How to clean and sanitize my speidel fermenter?

[Finlandbrews]

I have pbw and starsan for cleaning and sanitizing. My main concerns are 1) what kind of brush or sponge should I use to clean my speidel fermenter? 2) How long after sanitizing the fermenter can I throw my wort in? => do I need to let dry the starsan before transferring the wort or can I throw my wort immediately after I put starsan all around my fermenter ?

 

[Brew_G]

Not sure if you ever got the answer you were looking for, but here's what I do:

I rinse the inside thoroughly with very hot water to get all the gunk out of it. I use my hand to wipe anything that doesn't rinse right off (kräusen ring, trub, etc.). I then take a little all-natural dish soap and a soft sponge and lightly clean it out, then rinse thoroughly again with hot water.

For Star San, I pour maybe 10 oz or so in it, close it up, and swish it all around. I do this just before I'm ready to transfer the wort to it. I let it sit for a minute or two, then pour the Star San out and fill with wort immediately.

It's worked OK so far <knock on wood>...

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Hey, I use Speidel 12L, 20L, and 30L fermenters exclusively in my brewing, and I think they're pretty simple to keep clean...

When I'm done with one I give it a quick blast with hot water from the hose and dump all the gunk in. I then put in a scoop of my homemade PBW (about 3-4 tablespoons for the 30L and a less for the smaller ones), and I fill it all the way to the top with hot water and leave it to soak overnight.

While that's going on I just use a bit of PBW I've got pre-mixed in a spray bottle and a wash cloth with some hot water to clean the airlock, lid, etc.

The next day I go out and drain the fermenter through the spigot, using a wash cloth to touch up any spots that need it, but the PBW soak almost always gets the toughest stuff out, so that's rarely needed. Then I just rinse everything a few times, take off the spigot, and store it upside down to drain out.

To sanitize on brew day I usually just fill it with a 1/2 gallon or so of Star San solution and then shake it around a few times whenever I think about it. Then I drain that out right before I'm ready to drain my kettle to the fermenter and just fill on top of the little bit of foam remaining.

So far so good!

 

[Owly055]

On my plastic fermenters, I use a Dobie Pad which is a sponge wrapped in an abrasive nylon mesh, which isn't abrasive enough to scratch plastic, but will take dried gunk off. I keep one of these floating in starsan all the time for the purpose. They are a great cleaning scrubbing tool, and gentle enough but aggressive enough at the same time. I don't own a Spidel, but all my fermenters are clear plastic, so you would quickly see any scratches.

H.W.

 

[BrianGee]

I do almost exactly like @drgonzo2k2, though so far I haven't seen the need to soak overnight. I put the solid cap on the bottom and soak the stopper, spigot, and lid seal at the same time in several scoops of homemade PBW. After a few hours the fermenter is full of pretty much just dirty water.

Then I unscrew the bottom cap to drain, rinse everything a couple of times, and wipe down the inside with a sponge just in case.

Sanitizing is also the same for me. A little Star San solution in the bottom, shake it up to coat the walls. I drop the caps, lid pieces, airlock, stoppers (I have a drilled hole in my lid for a thermowell in a stopper), and thermowell into my bigger bucket of sanitizer.

 

[Finlandbrews]

Guys thanks that's great! Briangee, I ve been thinking as well to buy the thermowell from brewer's hardware to go with my inkbird itc 308 but I'm only concerned about which predrilled stopper to use and what should be the inside hole of the stopper. And how did you make the hole in the lid? Cheers

 

[BrianGee]

I used the standard small white drilled stopper, I don't know the number. The Brewer's Hardware thermowell fits snugly in there, especially once it has Star San on it. I used a paddle bit on a regular drill to drill the hole and cleaned up the edges with a deburring tool.

Get the 16" thermowell. In this picture I have the 12" one in the lid but that just barely reaches the surface of 5 gallons of beer in a 30L. The 16" is perfect.

I bought 2 drilled and 2 solid stoppers, so I can plug the hole for cold crashing or whatever. Morebeer.com does sell replacement lids and I plan to buy one next time I have an order to make shipping worth it, but the stoppers have been good to go so far.

 

[MerlinWerks]

I take a #8 1/2 or #9 stopper, put it in the freezer over night then drill either one or two holes depending if I started with a pre-drilled or solid stopper. One hole for an s-type airlock the other for my thermowell and I use that in place of the stock airlock. Has worked well for 40+ batches...