How long does kit stay sanitised for?

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Global33

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So I'm reading and planning at the moment, before placing my first order for equipment and a beer kit. It's sounding like sanitising is going to be one of bigger tasks, especially in my limited space. How long before can you do it before and still expect it to be ok to use?
 
Hi!
About 30 seconds :mrgreen:
Seriously though, you can't sanitise and store - if you sanitised a FV after cleaning and put it away, you would still need to sanitise it before you used it again.
On brew day, if you sanitised a FV and lid, it would be perfectly safe to put the lid on and leave it while you prepared other things. You could keep sanitised items in the FV until they are needed.
The best way to sanitise is immediately before use - no-rinse sanitisers like Star San or bleach/vinegar solution take only 30 seconds to do the job.
 
I have a new routine for sanitising, which I always do in the bath as its easiest for me. Fill my PB to the brim with water and VWP or similar cleaner and sanitiser. Then pour that into my FV which I put all my equipment in including the kit can and everything I will use in the process, tin opener, scissors, spoons, etc. I rinse my PB and fill with tap water to use for brewing (not the best water and I may move to bottled) and add half a campden tablet crushed to removed chlorine and chlorides. After washing the FV and equipment I rinse with as little as possible water from the PB, leaving enough for the brew. The PB will need steralising again before use. I usually use bottles though which I steralise in the bath in the bath as well and rinse with treated water.

A no rinse sanitiser like Star San is probably a better option but I havent got around to buying any yet.

I always make sure I tell the wife that I have given the bath a really good clean with steraliser so its probably the cleanest bath in town, splash a bit around the sink and toilet as well for even more credit.
 
Cleaning is more important and time consuming.

Give your kit a good clean and then sanatising works. I use star SAN in a spray bottle so it takes seconds.
 
I clean everything thoroughly when I've finished using it (including giving bottles a good rinse out til there's no sign of yeast / visible dirt left) then store it until brewday / bottling day. Then after I've got the mash on I'll give everything that's going to touch the wort post-boil another quick wash in with washing up liquid, rinse off the suds and spray down with starsan. It takes remarkably little time once you've done a couple of brews and got it set into your routine.

I've seen / heard people talk about sanitising EVERYTHING, including their boil kettle, sparge water heater, mash tun etc. but I can see no point in sanitising anything pre-boil as the boil will kill off pretty much any nasties that may be present.
 
I clean everything thoroughly when I've finished using it (including giving bottles a good rinse out til there's no sign of yeast / visible dirt left) then store it until brewday / bottling day. Then after I've got the mash on I'll give everything that's going to touch the wort post-boil another quick wash in with washing up liquid, rinse off the suds and spray down with starsan. It takes remarkably little time once you've done a couple of brews and got it set into your routine.

I've seen / heard people talk about sanitising EVERYTHING, including their boil kettle, sparge water heater, mash tun etc. but I can see no point in sanitising anything pre-boil as the boil will kill off pretty much any nasties that may be present.

The only thing in that list you would boil is the kettle though.
 
The only thing in that list you would boil is the kettle though.

Hi!
Strike water and sparge water end up in the boil kettle; all the equipment that the water/wort is held in or flows through to get to the boil doesn't need to be sanitised. If there are any detrimental bodies in these, they will be killed in the boil.
A good cleaning schedule is all that is needed. Sanitisation is a "belt and braces" measure.
 
Folk are waaay too anal about this. I sanitise nothing up to and including the boil (that sanitises itself and everything preceding), and everything after gets the bare minimum with bleach. Make sure every bit of equipment is put away bone dry. It's simple, and I've had NO infections in close to four decades of brewing.
 
Folk are waaay too anal about this. I sanitise nothing up to and including the boil (that sanitises itself and everything preceding), and everything after gets the bare minimum with bleach. Make sure every bit of equipment is put away bone dry. It's simple, and I've had NO infections in close to four decades of brewing.

Do you clean throughly though? As others have said, cleaning is more important than sanitising. If you clean thoroughly you can do the bare minimum sanitising
 
...I have given the bath a really good clean with steraliser so its probably the cleanest bath in town, splash a bit around the sink and toilet as well for even more credit.

I always feel this way after sanitising! :thumb:
 
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I do quite like the idea of having a very clean bath and it seems the logical place to do a lot of bottles.

I started preparing all the bottles I could find today. My goodness, stripping the labels and cleaning 20 bottles took a fair bit longer then I though, although this was in the kitchen sink.

@grunge I can already see how drying is a problem. No way I had space on my tiny drying rack for that many bottles. I see that you can buy special bottle dryers, that I will have to invest in at some point, but I've already ordered more kit then I thought I would need for the first brew.

How important is to have the bottles totally dry after being sanitized?
 
How important is to have the bottles totally dry after being sanitized?

Hi!
There are two points here:
Long term storage of bottles - best to make sure that they are dry before putting them away.
Sanitising- you can fill the bottles immediately after sanitising; no-rinse sanitisers like Star San are perfectly safe and don't have any detrimental effect on beer. The bottles don't need to be dry. I don't sanitise a batch of bottles - I sanitise one bottle, put to one side, sanitise a second bottle then fill the first bottle etc. That way each bottle is freshly sanitised.

PS bottle labels: soak bottles in a solution of hot Wizz Oxy (Poundland etc) for about ten minutes - most labels slide off or peel off easily. Use a sponge to clean off the glue.
 
+1 cleaning is crucial, microlife can hide behind dirt..

we cant be sterile at home, its impossible, we are surrounded by microlife suspended in the air around us.

what we do as brewers is stack the odds in our favour by
1) cleaning with soft cloths sponges (avoid scratching plastic vessels..)
2) good rinsing
3) sanitation steps and if bleach based at least 3 x rinses
4) Pitching a huge population (billions) of our desired microlife (brewing yeast)

this huge yeast population should then out grow and out eat any errant microlife that landed fortuitously while the lid was off ;)

be patient and methodical and you should be fine 99.999% of the time ;)
 
Hi!
There are two points here:
Long term storage of bottles - best to make sure that they are dry before putting them away.
Sanitising- you can fill the bottles immediately after sanitising; no-rinse sanitisers like Star San are perfectly safe and don't have any detrimental effect on beer. The bottles don't need to be dry. I don't sanitise a batch of bottles - I sanitise one bottle, put to one side, sanitise a second bottle then fill the first bottle etc. That way each bottle is freshly sanitised.

PS bottle labels: soak bottles in a solution of hot Wizz Oxy (Poundland etc) for about ten minutes - most labels slide off or peel off easily. Use a sponge to clean off the glue.

Thanks. I may have to rinse them out again in small batches and make sure they are properly dry. I'd assumed that as they were going in warm water to be sanitized a bit of water in them would be fine, but I want to get this right.

I found steel would pretty helpful for removing remaining glue, but will be looking for some wizz oxy!
 
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