Sterilisation of kit

[War Grade Vaux Stout]

I bought a load of Wilko kit yesterday and am keen to get cracking with some brewing. One thing I didn't buy was sterilisation agent of any kind.

Would you need to use this with brand new kit?

I figured it's maybe no different to buying new plastic drinks bottles and that maybe a quick rinse with hot soapy water may suffice as it's all brand new gear. Any thoughts?

Dont want to waste time and money on brewing something unsafe to taste.

 

[hoppyscotty]

The thing about brewing is to be paranoid about hygiene. You never know where little beasties might get in and contaminate your brew so yes, to be safe best to clean and sterilise everything the beer is going to touch, even with new kit.

Personally I always hand wash everything with warm soapy water initially just to get the crud off, then use a steriliser on everything (PBW) and sanitise stuff with starsan or equivalent product. This routine has worked for me every time with no infections so far.

For new kit you probably will get away with just cleaning with warm soapy water then rinsing and sanitising with starsan or equivalent no-rinse sanitiser. Don't forget your hands too or any implement you will use for stirring or anything that will touch beer. Best to put some in a spray bottle and have that at hand to give everything a quick spray before you use it, even things like yeast and hop packets and scissors just before you cut them open, just to be certain.

Its a simple routine to get into a habit with.

 

[Graz]

Bacteria and wild yeast spores are in the air around us. Whilst the kit may also be brand new you've no idea how many people may have handled it especially if it has been sat on the shelves of Wilko.

That said you probably could give it a wash as you mention and it would be fine. If you have some unscented bleach somewhere at home you can always make up a diluted solution of that and give it all a rinse. You're best rinsing it off after with tap water though as you don't want the taste of bleach to taint your brew. A final rinse round with some freshly boiled water will kill pretty much everything.

Do yourself a favour though and get a bottle of no rinse sanitiser (StarSan, ChemSan etc.) for future use.

 

[DocAnna]

There's lots here about different cleaning and sterilising here on the forum - do a search for Starsan or Chemsan as a good starter.

At the beginning it's important to understand the difference between cleaning, sanitising and sterilising.

Cleaning- visibly clean, needs to be done as a first step with almost all equipment, sterilising will not work if there are deposits of stuff the bugs can hide in
Sanitising - what most people think of as sterilising, but is reducing the harmful bacteria and yeasts to a level that won't interfere with brewing - this is the level most people need to work at
Sterilising - as far as complete as possible removal of all viable organisms from something - only possible through prolonged boiling and even that isn't technically full sterilisation. More of an aspiration

Some things clean and near sterilise like VWP, but you have to rinse it off with water which sort of defeats the point to a degree - still it is good for deep cleaning plastic things.
Starsan or Chemsan - good for sanitising as a short contact but needs to be room temperature or warmer, it's effectiveness degrades quickly when used v cold - that doesn't mean the starsan degrades, only that it's effect is a lot lot slower.
Bleach - diluted - lots swear by it, but again you have to rinse really and that does get back to the VMP issue. As a short term measure though it can be fine.
Boiling - good for small things that do need to be as close to sterile as possible.

Your new kit, a good clean first with anything, even dilute washing up liquid will be fine so long as it's properly rinsed. Then you need a sanitiser - Anything from VWP, bleach or Starsan can be used, though the first two will then need rinsed as well.

Hopefully some help and happy brewing!

Anna

 

[War Grade Vaux Stout]

The thing about brewing is to be paranoid about hygiene. You never know where little beasties might get in and contaminate your brew so yes, to be safe best to clean and sterilise everything the beer is going to touch, even with new kit.

Personally I always hand wash everything with warm soapy water initially just to get the crud off, then use a steriliser on everything (PBW) and sanitise stuff with starsan or equivalent product. This routine has worked for me every time with no infections so far.

For new kit you probably will get away with just cleaning with warm soapy water then rinsing and sanitising with starsan or equivalent no-rinse sanitiser. Don't forget your hands too or any implement you will use for stirring or anything that will touch beer. Best to put some in a spray bottle and have that at hand to give everything a quick spray before you use it, even things like yeast and hop packets and scissors just before you cut them open, just to be certain.

