As a new brewer my battle has been sanitizing. I don’t have a big basement/garage sink so I’m using brew buckets & some rubber maid bins. What a PITA.
I’m willing to bet this is where most brews go wrong… getting peeved & not sanitizing as should be done.
What’s your setup to make sanitizing less painful?
What are you using as a sanitizer? Starsan in a 5-gallon bucket lasts a really long time, and having it in a spray bottle is a thing of beauty.
I keep a 5 gallon bucket ready to go on brew day. Keep all the necessary stuff in it until needed. For carboys and buckets I just put some solution in there to swirl around for a minute then drain. This is done mostly in my dining room or garage. Some people keep a spray bottle with sanitizer on hand, I just haven’t got around to that yet. :cheers:
How about thiefs? those things are loooooooong.
I just fill up my brew bucket at the beginning of the day, keep all the stuff I’m using post boil in it until I need it. When I’m ready to use the sanitized bucket I pull a super-sized plastic drink cup worth of sanitizer out (mainly for the airlock) and dump the rest. Nothing left to do but wash dishes at that point.
I soak a paper towel in starsan and wipe everything down. Squeeze some starsan into the end of the thief and shake it around to coat everything. As long as the surface is wet, the sanitizer is effective.
I still can’t believe I’d brewed for several years before someone suggested a spray bottle for StarSan. Also cannot believe I hadn’t thought of it either.
I started using a wallpaper paste tray for my sanitizing needs years ago. Racking canes fit in it perfectly. I hope they still make them, 'cause I’ve had this one for 17 years! Maybe I should’ve bought 2… Star San in great too.
The hardest part of brewing is sanitizing ? It doesn’t need to soak overnight. A couple minutes contact is all. What the heck is you process?
As long as the surface is wet, the sanitizer is effective.[/quote]
^ This. Things don’t really need to “soak” and only need to be wetted down. I only prepare 2.5gal of star san. As long as pH stays below 3 its good to go.
I had a similar problem.
Buy a wallpaper prep tray. they are long and cheap and will sanitize your tubing, auto siphons, racking canes etc. Great purchase !!!
For my racking cane or thief i soak one side, then turn it over to get the other side. I really need a spray bottle haha.
As long as the surface is wet, the sanitizer is effective.[/quote]
^ This. Things don’t really need to “soak” and only need to be wetted down. I only prepare 2.5gal of star san. As long as pH stays below 3 its good to go.[/quote]
I went back to check where I read to soak vs spray…
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html
indicates soaking.
I guess it depends on what product you’re using. With star san you only need contact.
oohhhhhhhhhhhh My eyes are open for the first time. :cheers:
Cleaning.
Timely cleaning makes sanitizing much less of a PITA.
Can’t sanitize without cleaning.
NB’s own product description seems to refute that…
Not trying to be a PITA, just find out what’s accurate… my purpose with this thread is to avoid starting doing what’s convenient vs correct for a good brew.
Wow, I’ve learned some stuff here too. I had a stainless steel wall paper tray made as I keep busting up the plastic ones. I use a spray bottle also, but make an bunch and save? I will be doing that now. I will probably store in between brewing in a screw cap one gallon jugs! Yes, everything post boil gets star san. PERIOD. I have screwer up two batches in the past, what a sad day that was. 
NB’s own product description seems to refute that…
Not trying to be a PITA, just find out what’s accurate… my purpose with this thread is to avoid starting doing what’s convenient vs correct for a good brew.[/quote]
No, Loopie is right on this, and the product description supports it. Soak, spray or wipe it on the surface (contact), wait 1 - 2 minutes and it is sanitized.
Often, I don’t wait the full 1 - 2 minutes because I know that in most cases it really isn’t needed. Depending on the microbe, the L50 will vary. L50 descibes the time at a given concentration that is needed to kill 50% of the population exposed. So for certain particularly tough microbes, it might take 2 minutes to knock the population down to the point where they no longer pose a risk - meaning well over L99. Those tough microbes are not common, and you almost certainly don’t have them on you brew equipment. But the company has to give direction based on the worst possible case. For most cases, the stuff is fully sanitary as soon the surface gets wet with StarSan.
NB’s own product description seems to refute that…
Not trying to be a PITA, just find out what’s accurate… my purpose with this thread is to avoid starting doing what’s convenient vs correct for a good brew.[/quote]
No, Loopie is right on this, and the product description supports it. Soak, spray or wipe it on the surface (contact), wait 1 - 2 minutes and it is sanitized.
Often, I don’t wait the full 1 - 2 minutes because I know that in most cases it really isn’t needed. Depending on the microbe, the L50 will vary. L50 descibes the time at a given concentration that is needed to kill 50% of the population exposed. So for certain particularly tough microbes, it might take 2 minutes to knock the population down to the point where they no longer pose a risk - meaning well over L99. Those tough microbes are not common, and you almost certainly don’t have them on you brew equipment. But the company has to give direction based on the worst possible case. For most cases, the stuff is fully sanitary as soon the surface gets wet with StarSan.[/quote]
I stand corrected and happy about it.
