Newbie questions

[VictimKBrew]

To sanitize my primary bucket I just fill it up with 6.5 gallons of water and mix in the sanitizing agent. Then I dump it out down the drain. I realize that its expense to purchase the sanitizing agent. Should I be pouring out the bucket into gallon jugs and reusing it?

Secondly, instead of filling up the bucket, can I fill up a spray bottle and just soak the bucket sides? I'm just looking for ways to stretch my dollar. Thanks.

 

[Catt22]

To sanitize my primary bucket I just fill it up with 6.5 gallons of water and mix in the sanitizing agent. Then I dump it out down the drain. I realize that its expense to purchase the sanitizing agent. Should I be pouring out the bucket into gallon jugs and reusing it?

Secondly, instead of filling up the bucket, can I fill up a spray bottle and just soak the bucket sides? I'm just looking for ways to stretch my dollar. Thanks.

You need not fill the bucket with sanitizer. It would be very wasteful and expensive to dump that much sanitizer. You only need to wet the surfaces for it to be effective. You can spray the interior as you mentioned, or simply put a pint or two in the fermenter, put the lid on and shake it up to wet the interior thoroughly. That's the way I do it. I only make up one gallon at a time. Some I dump into the fermenters etc, and some I use in a spray bottle. I like to spray everything that comes near the wort whether it needs it or not including my hands and arms, although I'm not sure if that does anything or not, but I figure it can't hurt and it's very harmless stuff. When using iodophor, be advised that it can stain whatever it comes into contact with.

I prefer StarSan by a large margin FWIW.

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

It depends on what sanitizer are you using. I keep and reuse Star Stan several times before I make up a new batch.

 

[Bluesssman]

What sanitizer are you using? It can different with the different sanitizers.

 

[VictimKBrew]

I bought a 5lb jug of Easy Clean.

 

[Bluesssman]

I am afraid I have not heard of Easy Clean...

 

[Yooper]

I bought a 5lb jug of Easy Clean.

Easy Clean is technically a cleaner, like oxyclean, and not a sanitizer. Take a look here for some discussion: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/easy-clean-sanitizer-120892/

You can't save Easy Clean, like you can Star-san. So, when you're done with that brewday, dump the leftovers. I would use Easy Clean for cleaning, but a no-rinse sanitizer like Iodophor or Star-san for sanitizing. I've used One Step before (it's like Easy Clean) and I never got an infection, but I''m more comfortable using sanitizers that are labeled as sanitizers and meant to be used on food preparation materials.

 

[VictimKBrew]

I use cleaning and sanitizing interchangeably and realize now that I can't when I brew. Being new to this can someone explain the difference. After I'm done with my first batch I would clean all my equipment with Easy Clean and store it. Next time I want to brew, do I then only need to sanitize with Star San before brewing? Or would I clean the equipment again, rinse, then spray Star San on whatever touches the wort?

 

[RandomSF]

For equipment, clean when done using, store, sanitize before next use.

 

[wyzazz]

I clean right after use, then rinse and sanitize right before use.

Cleaning gets rid of all the gunk and dirt, the big stuff. Sanitizing kills most of the bacteria and lessens the chance of an infection a great deal.

 

[92greenyj]

I use cleaning and sanitizing interchangeably and realize now that I can't when I brew. Being new to this can someone explain the difference. After I'm done with my first batch I would clean all my equipment with Easy Clean and store it. Next time I want to brew, do I then only need to sanitize with Star San before brewing? Or would I clean the equipment again, rinse, then spray Star San on whatever touches the wort?

Cleaning: removing any visible dirt/contamination
Sanitizing: removing the stuff you CANT see


Personally, I am fortunate enough to work in a restaurant and have access to restaurant grade sanitizing solutions that we use in our dish machine and 3 bay sinks. a Tablespoon is all that is needed to make 5 gallons of sanitizer solution. So I just fill one of my fermenting buckets with water, add a tablespoon of sanitizer and I am good to go for my entire brew/kegging day. End of the day I just dump it.