Cooler Mash Tun Sanitation

[njnear76]

Hi Guys,

I was wondering how you guys clean and sanitize your mash tuns. I was also wondering how much of a concern you had about getting scratches in your mash tun from using braided steel hoses.

I recently put mine together and I'm a little bit worried about the loose strands scratching the hell out of the bottom of the mash tun. Maybe I shouldn't worry that much about it since I would be boiling the wort for over an hour. What are your thoughts? Thanks.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Its preboil - No real need to sanatize. Just need ot get good and clean

 

[Sea]

Sanitize the mash tun????

 

[david_42]

I wash mine out with a soft sponge and use boiling water to pre-heat it. I suspect that kills most of the nasties.

 

[Bobby_M]

I literally just hose mine out after dumping the spent grain out. I don't "wash" it ever. In the early days of brewing, they used to mash in half a wooden barrel. I think even a dirty plastic cooler is a step up. Anything preboil doesn't matter.

 

[RichBrewer]

Clean it good as soon as you can after sparging. I usually clean mine while the wort is coming to a boil. It is much easier to clean as hot water usually gets everything. If you wait the sticky sugars get tougher to remove. Make sure it is dry and then it's ready for storage.
Remember, the only things that need to be sanitized are items that touch the wort/beer after it has cooled. Everything else should be clean but that's it.

 

[Kevin Dean]

+1 to everything said here.

I rinse my tun out while I'm waiting for my wort to get up to boiling (which takes longer than I'd like). Rinse it out a couple of times, make sure to run water through the ball valve and clean the lid and you're good.

I spray mine down with Star San before storing which is counter to RichBrewer's advice but it's always clean and smells fine when I go to use it next.

 

[srm775]

I rinse mine out after dumping the spent grains and turn upside down to drain. Don't unless it's completely dry, don't cover it when you store it.

Several times I've stored it way before completely drying it only to open it the next time I was ready to brew to see that it looked like grizzly adams shaved his beard into my mashtun.

 

[instereo13]

this is a bit off topic but follow me here.
I too just rinse mash tun while waiting for the wort to boil.
Lately though, I've taken to collecting the first 1/2 of my wort into a kettle (other than main kettle). I then heat this half of the wort up and by the time the rest of the wort is collected, the first half is boiling and can be added back to the main kettle.
It decreases waiting times by a ton and it makes the beer a little smoother.

 

[Soulive]

I only rinse mine with hot water. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to pre-boil stuff. I don't use soap either because I'm afraid it'll hurt head retention...

 

[rdwj]

I do the hose-wash too. I do take apart my manifold and clean the gunk out of there every once in a while (but not every time like I probably should).

 

[Professor Frink]

I'd like to use hot water to clean mine, but the hose is just too convenient. Once I'm done sparging, I just dump the spent grain in the woods and hose that puppy out.

 

[the_bird]

Like most, I'll hose it down, but I'll also clean it out in the sink pre-mash if it's still a bit gunky. Clean's the emphasis - sanitized is unnecessary.