Excuse me if this topic has been talked about before (it surely has), but I couldn't find it with a search. I just transferred my first batch of homebrew (porter) to the secondary fermenter and am hoping to bottle it sometime next week. Since I have a strong background in chemistry, everything so far is pretty intuitive, but sanitization seems kind of mystical.
While I have some free time tonight, I plan on cleaning and removing the labels from my large collection of bottles. I figured that I might as well save some time and sanitize the bottles simultaneously (or directly after removing the labels).
My question is, how long after you sanitize something can it sit and still be considered sanitized? Obviously, this depends on a number of factors, but just a general rule - hours, days, weeks?
Is it different for different pieces of equipment? Plastic beer buckets, tubing, carboys, bottles?
And is there anything special you do to keep it sanitized for a while, besides putting it in a box and covering it up?
Thanks in advance.
While I have some free time tonight, I plan on cleaning and removing the labels from my large collection of bottles. I figured that I might as well save some time and sanitize the bottles simultaneously (or directly after removing the labels).
My question is, how long after you sanitize something can it sit and still be considered sanitized? Obviously, this depends on a number of factors, but just a general rule - hours, days, weeks?
Is it different for different pieces of equipment? Plastic beer buckets, tubing, carboys, bottles?
And is there anything special you do to keep it sanitized for a while, besides putting it in a box and covering it up?
Thanks in advance.