Cleaning

[MinnesnowtaBrew]

Cleaning SUCKS! That's all I wanted to say 💩🍻

 

[captwalt]

Amen

 

[earwig]

Yup it's s the only part about brewing that I don't enjoy.

 

[Fantastical]

The best thing to do is keep up with it as you go. Makes it easier at the end. I've got a good system down so that after I stick the airlock on, I only have to clean my stock pots and the stove.....

But those are pretty annoying as well!

 

[Hammy71]

You need to find some friends that like beer. You invite them (or better yet they invite themselves) to brew day. Feed them beer and let them 'help'. Course....helping is cleaning up. If your friend is too smart for this and refuses to volunteer to clean.....get a new friend.

 

[Obliviousbrew]

Get your wife/girlfriend involve. Mine helps me a lot and mostly with cleaning.

 

[kombat]

75% of good brewing is cleaning. It's the most important part of the process!

I wouldn't say I "enjoy" the cleaning, but at the end of the brew day, I put on some headphones and music, roll up my sleeves, and spend an hour or so scrubbing and rinsing everything. It's much better to do it the same day than to let everything harden and dry on, and try to come back days later and clean everything. Plus, it's rewarding to look around at the end of the day and see a fresh batch in the fermenter, and all your brewing gear sparkling clean, ready to brew again another day.

 

[MinnesnowtaBrew]

75% of good brewing is cleaning. It's the most important part of the process!

I wouldn't say I "enjoy" the cleaning, but at the end of the brew day, I put on some headphones and music, roll up my sleeves, and spend an hour or so scrubbing and rinsing everything. It's much better to do it the same day than to let everything harden and dry on, and try to come back days later and clean everything. Plus, it's rewarding to look around at the end of the day and see a fresh batch in the fermenter, and all your brewing gear sparkling clean, ready to brew again another day.

This exactly what I do on brew day. I guess I was more referring to cleaning the fermenter. I'm always nervous my 6 gallon ale pale primary bucket will get a scratch, enhancing a bacteria breeding ground destination. What are things you guys use to avoid scratches?

 

[Gridlocked]

My next big project is not something I'm looking forward to - a complete brewing gear tear down, deep clean and re-assembly. Thanks to that last article in BYO, I realized that I should do this 2-3 times a year. I'm also pulling my burners, casters, pumps off and getting my stand powder coated which will be nice.

Mr. Clean magic eraser sponges are winners in my book.

 

[Golddiggie]

With my current keggles, cleaning isn't all that bad. Even pulling the spent grain out of the mash tun isn't that bad. Worst part is getting the insides of the keggles cleaned. Still, with the right stuff, it's not that bad. I do plan to set up a CIP system when I go to larger batches.

 

[Nightshade]

I always tell people, "It's a janitor job where the only real benefit is you get to drink when you're finished"

 

[Nightshade]

The best thing to do is keep up with it as you go. Makes it easier at the end. I've got a good system down so that after I stick the airlock on, I only have to clean my stock pots and the stove.....

But those are pretty annoying as well!

This

I clean as I go and by the time the yeast is pitched I just have to clean out the boil kettle and hoses then relax.

 

[Gridlocked]

I clean my vessels really well during and after every session. I use the hot water from the out-side of the immersion chiller to fill the HLT and then the MLT and ultimately pump it through to the boil kettle. It's all the fittings and valves that are the pain. Lately I've been using compressed air to blow most of the liquid out of my pumps after running PBW through them.

 

[neko]

I always tell people, "It's a janitor job where the only real benefit is you get to drink when you're finished"

Most pro brewers I've talked to also say this. "We are just glorified janitors"

 

[thughes]

Shake out the brew bag into the garbage can and rinse out the BK, 10 minutes tops. (advantage BIAB and NC)

 

[45_70sharps]

At the start of the process, I clean and star san everything again. I let everything soak in a bucket of sanitizer as I go along.
Keep cleaning with it as I go.
At the end of the day I mostly hose it all out and fill things up with oxyclean and water. I let it break it down and come back for the real cleaning the next day.
It's usually pretty late when I get done so a good soak is my friend so that I can go off to bed.
When I rack out of a bucket or carboy, I get dump what I can in the toilet, ( yeast should be good for the septic system, right?), then put some hot water in and give it a good slosh and dump it.
Fill it up with oxyclean and water and let it soak. Cleans up real easy after that.
Not that I don't find the clean up a pain also but a good soaking and it all comes clean pretty easy.

 

[Nightshade]

Green scrubbies are also your friend. I usually keep one or two on hand at all times, between the hose and a scrubbie I can get it done pretty quickly and then just use Purisan on what I need to.

Before brewing at home I rinse everything again with water and Purisan just to be sure it's clean. At work it is usually jst the heat transfer block, fermenting vessels and hoses just before being put into use post boil.

 

[Phunhog]

I clean my vessels really well during and after every session. I use the hot water from the out-side of the immersion chiller to fill the HLT and then the MLT and ultimately pump it through to the boil kettle. It's all the fittings and valves that are the pain. Lately I've been using compressed air to blow most of the liquid out of my pumps after running PBW through them.

I do the same thing....use the hot water from my immersion chiller for cleaning. It is basically a CIP system that makes cleaning really easy. I don't really worry about the valves and fittings too much. I figure hot Oxyclean gets recirculated through them for 10-15 minutes and then get rinsed with hot water. Not to mention boiling wort recircs through them when I am brewing.

 

[Yooper]

Get your wife/girlfriend involve. Mine helps me a lot and mostly with cleaning.

yes, because women LOVE cleaning. That's what they live for.

Brewing is hard work and much of the physical work is cleaning mashtuns, washing equipment, and shoveling grain. That's why probrewers wear rubber boots.

 

[diS]

I"ve read somewhere that if you like brewing you will like cleaning...
But somehow I still didn't fully accustomed with it so I mostly brew with my brother who is always willing to help me out with milling, cleaning and other hard works.

 

[Obliviousbrew]

yes, because women LOVE cleaning. That's what they live for.

Brewing is hard work and much of the physical work is cleaning mashtuns, washing equipment, and shoveling grain. That's why probrewers wear rubber boots.

Oh no no... don´t get me wrong my wife is involved in the brew proccess in every aspect of it, we choose what it´s going to be brew together... she is learning make her own recipes, my brew days are our brew days, I have a few brew days of my own too and she just had her first solo brew day 10 days ago. I said mostly with cleaning because I need her help to do the cleaning I live in an apartament and the equipment it´s quite large for washing it in my tiny bathroom so she always helps me with that... but she also helps -every time more- to mash crush grains and actually brew... Needles to say I get te hardest part but we are always a team.... I´m not the kind of guy that thinks that cleaning it´s a girl thing, same thing at home we share all the chores equally.