Setting up conical for brew day

[kproudfoot]

How long before brew day can I safely attach all my fittings to my stainless conical and sanitize before I brew? I am legging tonight or tomorrow and wanted to clean, sanitize and reattach everything for new brew on Saturday.

I have a pressure gauge I can attach instead of blow off to keep bacteria out and everything will be sealed

Will I be okay? And how long before hand will this be okay?

I would assume worse case just a quick spray in the inside would be okay if I go too long since the seals would all be tightened up?

 

[mongoose33]

My typical approach is to clean the conical, then sanitize it either through recirculating or simply spraying it down inside. I clean the fittings, rinse, then dunk in star-san and attach. Anyplace they attach is sprayed with Star-San.

At the end, I have a completely closed fermenter with all attachements cleaned and sanitized. Nothing is getting in, or out, until I rack the beer in.

 

[pvpeacock]

I usually clean and sanitize my conical immediately after I have racked beer from it. I then store it completely assembled with an airlock in it so nothing gets in until the next brew day. Sometimes, I will spray Star San on the inside before I put the new wort in, but most of the time I don't bother and have not had any problems.

As a side note, make sure you leak test it BEFORE you put wort in it. That is one of the reasons I reassemble it immediately after cleaning, so I can fill it with PBW or Starsan and make sure none of the tri-clamp gaskets or valves are leaking. I made the mistake once of reassembling it and immediately putting wort in it only to find a significant leak. Luckily, I had a second conical that was empty and just transferred. But I never made that mistake again.