Cleaning vs. Sanitizing

[Johnnyquest85]

I am new to brewing and bought a kit from midwestsupplies.com... I brew my first batch (Irish stout) and used the following "cleaner" that was provided
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/easy-clean-jar-w-screw-off-lid.html
My question after looking around should I have been using a sanitizer? It looks like this is a "cleaner" is there a big difference? I was assuming that since that is what was provided with the kit, that it was all I needed. I took care to follow the directions and soak in the solution, so I am hoping everything works out. Thank you for everyones help.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

Yes, there is a huge difference. You need to have both. Cleaner helps cleans the organic crap off of surfaces. Sanitizer kills micro organisms to negligible levels. You need to kill the micro organisms because when you boil the wort, and create an ideal condition for yeast to grow, you create ideal conditions for anything else to grow as well...

 

[Johnnyquest85]

So I am screwed?

 

[Shaneoco1981]

Well, your options at this point are throw it out or throw it out... Either you throw it out now or hope for the best, and let it ferment and try it. If it's bad, you know why.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

But I would definitely recommend that before you attempt another batch, to get some no rinse sanitizer. Star san or iodophor are the two big ones on the market. Only ones I use.

 

[dirtyjerz]

I would let it ride. Give it a taste before you bottle.

 

[ryandlf]

Why not wait and see what happens? There is a perfectly good chance that there was no infection. But ya...sanitation is key...you must clean and sterilize EVERYTHING that will be touching your wort post boil.

 

[Golddiggie]

Screwed? Maybe, maybe not... IF the batch comes out ok, then you got lucky. If not, then you already know why. Well, if it has an infection, or something that came about from not using a sanitizer.

In the future, use a sanitizer as well as cleaning everything properly. I clean everything before making a batch, or when done with the previous batch (usually easier). Then sanitize anything that is going to be in contact with the wort post boil. That includes the fermenter, bungs, funnels, tubes, spoons, etc. Once the boil is over, you need to sanitize anything that is going into contact with the wort. Otherwise you leave yourself wide open to contamination. Same thing applies when you go to bottle the batch. Sanitize EVERYTHING at that point...

My sanitizer of choice is StarSan... Easy to use, easy to mix, no rinsing needed and recognized as one of the top products in the category. I also picked up PBW recently and am giving that a try. Seems to be working really well, as I expected.

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

Don't throw it out! Your stuff was clean, and the product description says its a no rinse bleaching agent, so there most likely is not an infection. Let it ride and see how it tastes when you take a gravity reading before bottling.

 

[Johnnyquest85]

Great thanks ill see what happens *finger crossed* - Just a little frustrating when the kit says "everything you need to brew your first kit except the kettle and bottles". I'll chalk it up to Newbee inexperience.

 

[Brak23]

You might be out of luck, but you won't know until you try it. I know my first brew I made some sanitation mistakes, but it turned out ok. Just let it ride and see what happens.

Cleaning = Remove debris, and physical grim.
Sanitizing = Removing MOST (not all) bacteria that might be present.

For my own brews I clean all my equipment after each use and sometimes a couple days before a brew day, just in case. Then the day of, I make sure to sanitize everything I am going to use.

I started with bleach and quickly realized how terrible it is. I switched to StarSan and its like heaven to sanitize. I highly suggest it.

 

[Golddiggie]

Great thanks ill see what happens *finger crossed* - Just a little frustrating when the kit says "everything you need to brew your first kit except the kettle and bottles". I'll chalk it up to Newbee inexperience.

As the saying goes "Live and learn, die and forget it all"...

Just get some StarSan before you go to bottle or brew another batch. I'm about to get a new bottle since I'm almost out of the first one I bought... I picked up the 8oz bottle back in November. It has about 1oz left in it... I've brewed 10 batches so far with that much, including bottling up almost 10 batches (I have two left to bottle before I hit 10)...

 

[o4_srt]

Beer has been brewed for thousands of years before sanitizer. Let it go, an see what happens.

 

[Johnnyquest85]

What would be some of the bad flavors I would be looking for when I taste the beer before I bottle it. Will the bad taste be pronounced at that stage?

 

[theredben]

You will probably not notice any off-flavours. You will have to wait and see though.

Possible off-flavours include just about anything you can imagine. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[SoonerDoc]

I did the same thing. Midwest passes that cleaner off as a sanitizer as well (general consensus here is it is not). I think you can find arguments either way. I didn't have any problems with my first brew but I did get StarSan for my second batch. I highly recommend StarSan for sanitizing and using their cleaner for just that, cleaning.

