Equipment for sour beers

So i have a separate thief and siphon. What other equipment do i need to duplicate? Also, what is the best way to store this equipment? Should it always be in sanitizer in order to minimize the risk of spreading brett to the rest of my brew house? Or is that just over cautious newbie talk?

if you want to be super cautious: all plastics should be separate. tubing, thief, auto-siphon, fermentor/secondary (if plastic), bottling bucket & spigot, & bottling wand, etc.

storing them separate, or in sanitizer, is overkill IMO. i sanitize my "wild plastics" before putting them away but they aren't segregated.

Use separate plastics as much as possible. Sanitize before and after use and you should be OK.

I think I recently got a cross infection. Normal yeast stored in a couple of mason jars developed pellicles. I have a feeling the rubber in the lid harboured the bugs. I have generally just washed them after use, and sanitized with idophor before use. I'm going to start putting them in a glass jug with boiling water poured over them in the future.

After several years of making sours, I have never had a normal batch infected.

What about plastic fermenters? ya or nay?

TipsySaint said:

What about plastic fermenters? ya or nay?

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Opinions vary. You will get both camps here. I brew on average more than once a week and use the same equipment including better botles for all my beers, at least half of which are wild. I use the same bottling bucket for everything, though I generally store at least partially filled with starsan.

i use a different siphon tubing, auto siphon and bottling equipment. other than that, i have a "dedicated" better bottle that says "SOUR" on it, but i've used most of the equipment back and forth and its' fine.

Only 1 dedicated carboy? how long do you let them age for?

quite awhile - i don't make many sours. I have a glass carboy i use as well for them

Any reason to keep a dedicated glass carboy or is this a strictly plastic only? I'm interested in brewing my first sour, but don't want to cross contaminate.

glass can be sanitized completely because it's surfaces are smooth - there are no cracks and scratches for the bugs to hide in. be sure to sanitize completely and thoroughly. after a good cleaning with PBW to get rid of the big stuff, i fill my carboy over halfway with star san, let that soak for 2 minutes or more, then turn it upside down to get the other half of the carboy and give that 2+ minutes.