An almost-newbie's thoughts on cleaning and sanitation

[BOB357]

Totally agree with you! I am about 25 batches into my homebrew "career". And I have never gotten necessarily lazy about cleaning/sanitizing. But there was a point that I was probably not as hardcore OCD about ensuring things were 100% ready for the brewing process. And I ended up with an infected batch of a beer. Worst part is that I felt super confident after brewing that it was going to turn out to be an amazing beer.
Pretty sure it was from lack of clean equipment and was not a "bug" post-boil getting in there. After that mishap, I don't ever cut any corners and take my time to ensure everything is clean and ready for the next batch. It may be one of the most important steps to brewing in my opinion.

The boil sterilizes your wort, so any beer spoiling infections are introduced post boil. As for your opinion, clean is very important for all of your brewing gear, but sanitization only matters post boil.

 

[Hawkbox]

I've tried to find the dairy cleanser around here but the supply shops don't stock like they used to. I may have to drive to one of the smaller towns near the city and check there.

 

[ThomasGR4]

It is worth noting that there are no microorganisms harmful to our health that could survive in beer. Even if you made a mistake and spoiled the taste of the drink, it will greatly upset you but certainly will not kill you.

 

[tarasun]

Although personally, I wouldn't change my carpet even if it went wrong.

 

[TetersMillBrewing]

I transfer the boiling wort into my fermenter. I use the SS Brewtech with the stainless heat exchanger coil

Was reading though the post and was curious how long it takes you to cool the wort down and what you are using for your cold source. I have always cleaned well but I am moving over to stainless steal so much of my process is changing.

 

[TetersMillBrewing]

Great write-up on cleaning, great starting point for a reference.

 

[Bubba Wade]

Was reading though the post and was curious how long it takes you to cool the wort down and what you are using for your cold source. I have always cleaned well but I am moving over to stainless steal so much of my process is changing.

I use tap water to cool it down to about 120 (I use this heated tap water for clean up). I then switch the cooling to my chilled water reservoir that I have on one end of my keezer. This is the same chilled water reservoir used for temperature control during fermentation.

It takes about 10 minutes to go from 210 down to 75.

 

[Hawkbox]

In the possible interest of causing a disaster for you @TetersMillBrewing I've transferred near boiling wort into my SS brew buckets and then just let them cool naturally. It's worked out pretty well so far.