newb ? on sanitization

looks like this weekend will be the big day for my first brew, and I have a pretty good idea of what I am doing (i've ready palmer, several times), lurked here quite a bit, and will have another set of instructions with my equipment coming from MWS. So, I'm pretty comfortable on how everything should go down, but I do have one question on sanitization.

When you guys sanitize your "little stuff" what do you do with it after its been cleaned? For instance I'm going to sanitize a stainless steel strainer for pouring into the primary, once it is sanitary, what do you do to keep it that way? My current idea is that I'm going to sanitize two medium sized coolers, keeping a couple gallons of boiled water in one, and putting everything i've sanitized into the 2nd one, that way they can both be closed off.

Am I too paranoid about this, is it safe to just lay your sanitized equipment on a piece of wax paper on the counter top?

Same ? goes for bottling, can you sanitize your bottles in advance? I'm guessing the longer you wait to bottle after sanitizing the better chance of airborne bacteria getting in......what is common? Sanitize the day of? Day before? How do you store them after they are sanitized?

Sorry for all the questions, hopefully I'm overthinking it, but hopefully that will ensure a drinkable first batch.

I keep an extra bucket on-hand just for sanitizing fluid. I leave all my stuff in there until I get ready to use it then just shake off the excess water.

For my small stuff I cut the side out of a gallon milk carton. I leave the handle and spout in place and just cut down near the halfway mark. This leaves an opening large enough for a hand to fit inside to retrieve the smaller parts.

For bottling I recommend a drying tree. There are 2 types. I REALLY reconned the one that rotates. It's easier to load/unload when on a counter. You can sanitize whil the brew is boiling, but wait until there's no chance of a boil over before walking away.

Also, pick up one of those spray-type bottle sanitizers. You fill it with fluid and push the bottle down and the fluid squirts inside the bottle. It also mounts to the top of the bottle tree, but I use mine on a countertop.

Some clean foil and do a light spritz of bleach water and leave my utensils there, after they've been sanitized, with another later of foil on top of them in order to keep all dust off.

Wow, that was quick...thanks folks. While we are on the subject, what is the easiest way to sanitize a carboy? I see the "60 second' sanitizers, and I was guessing you would put a gallon or so in the carboy, lay it on it's side and rotate it to sanitize the inside complete....again maybe I'm overthinking it.

Guess it depends on what you use.

I use idophor (sp?) and fill the carboy to the top, add the appropriate amount of sanitizer, let it sit for a few minutes and then air dry.

I assume starsan is equally as easy.

I leave my small parts IN the sanitizer when I'm not ready for them. I know a lot of folks mix up insane volumes of sanitizer for their brew which I suppose is OK if you use one that has a decent shelf life (use over and over). I use either Iodophor or One Step and they don't keep. I mix up about a gallon total on brew day. First, remember that you only need to sanitize stuff that touches cooled wort.

First, 1 gallon goes into the fermenter. Shake it up a few times to coat the walls, then dump it into a small bucket and let it sit upside down for a few minutes to drip. Cover the top with a piece of paper towel that you dip in sanitizer. Carboy is ready for wort. Now put your carboy cap, air lock, bung, thermometer, whatevers into your small bucket. If you have larger items like a strainer, just fill up a spray bottle with sanitzer and spritz it. That's the beauty of on-contact or short contact sanitizers.

Thanks all. Good info all around. I feel alot better going into the weekend now.

I mix up 5 gallons of StarSan at a time, but I keep using it until it starts turning cloudy; I store it in a soda keg. One of the best things I've found for sanitizing equipment is a wallpaper tray. Put all of your stuff (racking canes, airlocks, etc.) in it and fill it with sanitizer. It doubles as a storage tray for all the small stuff when you aren't brewing.

I also keep a spray bottle with StarSan solution in it on hand to spritz stuff I'm using periodically.

Buford said:

I mix up 5 gallons of StarSan at a time, but I keep using it until it starts turning cloudy; I store it in a soda keg. One of the best things I've found for sanitizing equipment is a wallpaper tray. Put all of your stuff (racking canes, airlocks, etc.) in it and fill it with sanitizer. It doubles as a storage tray for all the small stuff when you aren't brewing.

