Review my sanitation ritual?

[luckybeagle]

I've brewed 6 or 7 AG batches so far and haven't had an infection yet, but I'm curious if my sanitation process is adequate, overkill, or...? Here's what I do:

1. After brew day, I rinse out my kettle and generally let my plate chiller (gravity fed) sit without cleaning it. Shame I know but since I brew at night it's usually 1am when I wrap up and I'm just too tired to sterilize anything at that point
2. Within a few days, I hook up the wort inlet to my garden hose and blast it out in both directions for 30 seconds - 1 minute.
3. Afterward, I fill up my kettle with 10 gallons of water with 1/2 cup bleach. I let that sit in the kettle for 10-15 minutes, wash down the sides with a sponge then drain it all through the plate chiller.
4. After the bleach solution is done, I immediately boil 10 gallons of plain water and run it through the plate chiller from the BK
5. Finally, I make up a fresh batch of sanitizer using Star San and again run it through the kettle and plate chiller. At this step I run a gallon or so from the BK to plate chiller and then into a freshly bleached and well-rinsed 6.5g glass carboy. I save all of the sanitizer for brew and bottling day at this point (I store it in a cooler).
6. Shake the carboy with sanitizer solution and let sit for 15 minutes or so, then dump out and "cap" with sanitized foil
7. Cap wort inlet and outlet on plate chiller with sanitized foil

On brewday, I spray down all fittings with Starsan and rinse/soak hoses after mashing. Once the wort is boiling in the kettle, I hook everything up for the final step of chilling.

I bottle exclusively, and I always rinse my bottles out with hot water immediately after pouring a beer. On bottling day, I rinse again, then fill up each one with water/starsan and let sit for 15 minutes. I shake them out vigorously and then proceed to bottle using a sanitized bottling wand hooked up to a sanitized bottling bucket, capping with sanitized caps.

Is this sufficient? Overkill? Can you see ways I should improve my process?

 

[Abrayton]

I could be wrong but I don’t think there is a need to sanitize anything that happens prior to post boil, with maybe the exception of an immersion chiller. Star San is supposed to work pretty fast so 15 minutes is a long time.

 

[kevink]

Don't use bleach at all. After brewing, clean everything with PBW and let dry. Don't sanitize anything. Brew your next batch without sanitizing anything but the cold side equipment (with Starsan) right before you transfer wort to it. That all you have to do.

 

[chickypad]

^This, absolutely. Don't fear the foam, sanitize the fermenter right before and transfer into it while it's still wet. I don't typically bottle anymore but when I did I loved the vinator for sanitizing bottles. Quick spray and you're good to go, it just takes a few ounces for the whole batch and no need to soak the whole bottle in starsan.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/vinator-bottle-rinser

 

[BigEd]

I've brewed 6 or 7 AG batches so far and haven't had an infection yet, but I'm curious if my sanitation process is adequate, overkill, or...? Here's what I do:

1. After brew day, I rinse out my kettle and generally let my plate chiller (gravity fed) sit without cleaning it. Shame I know but since I brew at night it's usually 1am when I wrap up and I'm just too tired to sterilize anything at that point

I would not let any internal chiller, counterflow or plate, sit after using without at least giving it a good rinse. You do not want to give the bits of hop residue and wort that will invariable cling to the innards of the chiller time to get attached or start growing a culture. Sanitizing is not necessary at this point but a rinse is mandatory IMO and I would also suggest finding the time to run some cleaner through it.

1. Within a few days, I hook up the wort inlet to my garden hose and blast it out in both directions for 30 seconds - 1 minute.

See above response. IMO you are playing bacterial Russian Roulette by letting the chiller sit untouched for several days.

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   [*]Afterward, I fill up my kettle with 10 gallons of water with 1/2 cup bleach. I let that sit in the kettle for 10-15 minutes, wash down the sides with a sponge then drain it all through the plate chiller.

Assuming you have a stainless steel kettle, DO NOT use bleach. Bleach is corrosive to stainless steel. Use a good brewery cleaner, PBW or other percarbonate type, to wash the kettle well and give it a good rinse. It is only necessary to clean the kettle, sanitizing is not required.

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3. [*]After the bleach solution is done, I immediately boil 10 gallons of plain water and run it through the plate chiller from the BK

Again, rinsing and cleaning of the chiller should be done sooner. Also, do not introduce bleach to the chiller.

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3. [*]Finally, I make up a fresh batch of sanitizer using Star San and again run it through the kettle and plate chiller. At this step I run a gallon or so from the BK to plate chiller and then into a freshly bleached and well-rinsed 6.5g glass carboy. I save all of the sanitizer for brew and bottling day at this point (I store it in a cooler).

Put your bottle of bleach in the laundry room.

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2. [*]Shake the carboy with sanitizer solution and let sit for 15 minutes or so, then dump out and "cap" with sanitized foil

No harm here but my preference is to just clean & rinse carboys before storage. A quick rinse with StarSan or Iodophor prior to use does not take a lot of time and and won't have to worry that something happened during storage. [/QUOTE]

 

[VVbrewery]

Anything that makes it through your regime deserves to live. +1 on everything mentioned above especially the Vinator. Saves a lot of time and sanitizer. If you want to make sure your bottles are squeaky clean a bottle brush with the little loop on the handle cut off in a cordless drill and some PBW works in seconds.