twiddling it around, trying to get the steriliser to trickle over all the internal surfaces and not being sure if it's really done the job.
A baby bath seems like an idea, and lot less waste than with a grown up bath. Could buy one off Amazon I suppose, but then there's years of "people who bought this..."

Star san will do that with ease and you don’t have to rinse it either like steriliser fluid.

Just hold the stick tight up to the spray nozzle and give it a few pumps with your finger over the other end.

 

[Rodj]

Baby bath. Remove baby first.

Why?

 

[Steve Molony]

I saw someone using a wallpaper tray/trough so picked one up but unfortunately it was about 1/2" too short to fit a large siphon. Find the right one though and it would be ideal.

 

[anders]

Was just thinking about this sort of thing this morning. This guy on youtube uses a wallpaper trough (skip to about 2:10)

 

[Rodj]

A length of square-section guttering with end caps.

 

[Clint]

Mix solution in spare fv...I do about 5 litres worth. Chuck everything in,Inc long stuff. Auto Syphon gets numerous pumps of sanitiser and filled with a jug and sprayed while I prepare everything else. Spoons get sprayed.

 

[Mavroz]

Mix solution in spare fv...I do about 5 litres worth. Chuck everything in,Inc long stuff. Auto Syphon gets numerous pumps of sanitiser and filled with a jug and sprayed while I prepare everything else. Spoons get sprayed.

Yes, nice and simple.
No need for a spare bath in the garden for sterilizing and sanitizing brew equipment.