sanitizing the bottling bucket

[JBrady]

Hey guys when I sanitize my fermenters and bottling buckets I fill the buckets up completely with at least 5 gallons of water and the appropriate amount of starsan. To save on water and time I'm thinking of filling a spray bottle with starsan where I'll be sure to spray all beer contact areas with a thin layer of starsan/water solution. Anybody else do this? Will it work as well as full filling my buckets with sanitizer? I've never had a contamination so far and don't want one now, but I need to change my methods here to save time and money. Thanks for any info.

 

[McGarnigle]

I never fill any bucket with a full 5 gallons. You don't need to sanitize the air. I think a spray bottle would work, though I usually fill the bucket only part way up and use a sponge to distribute the sanitized water.

 

[Whut]

To save on water and time I'm thinking of filling a spray bottle with starsan where I'll be sure to spray all beer contact areas with a thin layer of starsan/water solution. Anybody else do this?

Absolutely, it'll work just fine. I've been doing this exact same thing for over a year now and no issues. Of course I learned it from HBT member nostalgia.

Trace

 

[trevorc13]

I do that and always keep it full for when I brew/bottle. It's an easy way to make sure everything is sanitary in case things bump against unsanitized items.

 

[Revvy]

For fermenters and bottling buckets I mix up between 1 and 2 gallons, and just swirl and move through my spigot, and autosiphon.

For everything else I keep a spraybottle full of starsan and distilled water. That's great for all sorts of small jobs, like taking grav readins and installing blowoff tubes and things like that.

 

[JBrady]

thank you all

 

[buffalobrewer]

I like to get the starsan level to above the spigot level to make sure all the nooks and crannies get sanitized, and have enough to get the hoses etc. sanitized.

 

[dfc]

I usually make a 2.5 gallon batch of sanitizer and once I'm done I store it in a clean bucket. I've never had any problems with it and you can reuse your sanitizer.

 

[2wide]

I keep a gallon of StarSan made with distilled water. Pour the gallon into bottling bucket and run some through the spigot. Cap and shake vigorously, and let sit for a few minutes. Repeat if you want to. Then just drain the solution back into its storage container. It lasts a long time if you check the ph and spike it with more StarSan as needed.