Sanitization question

I know that everything that comes in contact with wort/beer after boil should be sanitized properly.

How many of you actually sanitize the outside of the bucket lid prior to opening (for samples/racking etc)?

I just thought of this last night while I was admiring the bubbles coming from the blowoff tube. There is a little bit of wort residue just under the lip of the lid. I thought this would be an ideal place for wild bacteria to grow and attempt an ambush when I open the lid. I have a feeling that many are going to say RDWHAHB, but I think I am going to wipe it down anyway. It will only take a few minutes and give me peace of mind.

what you can do is get an empty spray bottle and fill it with sanitized water. always keep it around and use it as needed.

Typically one doesn't open the lid until fermentation is suspected of being complete. Therefore, the wort is now beer, albeit flat, but beer just the same. It also has an alcohol content that would kill most intruders. Secondly, since CO2 is heavier than air, there is a CO2 barrier between the beer and the outside which would further protect the beer. So unless your hands have just come out of the septic tank, you probably don't have much to worry about. Plus, try to not touch anything but the outside of the lid that is always exposed to the elements anyway.

I don't take the lid off. 1/4" copper tubing (14" long/piece of flexible hose attached) slips nicely through the airlock grommet. Stick the copper in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes to sanitize then siphon the sample through the grommet hole. Works for me!

Keeping a spray bottle of mixed Starsan around is great for sanitizing...well just about everything.

Thanks. The good thing is that I won't be messing with it until I suspect fermentation is complete + a few days. I was very impatient with a couple batches I did a few years ago and messed with them. They didn't turn out so good; don't know why, but it was probably due to me being impatient and peeking.

Edcculus said:

Keeping a spray bottle of mixed Starsan around is great for sanitizing...well just about everything.

Click to expand...

How long will star san be effective in the spray bottle?

Think about everything you would spray. the buckets, lids, airlocks, racking canes and tubing, turkey baster, your hands and other items used in specialty brews. One spray bottle doesnt last more than a month if you brew regularly. Dont worry about it going bad.

I use a spray bottle for exactly tat reason. Anytime I am opening a fermenter, I spray the area, then when about to replace the lid or bung, I spray everything again, inside and out. And my hands as well.

I don't think, in brewing, there is any such thing as being too sanitary. I'm not a worry wort (get it) about how easy it is to get infections, and the biggest reason I'm not, is that it's really not hard to spray things down with sanitizer, or to take that extra precaution.

Awesome! Thanks. Now I just gotta get a spray bottle with star san mixed up.

I have a quart sized spray bottle and iirc, I use 2 ml of starsan with distilled water, it lasts forever. I have one of those plastic eyedropper thingies used to give cough medicine and other liquids to children. It has both fluid oz and ml's I think. Or teaspoons and mls.

Revvy said:

I have a quart sized spray bottle and iirc, I use 2 ml of starsan with distilled water, it lasts forever. I have one of those plastic eyedropper thingies used to give cough medicine and other liquids to children. It has both fluid oz and ml's I think. Or teaspoons and mls.

Click to expand...

When you say it lasts forever, are you talking about the quantity? Doesn't star san lose sanitizing "power" after some time? Sorry, It might be a dumb question because obviously it works for you.

152Sumo said:

When you say it lasts forever, are you talking about the quantity? Doesn't star san lose sanitizing "power" after some time? Sorry, It might be a dumb question because obviously it works for you.

Click to expand...

Both. A little goes a long way. I have a 32 ounce bottle that is over a year old that is not even half gone, and I brew quite a lot.

One of these;



And Starsan works as long as the ph is below 3.0. And in a sealed container, like a spray bottle, using RO, or distilled water without many minerals that will degrade it, it lasts for months and months. I can't really tell you how long, because I use it a lot, so I need to refill it every few weeks or so. Often even when the bottle is half gone, I'll top it off with a little starsan and water.

A good thread about sanitizing with lots of tips to stretch your sanitzer a long way can be found here;
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54932

Thanks, Revvy.

Yea, its an acid sanitizer, so as long as the pH is right, you will still sanitize. There are some worries with really hard water. If that concerns you, just use distilled. The bonus to this is that you can mix only a gallon at a time. Since the foam sanitizes too, you don't really need that much to sanitize big objects like fermenters.

152Sumo said:

Awesome! Thanks. Now I just gotta get a spray bottle with star san mixed up.

Click to expand...

You can get them at Walmart for like a buck.