Its a simple routine to get into a habit with.

Cheers, very helpful - is starsan available from most supermarkets in the UK?

 

[War Grade Vaux Stout]

Bacteria and wild yeast spores are in the air around us. Whilst the kit may also be brand new you've no idea how many people may have handled it especially if it has been sat on the shelves of Wilko.

That said you probably could give it a wash as you mention and it would be fine. If you have some unscented bleach somewhere at home you can always make up a diluted solution of that and give it all a rinse. You're best rinsing it off after with tap water though as you don't want the taste of bleach to taint your brew. A final rinse round with some freshly boiled water will kill pretty much everything.

Do yourself a favour though and get a bottle of no rinse sanitiser (StarSan, ChemSan etc.) for future use.

Are Chemsan and Starsan available from your average UK supermarket?

 

[War Grade Vaux Stout]

There's lots here about different cleaning and sterilising here on the forum - do a search for Starsan or Chemsan as a good starter.

At the beginning it's important to understand the difference between cleaning, sanitising and sterilising.

Cleaning- visibly clean, needs to be done as a first step with almost all equipment, sterilising will not work if there are deposits of stuff the bugs can hide in
Sanitising - what most people think of as sterilising, but is reducing the harmful bacteria and yeasts to a level that won't interfere with brewing - this is the level most people need to work at
Sterilising - as far as complete as possible removal of all viable organisms from something - only possible through prolonged boiling and even that isn't technically full sterilisation. More of an aspiration

Some things clean and near sterilise like VWP, but you have to rinse it off with water which sort of defeats the point to a degree - still it is good for deep cleaning plastic things.
Starsan or Chemsan - good for sanitising as a short contact but needs to be room temperature or warmer, it's effectiveness degrades quickly when used v cold - that doesn't mean the starsan degrades, only that it's effect is a lot lot slower.
Bleach - diluted - lots swear by it, but again you have to rinse really and that does get back to the VMP issue. As a short term measure though it can be fine.
Boiling - good for small things that do need to be as close to sterile as possible.

Your new kit, a good clean first with anything, even dilute washing up liquid will be fine so long as it's properly rinsed. Then you need a sanitiser - Anything from VWP, bleach or Starsan can be used, though the first two will then need rinsed as well.

Hopefully some help and happy brewing!

Anna

Thanks, forgive me but what is VMP ?

 

[Agentgonzo]

VWP: A cleaning/sanitisation product. Available from most/all homebrew suppliers

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Sanitising - what most people think of as sterilising, but is reducing the harmful bacteria and yeasts to a level that won't interfere with brewing - this is the level most people need to work at
.

I have used Milton for 8 years and have never had a problem, i do wish they would change the front of the box to say Sanitising tablets not sterilising tablets.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Good points from above on the distinction between sanitisaiton and sterilisation. I think that if you ask 10 different homebrewers "how much/paranoid" to be, you will get 10 different answers.

My simple advice is to think cleaning/sanitisation as offering more and more confidence that your beer won't get infected and spoil your batch. If you do no sanitisation, then there is a high risk (but no guaranteed) that it'll get infected by different yeast/bacteria and make it taste bad. If you go super-paranoid and use hospital-levels of sanitisation, then there is a very low (but not guaranteed) risk of it getting infected. In between are just shades of grey.

As mentioned, the boil sanitise the wort for you, so you only need to worry about things after the boil stage. For most people, this is "clean/sanitise everything that touches the wort/beer the boil, but don't get paranoid". And if for some reason something goes wrong or you forget something, don't panic, don't just chuck it out. Continue (Relax, don't worry have a homebrew) and see how it turns out - because it'll probably turn out fine

 

[starseeker]

You will also find VWP at most hardware shops etc .

 

[F00b4r]

Doc Anna’s post pretty much covers it. The only thing I would add is be careful about boiling things, it’s a really useful technique but some things may melt or deform at or below boiling temperature (the same thing applies to actual sterilisation using an autoclave/pressure cooker; higher pressure and temperature still).

