BearsWickedBrew
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2008
- Messages
- 197
- Reaction score
- 2
Phew. Yesterday- what a day.
Delabeling
It began w/ taking the labels off of 60 beer bottles. Some were cooperative, some weren't. Over the past several weeks, every beer had been poured into a glass and rinsed out immediately, so I could go straight to the sanitizing step (as i've heard ppl do here). Here's my problem- when taking off the labels- the bottles were swimming in a swamp of floating paper and glue (from the labels). I didn't bother doing any further cleaning/rinsing, hoping that my Vinator with StarSan would take care of business during sanitization. Has anybody else done something similar? I don't want to have to name my brew "Sticky's Wheat Ale".
Bottling
What I imagined would be the toughest part of my day, turned out to be the easiest. God bless the auto-siphon, bottling wand, vinator, and wing capper.
Cleaning
Background info- cleaning an ale pail 6.5gal primary, ale pail 6.5gal bottling bucket, and various equipment (auto-siphon, tubing, etc.). I was shocked to see how caked on & hard the krausen could get. I started with lots of hot water and used my hand to disturb stuck material. Then I used the appropriate amount of PBW and hot water & let it sit for about 30-45 minutes. The whole time, I only used my hand to rub the plastic and not a spong. @ the end of it, I could not get my primary to be as white as it was when it was brand new. Is this normal even after 1 brew? Upon verryy careful inspection, I can see the slightest yellow where the krausen is. I stuck my head in the bucket this morning to smell it. If you gave me 2 choices: 1) Smells like nothing or 2) Smells like beer...i'd have to pick 2. The smell isn't overwhelming, but again, is this OK? Next time I brew, can I go straight to my StarSan for sanitizing?
Delabeling
It began w/ taking the labels off of 60 beer bottles. Some were cooperative, some weren't. Over the past several weeks, every beer had been poured into a glass and rinsed out immediately, so I could go straight to the sanitizing step (as i've heard ppl do here). Here's my problem- when taking off the labels- the bottles were swimming in a swamp of floating paper and glue (from the labels). I didn't bother doing any further cleaning/rinsing, hoping that my Vinator with StarSan would take care of business during sanitization. Has anybody else done something similar? I don't want to have to name my brew "Sticky's Wheat Ale".
Bottling
What I imagined would be the toughest part of my day, turned out to be the easiest. God bless the auto-siphon, bottling wand, vinator, and wing capper.
Cleaning
Background info- cleaning an ale pail 6.5gal primary, ale pail 6.5gal bottling bucket, and various equipment (auto-siphon, tubing, etc.). I was shocked to see how caked on & hard the krausen could get. I started with lots of hot water and used my hand to disturb stuck material. Then I used the appropriate amount of PBW and hot water & let it sit for about 30-45 minutes. The whole time, I only used my hand to rub the plastic and not a spong. @ the end of it, I could not get my primary to be as white as it was when it was brand new. Is this normal even after 1 brew? Upon verryy careful inspection, I can see the slightest yellow where the krausen is. I stuck my head in the bucket this morning to smell it. If you gave me 2 choices: 1) Smells like nothing or 2) Smells like beer...i'd have to pick 2. The smell isn't overwhelming, but again, is this OK? Next time I brew, can I go straight to my StarSan for sanitizing?