Cleaning brewing equipment???

[Singleinfusion208]

Hello I have a somewhat stupid question to ask you guy's. Well here my question after I brew I clear my fermenter, airlock , ranking crane an hose, my brew kette an ball valve with PBW. I thoroughly clean all of those thing's so after all that I don't brew but ever few months. So basically what I am asking is when I Bring out my equipment to brew again should I re-clean my equipment with some PBW or should I just rinse out my fermenter, airlock an my other equipment with some warm water to get the Dust an other stuff off before I brew.?

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

I usually give it a good cleaning after I'm done brewing. Then... When brew day comes around again, I sanitize everything in star San.

 

[Dcpcooks]

When do you sanitize?

 

[bolus14]

I usually give it a good cleaning after I'm done brewing. Then... When brew day comes around again, I sanitize everything in star San.

+1

I use Oxi Clean Free to clean the kettle, racking cane, hoses, etc. then tip them over or allow them to hand in the garage for a couple hours to "drip dry," then put them away. Next brew day comes I give everything a quick rinse while I'm filling up my bucket of plain water. Then I make up about 1.5-2 gal of sanitizer and let things soak in that while I'm brewing.

If I use anything during the boil and use it again after the boil then it gets rinse in the rinse bucket and put in the sanitizer bucket until I need it again.

 

[eric19312]

Hello I have a somewhat stupid question to ask you guy's. Well here my question after I brew I clear my fermenter, airlock , ranking crane an hose, my brew kette an ball valve with PBW. I thoroughly clean all of those thing's so after all that I don't brew but ever few months. So basically what I am asking is when I Bring out my equipment to brew again should I re-clean my equipment with some PBW or should I just rinse out my fermenter, airlock an my other equipment with some warm water to get the Dust an other stuff off before I brew.?

What is this dust on your brewing equipment you mention? How does that happen?

 

[Kee]

What is this dust on your brewing equipment you mention? How does that happen?

Hahaha. I hope to never see dust on my equipment.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I clean everything after brewing and then rinse everything off again right before it's next use. The stuff that needs to be sanitized gets dunked in star san instead of water before being used again. It probably wouldn't technically hurt anything if you didn't rinse the kettle. It'll all be sanitized by heat while brewing, but I can't stand the thought of collected dust getting in my beer. You pretty much always want to get any sediment out of your fermenter though. It could harbor microbes that the star SAN won't get to.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I clean everything at the end of the brew day, and then store it upside down so that it can dry. You could throw a sheet or tarp over it also. "Cean" is a relative term with me - if I can't see anything or feel anything after a PBW wash, then it is clean.

As for santization, the only thing I sanitize is my fermenters. Anything that survives the boil has earned the right to ruin my beer or make me sick. I use a pump for whirlpool, so I hook that up and run it for a few minutes towards the end of the boil. I also run PBW through it when I am cleaning, and then rinse everything well.

We've been making beer a lot longer than we have had PBW or stainless steel.

 

[soccerdad]

If you clean when you are done (I use home made brewers wash), then you can just rinse anything 'hot side' .. kettle, ball valve, small cups that hops and whirlfloc sit in for an hour, mash paddle, chiller. Then star san anything used post boil .. racking cane or auto siphon, tubing for same, fermenter, additional use of paddle, spoon, airlock and plug, yeast tools. A wallpaper tray is handy for dumping a quart or two of star san mix into for the long tools. A spray bottle with star san mix also helps. I tend to mix the star san in the carboy, swish it to cover all inside surfaces, then pour it into the wallpaper tray. Whatever is left in the wall paper tray after pitching will get used in the clean up, but I am aware that it's effectiveness is gone when it dries

 

[GrogNerd]

yep.

clean everything after use. next brew day everything used before the boil gets only a rinse, all equipment after the boil gets cleaned (yes, again... probably not necessary, but it doesn't hurt) AND sanitized before use, including bottling equipment when it's time to bottle.

 

[daphatgrant]

I cut down a couple heavy duty clear contractor garbage bags and use them as covers to keep dust and whatnot off of my kettles. They are going to get super heated and have boiling liquid in them so as long as there isn't anything I can see visibly the kettles are good to go.

As far as the fermenters go they get a quick scrub before every use. I'll wash them, add some saniclean and throw everything in the fermenter that I'll be using, airlock, lid gasket, transfer hose etc. This also gives me a chance to check the valve for leaks. Before the actual transfer I'll pour out the saniclean, rinse and spray down with starsan.