cleaning and staying clean.

Alright, i just cooked up my first batch, its sitting at 81 degrees in my kitchen and dropping. Im just afraid that i will have an infection problem.

I cleaned and thought i sanitized everything, i mean everything in bleach, then rinsed in as hot as i could get water about 20 times. I sanitized the spoon i used to stir, set it in a sanitized cup, pulled it out, stirred and stuck it back in, is that a bad thing??

Is it just anxiety? or should i be afraid. (guess it doesnt pay to worry now)
What do you guys do about your stirring spoon? I know its sanitized while its boiling, but what about when you guys are chilling your wort? The 2 books and video i saw told me to stir the wort as it was cooling, to make the sediment collect in the middle and not have any at the edges so you can syphon.

If you infected it, its probably from using non sterilized water to rinse the chlorine off your sterilized bucket. Thats why many people go to a no-rinse sanitizer like One Step or Idophor.

With that said, you are probably just being paranoid. I was vary paranoid about an infection in my first brew too.

I use the water here in Jersey to rinse and I haven't had an infection yet. Not saying you won't get one, but the odds are with you if the Jersey water is OK!

I brewed for years with bleach, rinsing with tap water with no problems. The only reason I don't anymore is because I am too damned lazy to rinse, so I switched to Iodophor. You'll be fine.

If you use tap water for fermenting, then there is no problems about rinsing with tap water now is there? dont let them scare you, most brewers are anal about the water and like many an up town city slicker only use "bottled water" but jesus, what do you think they used when brewing originally? water from the same river that they pissed, bathed and washed clothes in. I think you will be fine.

As far as the spoon is concerned, the first brew I made I didnt have a stiring spoon so I just used a pair of barbecue tongs that I had lying around (I rinsed the burned off meat under a tap) and that beer came out fine! Its not vegetarian, but its fine!

awesome thanx guys. Man, i know some people are ridiculous about their instructions to clean sanitize and sometimes even sterilize. I was just wondering if its THAT important?? I know they say thats the first thing about brewing, and every book i read they say to. (It is important, im not going to try to try to brew beer in my toilet) But i read on here and some, that have done it for years, act like you can go along with it without being too anal about it.

I just brewed my first batch as well, and I'm in the same spot as you! Paranoid as all get out I didn't sanitize well enough!!!

BrokeCollegeStudent said:

Man, i know some people are ridiculous about their instructions to clean sanitize and sometimes even sterilize. I was just wondering if its THAT important?

Click to expand...

I make all attempts to sanitize everything that comes in contact with the wort/brew for financial reasons. Considering the amount of time and ingredient costs, I figure close attention to sanitation reduces the risk of ruining a batch and losing the time and money invested. I look at it as cheap insurance

Oh ofcourse, I am not trying to underplay sanitation at all! infact, I think everything should be sanitized after I threw out that batch of $45 brew I designed (about $30US) because I failed to sanitise properly. I say its damn important, but worrying about putting a sanitised spoon into a sanitised cup, then using it to stir your wort, thats not that bad. (PS, the "BBQ homebrew" I liked to call it did have stability problems, and after 3 months in the bottle came out with a funky taste, but it was my first homebrew and 95% of it was drunk after the first week! ) but all I was trying to illustrate is some people on here will tell you that the first rule of home brewing is SANITIZE SANITIZE SANITIZE!! but I think the first rule of home brewing is RDWHAHB (Relax, Dont Worry. Have A Home Brew)

Sanitation is very important, yes thats true. And 99% of off flavours in homebrewing come from poor cleaning practices, which is why those books always start of with sanititon. I have come a long way from the "barbeque beer" and will sanitize ANYTHING that comes into contact with my brew, but that doesnt mean I sit there and go "oh crap, I didnt boil the water then chill it in the fridge, and it wasnt even bottled!"..

So yeah, to paraphrase (incase Tx is reading [inside joke]) Dont worry. Yes, be very cautious with your sanition procedures, but dont fret once its bubbling away!