Clean and Sanitize
The most important part of brewing is sanitation. Anything that comes into contact with your brew should be cleaned and sanitized to avoid contamination with stray bacteria and yeasts. Avoid any vessels with deep scratches. The scratches harbor bacteria and are nearly impossible to sanitize completely. Below is a guide to cleaning and sanitizing.
Cleaning
Before we sanitize our equipment, we first need to clean it. The goal of cleaning our equipment first is to remove visible dirt and organic matter from the equipment prior to sanitizing.
- Wash everything with soap and warm water.
- Rinse with copious amounts of water.
If you have gunk that’s really stuck on, I suggest PBW (Powdered Brewers Wash). If PBW can’t get it off, throw it away. It’s not worth the risk of contamination. PBW is only for cleaning, NOT sanitation. You will need to wash with lots of water after PBW contact.
Sanitizing
Now that our equipment is clean we now need to sanitize it. Sanitizing equipment reduces the amount of bacteria present to a safe level.
- Dilute the concentrated sanitizer following the packaging guidelines.
- Fully immerse your equipment into the sanitizer and allow it to sit for the minimum contact time as stated on your sanitizer packaging.
For ease of use, we suggest no-rinse sanitizers such as StarSan and Saniclean. A few minutes of contact time and you’re good to go. You do not need to rinse after these sanitizers. In fact, rinsing would contaminate your gear all over again!
Sanitizing Tips
- Put your sanitizer in a spray bottle for ease of use on small parts.
- Keep a bucket of sanitizer around to toss in bottle caps, spoons, and funnels.
- Remove grommets on swing-top bottles to properly sanitize them.