 

[jwplessner]

Off flavors can range from subtle to obvious, but between brew day and tasting day lots of good stuff happens. You have to give the beer time and if it's properly conditioned and you detect unexpected flavors, thats the time to break out the off flavor charts. Visual indicators are the same way.

 

[MaltMonster]

You will most likely have very good, drinkable beer (unless you made a drastic mistake). Many first-time brewers only use Easy Clean for their first batch and it comes out fine. The reason: you're using brand new equipment. Now go out and buy some Star San before you do anything else.

 

[MaltMonster]

What would be some of the bad flavors I would be looking for when I taste the beer before I bottle it. Will the bad taste be pronounced at that stage?

Here is a list of common off-flavors: Click Here

 

[integrator]

I brewed my first 4 batches without a sanitizer and they were OK. You will probably be fine. But go buy some StarSan

 

[TTB-J]

Easy Clean, like One Step, is a combination cleanser and sanitizer. It's basically a stronger version of Oxy Clean. There is very little chance of any nasty micro-organism surviving a minute long soak in that stuff. That being said, other things are cheaper and more effective (and sometimes reusable), just pick something that you're comfortable with and don't worry about it.

To be clear: you could use and others have used Easy Clean and only Easy Clean on every single batch of beer for the rest of your life and never have a problem. If you properly soaked everything in that stuff, then you, like everyone else using a variety of products, have little chance of getting an infection.

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

Yea don’t toss. My first few batches that were all kits I just used the packet of cleaner that came with the kit and never had an issue. I now use a sanitizer also just to be safe but the beers that I didn’t use a separate sanitizer still came out fine.

 

[Slurm]

Easy Clean has been sold as a sanitizer for many years. They are not currently considered a sanitizer by the FDA. There is significant debate as to why -some say due to changing requirements, some say due to costs of FDA fees.

It's not bad stuff. It works well enough. Star-San is better. So when you use up the small batch of Easy-Clean that came with your kit, buy a bottle of Star-San as a replacement.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

And I also recommend to get PBW as your cleaner. And I didn't mean to tell you to throw your stuff out. I meant keep it and pray for the best. I got my fingers crossed for you. Cheers

 

[Johnnyquest85]

I will let you know how it comes out. I also order some Star-San for racking and bottling. Thanks again for everyones help.

 

[ImShero]

If you know anyone with a bar or restaurant see if you can score some quat off of them... I snagged a 2.5 gallon of concentrated quat to mix up for all my sanitizing needs... easy stuff and lasts forever.

 

[jonmohno]

The one-step cleaner i use is not legally considered a sanitizer but its all ive ever used and never have had and infection or a gushing beer. The op is probably fine in fact if you rinse well after and before so you dont have gunk i bet it would be fine to just clean it throughly-i really doubt anything would go wrong with throughly cleaned equipment.Im meaning cleaned as right before using it.

 

[Special Hops]

DO NOT DUMP THE BATCH It will be fine. I used pbw for years nor realizing and things turned out alright. I use starsan now though.

 

[stinkydadhomebrew]

I just bottled my first batch from Midwest and used nothing but the easy clean that came with the kit...so far so good. Tastings after primary fermentation were good. I think you'll/we'll be fine.

 

[jollytim]

Absolutely do NOT dump it. If you used what was provided as a sanitizer with due diligence, it will be okay. It doesn't have to say SANITIZER to work as one (ie One-Step). I've been doing this for .... well decades. I didn't use StarSan until 2 years ago. I used One-Step first 5 years ago. Before that, and many times since, bleach. If those methods had not been successful, I would've given up years ago.

Yes there is a difference between cleaning and sanitizing. But some products can do both. And yes there is a huge emphasis on sanitizing... I wouldn't suggest NOT doing it, but he dirty little secret is (no pun intended) that sanitizing is not absolutely necessary. No what I just claimed is not sacrilege. Sanitizing will increase the probability of success immensely, but it doesn't guarantee it. Neither does NOT sanitizing guarantee failure.

As has been mentioned, many a beer has been brewed for thousands of years before we knew anything about sanitizing.

Short story long.... don't worry about it. You'll only really know for sure after you've gone through all the steps and taste the final product.

 

[Opivy]

I did the exact same thing with my first batch... I don't see why they say everything included when there isn't a sanitizer.

My recipe was a brown ale, and it ended up having a slight wine like taste. (kinda vinegar) it was barely noticeable though, and after 2 weeks in the bottle you really had to concentrate to taste it.

So, I would say definitely keep it.

 

[BaldManBrew]

Another vote for PBW for your cleaner, and starsan for your sanitizer. Both very easy to use. I doubt there is anyone on these boards that didn't mess something up with their beer.