Cleaning and sanitisation advice

[russ]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice regarding cutting down on the cost of sanitising fv's and corny kegs.

I brew 45L batches and ferment in SS Brewtech conicals I also have one of there bright tanks that I use for final clearing and carbonation prior to transferring to corny kegs.

Current regime is as follows
FV's and bright tanks are CIP cleaned with hot caustic, rinsed and then filled with Star San.

Kegs are striped down, posts and dip tubes are cleaned in hot fairly liquid with pipe brushes used to clean the inside of the dip tubes. The kegs are also cleaned with a small amount of fairy liquid and a drill powered scrubber. Once rinsed and reassembled the kegs are filled to the brim with Star San and then emptied under CO2 pressure.

Hoses are soaked in what ever cleaning solution is left over at the time and long pipe cleaning brush are used to scrub the insides.

The above uses quite a lot of Star San, I do my best to line up multiple items so that the Star San is normally used more than once, even so i'm still getting through more than I would like.

I think the FV's are easy enough to deal with, I'm planning on buying some Sanicleans and switching to a CIP cycle. My main concern is how do I ensure the bright tank and the kegs are purged of oxygen if I don't completely fill them with a liquid first? If I made up a small quantity of star san and used that to sanitise the vessel and then topped it up to the brim with straight tap water, would I be completely undoing the sanitisation?

Am I being OCD here - how do others deal with the sanitation and CO2 purging of corny kegs?

Regards
Russell

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Concentrating on Cornies only, why do you fill them with Star San? A small amount of solution shaken around will do the job just as well. You don't need total immersion with Star San, and it is effective after only 30 seconds application.
I use a modified garden pressure sprayer to sanitise hoses, etc. I've cobbled a disconnect to it and I can sanitise the dip tubes in situ.
The garden sprayer also reduces the amount of CO2 used during cleaning.

 

[xozzx]

That cleaning regime sounds a real PITA and overkill (in my opinion!). Mine is as below:

SS Brewbuckets
After transferring to kegs I rinse with water, then add about 4L hot water and 2 tblspoons PBW. Use a cloth to give a decent clean, pour PBW solution into sink and remove the thermowell and valve and soak in the sink, also give the lid a good clean. Spray down with garden hose and leave till next brewday. During the boil I give the whole thing another once over with PBW solution, spray with hose then spray with starsan from a cheap B&Q spray bottle.

Corny Kegs
Once Empty I rinse a few times with water, then add couple tble spoons PBW and about 4L hot water. Shake vigourously, attach CO2 then purge a couple L through the tap which. Next rinse a few times with water then add about 2L starsan, shake well and purge through the tap again.
Before filling Ill do another risnse and purge with starsan.

Hoses, etc:
Soak in sink with few litres water and PBW. Rinse, spray with starsan or pour a little down the hoses.

To save money I bought a 5Kg tub of PBW, works out about half the price of buying the small tubs.
I bought a bottle of starsan about 2 years ago, have done about 40 various brews and still have about half bottle left. Never had an infection.

 

[-Bezza-]

Starsan keeps, so could just get a few 5l water bottles to store the starsan solution between use, if you want to keep filling the kegs.

 

[MyQul]

Are you chucking the star san after you've sanitised all your kit? Because you dont have to. As Big Col says you definately dont have to fill everything up to the brim with it. Just get a spray bottle and give all the insides of everything a good spraying down. Then just tip the star san back into a 5L water bottle (I use a 5L plastic jerry can I got off ebay and a funnel). Just keep reusing the star san from the water bottle/sprayer and top it up with fresh star san every so often as you'll inevitaby lose a tiny bit every time you spray things down
I've had the same bottle of star san for 5 years (although it does seem to be coming to an end now)

 

[cushyno]

My understanding is StarSan sanitises because it is acid at the right concentration. If diluting a StarSan solution then it won't be acidic enough to sanitise. Because the active properties of StarSan denature little over time (PH doesn't change) you can store and reuse it many times.