Bottling bucket sanitation

[AleHole]

I was cleaning my bottling bucket and it made me wonder if you need to be as careful about scratches harboring bacteria in your bottling bucket as you would for a bucket primary? My instinct says no because the beer will only be in contact with the bucket for a short period. However I would like to have some other opinions.

 

[Born Brewing Co.]

beer will only be in contact with the bucket for a short period.

That's all the time it takes for the nasties to ruin your beer. So, yes be careful of scratches and...Sanitize, Sanitize, Sanitize.

 

[feedthebear]

The beer has alcohol in it when it is racked to the bottling bucket, so the risk is smaller.

But there is still risk of contamination.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I treat my bottling bucket the same way I treat my primary, no need to risk infection unnecessarily.

 

[AleHole]

Ok, with that being said does anyone think its safe to store the buckets inside themselves?

 

[FlyGuy]

After bottling, I always try to wash up my bottling bucket first. Then, I mix up about 3 gallons of Star-San in it. The tap at the bottom makes it really handy for washing and sanitizing the rest of the gear, and it comes in especially handy when I brew again or I am racking (sanitizer on tap!).

The added benefit, of course, is that the bucket is always clean and full of sanitizer so there is virtually now way for nasties to grow

Does anyone else do this?

 

[Brewsmith]

I do it with my carboys. My buckets have spigots that I leave off so I can scrub them clean and dry so nothing can fester in the nooks and crannys of the bucket, the spigot and the rubber gaskets.