Sanitize Mash Tun?

[hbomb]

Do you all sanitize your mash tun before you dough in? I've always done this, but it's occured to me that if the wort's going to be boiling for an hour it might not be necessary. Am I just wasting time and sanitizer, or is there good reason to do this? I use a rectangular picnic cooler with copper manifold.

Thanks,
Heather

 

[avaserfi]

No reason to do it at all. Aside from the wort boiling for an hour or so there are tons of critters in the grain that would cause an infection if it was really a worry.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

There's no need. Just make sure it's clean.

 

[ewbish]

Heck, all I do is take the MLT out on the back porch and spray it out with the garden hose after dumping the grains out. I don't even dissasemble it, just spray out all the stray grains out of the screen. When I used a manifold, I would take that apart though. Do it ASAP after the mash, before the sugars dry.

Then I store it in the beer room with the lid off and upside down. I do include the MLT in my periodic scorched earth total equipment cleansing. This is when I put every single piece of my brewery in the bath tub with a ton of bleach over night. At the same time, I go through my lagering fridge and fermentation freezer with bleach as well.

IMHO, the biggest danger with the MLT is letting mildew or mold take hold that could result in an off flavor, or be a source for later cross contamination of other equipment through accidental contact......so never ever store it with the lid on and sealed, unless you are completely certain it is dried......and even then I would avoid it if possible or at least put a mesh bag of salt and rice/beans or a dessicant in it.

 

[giligson]

Hose it down to get all the sugars and grains off. Drip dry. Store open.
That's it.

 

[Edcculus]

I clean throughly with PBW, then run a few gallons of hot water through to make sure any gunk is out. No real need to sanitize.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

I hit my MLT with starsan water before I add the pre-heat water.

But, I am kind of anal about sanitation. One bad infection will do that to you.

 

[hbomb]

Thanks y'all, sounds like I don't need to be so anal either. One less thing to do on brewday.

 

[carnevoodoo]

I hit my MLT with starsan water before I add the pre-heat water.

But, I am kind of anal about sanitation. One bad infection will do that to you.

The problem with that is you're dumping in grain which is lousy with lactobacillus. You're really not doing yourself any good by sanitizing.

 

[flyangler18]

The problem with that is you're dumping in grain which is lousy with lactobacillus. You're really not doing yourself any good by sanitizing.

Yep, all you are accomplishing is wasting StarSan.

 

[crawford]

time waster. as long as you practice common sense, like don't scrape mud of your shoes with the spoon, before the boil - the boil will kill everything.
I have a cheap home steam cleaner-blaster thing, if sanitation is something your worried about. that thing kills any kind of bacteria it hits and by way of heat fries anything it doesn't. Keg parts, bottles, a counter pressure filler, little bits like that, just blast them with a steamer. heats up tuns, pretty handy really.