How clean around the fermenter?

[nwbrewing32]

Hey everyone,

Obviously sanitation is crucial to great beer. But, I'm just curious how important cleanliness is around the fermenter while going thru primary. I recently sprayed down the outside with Starsan after touching the airlock and rubber stopper - then I stopped and wondered if it was even necessary.

Any thoughts on how clean to keep the area around the fermenter?

 

[wilserbrewer]

I recently sprayed down the outside with Starsan after touching the airlock and rubber stopper - then I stopped and wondered if it was even necessary.

Very likely unnecessary. Just keep it reasonably clean is all I would do. Just be certain anything that touches the chilled wort is sanitized. I would also suggest leaving the fermenter closed as much as possible, leave it be, no need to open it to "check" the brew every day

 

[sportpak]

Before I open a bucket I spritz a little starsan around, nothing too crazy. I figure it can't hurt.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Good to see you're thinking about sanitation. But yeah, no need to go that far. The only time you need to be worried about what's around your fermenter is if you're doing open fermentation, or when you're transferring or sampling or whatever, and the fermenter is open. And even then, as long as there's no fruit flies floating around, or you're not bottling in the middle of an orchard, or there's not any other source of rampant contamination floating around, it's still not a big deal (at least, not during normal transferring). If I've got the fan blowing or the AC unit on (or whatever else circulating air near my fermenter) I'll usually shut it off before cracking the lid. But beyond that, I've never paid much mind. Now, with open fermentation, that may be a different monster. I know professional brewers doing it often do it in the equivalent of a clean room (ie meticulously cleaned and decontaminated, filtered air, that kind of thing) unless they're brewing sours. I've never done it, so I don't know what's entailed from that perspective.