Sanitize CO2 regulator?

This may be a silly question, but being new to the brewing process, I had a thought when I bought my CO2 regulator off eBay. Nice little dual product TapRite CO2 Regulator. Does the regulator need to be sanitized? I would sanitize the lines coming from the actual CO2 tank and the line coming from the regulator to the keg, but do the internals of the CO2 regulator need to be sanitized? I have to believe there are germs that could be manifesting inside there....

I would give her a nice surface cleaning with starsan in a spray bottle and use brand new gas lines when you hook it up

I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to sanitization, but I have never thought of germs inside the regulator, now that could be a viable concern, but I think it is tipping more towards Howard Hughes germophobic in nature.

i never even thought about sanitizing my regulator, all is good.

no way I am opening up my regulator to sanitize it. I'm bound to do more harm than good....

heh. how many life forms can live in 850psi and zero oxygen?

Thanks guys, I was just wondering it while looking at the regulator like "i wonder...."

mordantly said:

heh. how many life forms can live in 850psi and zero oxygen?

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I don't know, but if there is something that can live in those conditions, it is probably very very evil.

Walker said:

I don't know, but if there is something that can live in those conditions, it is probably very very evil.

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I don't think evil. If a microbe has evolved to live under extreme conditions it is unlikely to fare well against microbes that have evolved under fermentation conditions. Also, regarding " heh. how many life forms can live in 850psi and zero oxygen? " we need to agree on what we mean by "live." If "live" means grow and be metabolically active, then 850 psi and zero oxygen is unlikely to be favorable. However, if "live" means to survive, then there is certainly a chance for microbes to be in the CO2 that could contaminate the brew. My guess is the CO2 manufacture process must include a HEPA filtration step, but I can't find whether this is in fact the case. Spores of Bacillus bacteria have been shown to survive in space, even when exposed to solar radiation Long-term survival of bacterial spores in space