I also keep a spray bottle with StarSan solution in it on hand to spritz stuff I'm using periodically.

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Yep - I do all of this too. Star San, a spritz bottle, and the wallpaper tray make sanitization SO much easier.

Regarding bottles, I generally wash them a day or two before I brew, then I have a sulphiter that jets star san inside the bottles just before I am ready to fill them. That's a big help, too, because it allows you to spread the chore of bottle washing across a couple of nights. Alternatively, if you have swing cap bottles, you can also clean them as you use them, put some Star San inside, close them up and put them away until bottling day. I have had good success with just uncapping, spritzing the neck/cap with fresh Star San, and bottle.

I do a similar thing with my StarSan except I only make about 10L at a time. I have a piece of 15cm diameter CPVC piping that I have an end-cap on that I just stand on the floor filled with StarSan to keep my spoons, syphons, etc in while brewing. They basically live in there unless actively being used. The empty tube also makes a great storage place for those items.

bradsul said:

I do a similar thing with my StarSan except I only make about 10L at a time. I have a piece of 15cm diameter CPVC piping that I have an end-cap on that I just stand on the floor filled with StarSan to keep my spoons, syphons, etc in while brewing. They basically live in there unless actively being used. The empty tube also makes a great storage place for those items.

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Hey Brad -- I do this too, except that I use a bleach solution in my PVC tube. Have you had any problems with storing your plastics in Star San? I used to do that, but then I read on another forum that the acid degrades plastic. I never actually tested the claim myself. If it works for you, I am going to go back to doing it because it was so convenient (just yank out the tool and no-rinse, ready to go!).

FlyGuy said:

Hey Brad -- I do this too, except that I use a bleach solution in my PVC tube. Have you had any problems with storing your plastics in Star San? I used to do that, but then I read on another forum that the acid degrades plastic. I never actually tested the claim myself. If it works for you, I am going to go back to doing it because it was so convenient (just yank out the tool and no-rinse, ready to go!).

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I don't store them long term, just when I'm actually brewing. Once I'm finished I pour the starsan back into the main bucket and just keep everything in the tube for storage. I've not noticed any problems with plastic degrading in my main storage bucket. It's one of those 23L all-juice wine kit buckets.

I don't think StarSan will bother HDPE and PET plastics but it will make clear vinyl tubing milky looking and a little tacky to the touch if you leave it in there overnight. The vinyl returns to normal appearance after a little while though.

remember anything you're using before or during the boil doesn't need to be sanitized. Clean helps though So what does that leave? Primary, secondary when it's time, siphoning equip and bottles. I think some people take the sanitation thing way overboard, but then again I've not yet had an infected batch. Just 2 bottles that somehow got left out of the cleaning process.

I'd rather go overboard on the sanitation than not; the stuff is so cheap anyway. I use StarSan in a spray bottle and I'll spray everything down after the boil is started and then again right before the end of the boil. And near the end of the boil I'll spray down my hands too.

DML said:

Same ? goes for bottling, can you sanitize your bottles in advance? I'm guessing the longer you wait to bottle after sanitizing the better chance of airborne bacteria getting in......what is common? Sanitize the day of? Day before? How do you store them after they are sanitized?

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I've taken to using a campden no-rinse sanitizer. I just make up a few litres of solution with 1.5g campden per litre plus a capful of vinigar. I then just sanitise my bottle tree with this solution, then for each bottle, put some solution in, swirl it around, empty out and put bottle straight on the bottle tree. I can sanitise 50 bottles in about 10 minutes this way.

Of course, this means washing the bottles very well beforehand as this method won't remove any dirt but washing can be done at any time. Generally every time I have 20 empties I make a solution of caustic sanitiser, soak them for an hour and clean them with a bottle brush on an electric drill then rinse with one of those spray attachments for a tap. This ensures that all they need is the quick rinse in sanitiser on bottling day.