 

[DocAnna]

Are Chemsan and Starsan available from your average UK supermarket?

nope - but a bottle lasts for ages and it makes life a lot easier so it's worth buying some. If you want to use something from a supermarket, then as @Chippy_Tea says, milton is a fine option though please do rinse thoroughly afterwards. I used to use VWP for sterilising - and that is a word used proportionately since it is closer to proper sterilisation than most options. However the solution can't be stored and reused unlike dilute star/chemsan which can be, so I've switched over to washing up liquid for cleaning, v dilute of course, then chemsan. It makes life a whole lot simpler not having to rinse the last step...mind you getting the foam out of a fermzilla is a right royal pain. I know I shouldn't fuss about the foam but I do.

Anna

 

[hoppyscotty]

Starsan is a brand name and not generally available in the UK but seems to be the adopted generic name for a no rinse sanitiser. Chemsan is available in the UK or Stellarsan. Look on Amazon and you can get next day delivery on Chessman...assuming you're in the UK. Or there are plenty of on line suppliers...I use Malt Miller and get stellarsan.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Doc Anna’s post pretty much covers it. The only thing I would add is be careful about boiling things, it’s a really useful technique but some things may melt or deform at or below boiling temperature (the same thing applies to actual sterilisation using an autoclave/pressure cooker; higher pressure and temperature still).

this is important. I found out the hard way when I boiled a a tap from my fermentation vessel. On my next brew, it leaked gradually. Luckily I had a spare FV and tap so didn't lose more than 100ml or so

 

[Old Fart At Play]

Can get starsan (and others, similar) online. Brilliant stuff, the no rinse aspect has saved me masses of time compared with my previous method. Don't let the seeming high price put you off - one bottle will do many, many brews.
If you use bleach in the short term, rinse it really thoroughly because bleach has stuff in it designed to make the bleach stick to surfaces. I used it once years ago, didn't rinse thoroughly enough, and my beer ended up tasting like germoline.
Cheers

 

[Bernie]

I bought a load of Wilko kit yesterday and am keen to get cracking with some brewing. One thing I didn't buy was sterilisation agent of any kind.

Would you need to use this with brand new kit?

I figured it's maybe no different to buying new plastic drinks bottles and that maybe a quick rinse with hot soapy water may suffice as it's all brand new gear. Any thoughts?

Dont want to waste time and money on brewing something unsafe to taste.

Not soapy water.
More effective than cleaning/sanitising is good housekeeping. Clean the fermenter immediately after use, removing any encrusted yeast with a soft cloth, rinse thoroughly and leave to dry. Similarly, bottles; leave to dry and cover with a dust cap.
Before a ferment I purge the closed fermenter for a day or so with a metabisulphite solution.

 

[Davegase]

nope - but a bottle lasts for ages and it makes life a lot easier so it's worth buying some. If you want to use something from a supermarket, then as @Chippy_Tea says, milton is a fine option though please do rinse thoroughly afterwards. I used to use VWP for sterilising - and that is a word used proportionately since it is closer to proper sterilisation than most options. However the solution can't be stored and reused unlike dilute star/chemsan which can be, so I've switched over to washing up liquid for cleaning, v dilute of course, then chemsan. It makes life a whole lot simpler not having to rinse the last step...mind you getting the foam out of a fermzilla is a right royal pain. I know I shouldn't fuss about the foam but I do.

Anna

Don't fear the foam !!

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Don't fear the foam !!

I have recently started using chemsan, and must admit, it takes a very conscious effort not to fear the foam. I know it's ok, it just doesn't feel right

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

For years I just used sodium metabisulphite (SMB) for sanitising and never had an issue. The bonus with SMB is that it is an antioxidant plus eliminates chlorine. I use Chemsan now for any large volume stuff as the SMB fumes can be very irritating to the airways. I bought a large tub of SMB which was many times cheaper than traditional Campden tablets.