How often should I Sanitize??

Ok i'm kinda new to homebrewing and have only brewed 3 batches, but i am very cautious when it comes to sanitizing. I hardly keep any of my equipment that i'll be using out of a sanitized solution (primarily 5 gallons of water with iodophor). What I was wondering was if i could ease off on these drastic measure I take and have a rdwhahb kind of attitude or if i should keep up my diligent work. I guess its always better to be safe then sorry but i hate always being tense when i brew due to the fact that i am always concerned about infection to my wonderful nectar of nature that i am producing.


any tips or comments are always appreciated.



brew on my brothers!!

Am I understanding this to mean that you actually STORE your gear in sanitizer between uses? That's might be overkill, but...

one thing you might be able to relax on is your boiling gear. No need to sanitize your hop bags, grain bags, kettle, spoon, etc. that stuff is going to be going into boiling liquid and need not be sanitized before use.

-walker

I think a little bit of paranoia is good for you. The last thing you want is to have to toss a batch because you wanted to see how lax you could get with sanitation.

I dont store anything in sanitizer. In fact if you are using iodaphor, it looses its sanitizing properties after a while. I also dont sanitize anything that gets boiled. But I do my best to rinse and sanitize anything else that may have contact with unfermented wort.

- magno

no, i didn't not mean that i store my equipment when i'm "not" using it. But when i'm brewing i usually keep my equipment in the sanitized water and take out when i need it, rinse it, use it, rinse it again, and put back into the sanitized water .... when i am done brewing/racking/bottling i then rinse all my gear and store it (not in sanitized water).

sorry for the confusion

Tale Of An Ale said:

no, i didn't not mean that i store my equipment when i'm "not" using it. But when i'm brewing i usually keep my equipment in the sanitized water and take out when i need it, rinse it, use it, rinse it again, and put back into the sanitized water .... when i am done brewing/racking/bottling i then rinse all my gear and store it (not in sanitized water).

sorry for the confusion

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Thats pretty much what I do too. Hey it's gotta go somewhere you know. Might as well be a bucket with some sanitized water in it.

Tale Of An Ale said:

no, i didn't not mean that i store my equipment when i'm "not" using it. But when i'm brewing i usually keep my equipment in the sanitized water and take out when i need it, rinse it, use it, rinse it again, and put back into the sanitized water .... when i am done brewing/racking/bottling i then rinse all my gear and store it (not in sanitized water).

sorry for the confusion

Click to expand...

Yep I follow the same practice. I xfer the sanitizer to the fermentor or bottling vessle and try to do two seperate things to seperate batches in the same session. i.e. brew a batch and then bottle a batch.

Tale Of An Ale said:

no, i didn't not mean that i store my equipment when i'm "not" using it. But when i'm brewing i usually keep my equipment in the sanitized water and take out when i need it, rinse it, use it, rinse it again, and put back into the sanitized water .... when i am done brewing/racking/bottling i then rinse all my gear and store it (not in sanitized water).

sorry for the confusion

Click to expand...

What you are doing is not overkill at all. I think that your cautious approach will pay big dividends in the long run. The only thing I wouldn't do is rinse the no-rinse sanitizer off with water before using that piece of equipment. That is defeating the purpose of the sanitizer, and it is not necessary. Everything else is fine.

John