need help

I am going to brew my very first batch tomorrow. One thing I forgot to buy was equipment cleaner. Does anyone know what I can use. I have sanitizing solution. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I don't use any special sort of equipment cleaner. When I use an item, I rinse it quickly with hot water. If it needs to be washed (like my brew kettle), I'll use soap and water.

Uziyahu said:

I don't use any special sort of equipment cleaner. When I use an item, I rinse it quickly with hot water. If it needs to be washed (like my brew kettle), I'll use soap and water.

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+1 10 times out of 10 hot water and elbow grease get any piece of brewing equipment clean, for me at least.

Great thanks. Ok I didn't brew because the brew por I bought was small. I'm going to go to restaurant suppky store tomorrow and see if I can find a bigger pot. I Will attemp to brew tomorrow

I did buy some antibacterial dish soap. I hope that works

Another question I have is how do I keep the fermentation at a steady temp. I live in the desert palm springs area

swamp cooler perhaps?

Plastic bin. Place your fermentation vessel in it. Wrap a t-shirt around it. Fill the bin with water. Aim a fan at it. It will lower the temp by 10° about.

I buy the 3$ version of oxyclean. I have plastic carboys so I cant scrub them without risking scratches. For everything else, I leave my sponge soaking in sanitizer (OCD) and use anti-bacterial soap and hot water.

Thanks for all the feedback help. I have just started the boil on my first batch

Im gonna get some **** for this, but Im not so sure the brewing process needs to be given the sterile treatment like an operating room. Im not saying Ive brewed in the same bucket I previously pooped in (we don't have indoor plumbing in Dayton), but some people get wound up about sanitizing specifics. Star San is nice, but Ive used a bleach solution also. Could probably use vinegar or hydrogen peroxide to accomplish the same thing. I don't know about the antimicrobial soap you speak of tho, but I can't imagine Triclosan being a good thing.

Pre boil things just need to be clean, the boiling process sterilizes. As soon as you turn the gas or electric element off at the end of the boil Everything should be sanitized.

SmokeNbrew said:

Im gonna get some **** for this, but Im not so sure the brewing process needs to be given the sterile treatment like an operating room. Im not saying Ive brewed in the same bucket I previously pooped in (we don't have plumbing in Dayton), but some people get wound up about sanitizing specifics. Star San is nice, but Ive used a bleach solution also. Could probably use vinegar or hydrogen peroxide to accomplish the same thing. I don't know about the antimicrobial soap you speak of tho, but I can't imagine Triclosan being a good thing.

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You're right brand like Star San is not necessary but just kill bugs, vinegar would be a bit iffy but bleach is good but needs to be rinsed thoroughly, hydrogen peroxide is good - fairly no-rinse.
Antibacterial soap/dish liquid would not be a good option, they leave soapy residues without excessive rinsing and the environment left after that rinsing will no longer be hostile to bugs.

I just use a sanitized sponge and anti-microbial soap because the kitchen sponge is the dirtiest thing in people's houses(when it comes to bacteria) a toilet seat harbors substantially less bacteria than a sponge. I agree everything doesnt have to be "OR" clean...but being a sponge is the worst possible thing to use when trying to maintain sanitization...i'd rather just make sure...btw I used bleach for a long time with no probs, and I did use hydrogen peroxide with no bad results. I prefer to use the cheap oxy-clean as detergent because it is 3$ a tub and you can use it on 15-20 batches before you run out. I use star-san because I got the big bottle of it for free when I bought my homebrew kit. I also only use the dish-soap to get heavy caked stuff off...then i put it into the detergent-water, the detergent water gets rid of any soap residue, and any particles i missed. (again..bleach can help with this too)

Again thanks for all the feedback.

I bottled my first batch on Tuesday. So in about a week and a half I will know if I did a good job or not. My fingers are crossed

Porter came out really good