Cleaning vs Sanitizing. New to this and need help!

I am very new to brewing. Just finished my first brew of Whisky Stout. What's the best way to clean/and or sanitize your equipment? I've heard you don't want to use soap! Also, I've heard that you only "clean" when the equipment is visibly soiled! So does that mean just rinse everything when your done and then just sanitize when you start a new batch? Also, what is the best cleaning products? I keep seeing Starsan. I hear the no rinse sanitizers are the best since you don't have to rinse with tap water. So, basically, do I clean and then sanitize or is there a method that does both all in one? Any helpful advise would be appreciated! Thanks

Clean first. Then sanitize.

What I use is a hot water & oxyclean (the "free" version, no dyes/perfumes, etc..) to clean the equipment. Then a good rinsing with water followed by an appropriate starsan solution to sanitize. And no, you don't need to rinse off the starsan. Don't fear the foam!

As far as being careful about cleaning, what you want to avoid is scratching the inside of your plastic fermenters as this could possibly provide a place for bacteria to grow. If you are using stainless steel, or cleaning your boil kettle or glass carboy for instance, don't worry about scratching.

I would clean the equipment as soon as possible after using it though. Once the wort has a chance to cool down and solidify on your equipment, it's tough to clean without scratching.

There is no true one-step product, despite what some may say. There are plenty of products out there that work great. My personal recommendation is Oxyclean Free (no dyes or perfumes) to clean and Starsan to sanitize.

Check this out: http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Sunday-Session/Page-23

About half-way down, you'll see the link for "Sanitation with Charley Talley (of Fivestar Chemicals)" - great show - give it a listen

I mostly just rinse most things thoroughly with hot water, unless there is visual muck or whatever. Then I first try removing the muck with my hand, or a soft sponge. Then if that fails a soak in oxyclean. Carboys always require the oxyclean cause the krausen leaves a definite stiff residue. The key is rinse immediately with hot water after using any particular equipment (tubing, autosiphon, bucket, hydrometer, etc); that way pretty much everything can be rinsed off with hot water (except during fermentation in the carboy, or bucket if you use a bucket, cause there will be a bunch of dried on gunk).

Starsan is the best stuff for sanitizing IMHO. In a spray bottle it's invaluable for quickly sanitizing lots of random stuff.

Steam - if your working with metal fermenter/kegs, etc. then steam can clean and sanitize in one shot.

Otherwise I go the Oxyclean/StarSan or Iodophor method. I like having both sanitizers as sometimes I don't want the foam. Try shooting some StarSan through a beer filtration setup and you will fear the foam.

Great idea on keeping the Starsan! How long will it keep in the spray bottle

Dawgbrew said:

Great idea on keeping the Starsan! How long will it keep in the spray bottle

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Not sure, but I've seen that discussion here on HBT. IIRC as long as it remains acidic below around pH 3.0 it's good. But look for those threads to make sure. I don't worry as long as my turnover in my spray bottle is pretty decent, like every 2 to 3 weeks I'm refilling it with new stuff, and I've never checked the actual pH.

Dawgbrew said:

Great idea on keeping the Starsan! How long will it keep in the spray bottle

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I generally make a batch of starstan when I brew, then keep it until that particular beer is bottled or kegged, obviously using it to sanitize my equipment throughout the process.

If you want to really know if your starsan is good, use some pH paper or a pH meter and so long as the pH is below 3, you are good.