Cleaning equipment products - What works best?

[BBnB]

Hi All,

I'm fairly new to brewing and I am interested in finding out what products in Australia people use to clean their Fermenter and equipment?
I have made a few kit ciders (i haven't got to beer yet) and I have always used what has come with the kit (coppertun cold water cleaner which seemed to work fine). I went to my LHBS and got some of their cleaner but I found you need to use heaps of it but the cider smell is still there..... Can anyone suggest some good products and maybe where to purchase them in Brisbane or off the net?
Thanks in advance.....

 

[Dementedchook]

I tend to rinse the fermenter out with hot water and leave it filled with bleach solution until I want it again. Then I drain, quick rinse, sanitize (probably overkill, but whatever), and off I go. If there's stubborn stains, a lot of people use nappiesan, which I think is basically sodium percarbonate.

 

[Westo]

when cleaning my gear i use napisan as soon as the keg or fermenter is empty (makes it easier to clean if you don't leave it). i put about 5Lts of water in with about 1 - 2 tablesoons of napisan give it a good shake and leave it over night or for a few days if im lazy, then give a good thorough rinse with water, and leave to dry. I also use a sanitizer when it comes time to brew or CC.

 

[technobabble66]

That's unscented napisan, by the way.

Which is basically sodium percarbonate.
So you can also buy that if you can find a cheap supply.
I believe it should also be mixed with sodium metasilicate ideally; ratio of 3 part sod perc to 1 part sod met. But the sod perc works well by itself.
Also, there's stuff called PBW (which the sod perc + met replicates). You need to rinse these afterwards with (cooled) boiled water.

To sterilize, Starsan seems to be the prime choice (don't need to rinse afterwards?), followed in preference by iodophor (do need to rinse afterwards?) I think. Bleach works but you've got to carefully rinse otherwise it can leave a bad flavour in the beer/cider.

Fwiw, i found particularly after a ginger beer the fermenter (plastic) reeked of this ginger nastiness. I soaked it a few times in hot water & sod perc - enough to clean almost anything spotless - and it only reduced the smell by half. I nervously brewed the next batch of beer in it: totally fine.
So maybe if your fermenter smells a bit, don't sweat too much if you think you've definitely cleaned it thoroughly.

 

[MastersBrewery]

Drop into craftbrewer ... one of the site sponsors he is the official importer for 5 star, other than nappy san ( and the no name brands usually have the higher concentrations of active ingredient ) 5 star produce the star san and PWB probably the most used and trusted cleaning products made specifically for brewing

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Napi-san and/or Starsan pretty much nails it. Both food safe and beer friendly.

 

[Westo]

That's unscented napisan, by the way.

What he said! lol

 

[S.E]

I find by far the best and easiest is hot caustic. I dissolve 2-3 heaped desert spoons of diggers caustic soda from IGA in about 250ml cold water then top up my 2 litre jug with boiling water. (the cold water is an important step unless you want a caustic volcano)

I Pour the hot solution in to my 60 litre fermenter and roll it around for a few seconds then leave it for 5-10 mins but rolling it now and again.
After 5-10 minutes or when I get around to it I tip the caustic rinse the fermenter with a hose (shower head) and shake phosphoric sanitiser around it.
I brew all grain and usually do all my clean during the mash and/or boil. I clean my casks (cubes usually) first then fill them from the fermenter scoop out a jar of yeast and leave it at room temp to add to the fresh batch I’m brewing (as I’m using it in a couple hours I don’t need to mess around with cooled boiled water) then clean the fermenter.

I like to get the whole brewing and cleaning process done and dusted in the one day (about 6 hours) rather than cask/keg then clean/soak the fermenter and store the yeast one day and brew another.

This method is based very loosely on commercial brewing practise and works very well for me. It saves time and a lot of water. You can use the same method with napi san or sodium percarbonate. Caustic is a bit hazardous but I find it best.

I really push my luck with yeast but never get infections (I did think I had finally got an infection last week after re pitching the yeast for the eighth time from open fermented brews but it seems not) I open ferment (in a temp controlled fridge) only fitting a lid at the end then once the beer has fermented and dropped clear I often pour pints directly from the fermenter letting in air for a week or two till I get around to casking and brewing again. I mostly brew low carbonated real ales and Irish stout so carbonation is fine straight from the fermenter.

The reason I bring open fermenting and continually letting air in to the fermenter over a week or two in to this is it amazes me how many brewers on AHB report getting infections all the time even though they clean, sanitize and ferment under an air lock or glad wrap and I yet I get away with taking such liberties.

I have been wondering lately if the reason for so many infections is some of the common cleaning methods like filling the fermenter with water and napi san and leaving it till they are ready to brew, though filling a fermenter with cold water and napi san will clean it, will it keep it clean for a couple of weeks untill you are ready to brew? As I understand it sodium percarbonate breaks down after a few hours so after that aren’t you just soaking the fermenter in dirty water?

Cheers Sean

 

[JDW81]

Napisan and starsan.

My two golden rules are.

1: Clean my fermenter and taps as soon as empty.
2: Clean my cubes and taps as soon as empty.

No infections yet in 5+ years of brewing.

 

[shaunous]

you guys heat up the water or cold water with the napisan.

When your cleaning ya 3v brew rigs, how many system rinses do you do to make sure its all out of the system, lines, pumps, heat exchanger, etc, before you would sanitize???

Do you clean with napisan after every brew?

Straight after, or just before the next brew?

Obviously you would sanitize just before your next, not just after your last.

Only ever done extract, and cleaning my new-ish rig is the only thing scaring me :unsure: , making sure all the crap is out of the nooks and crannys these rigs have.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Napi-san works best when the water temp is above 74*c

 

[S.E]

you guys heat up the water or cold water with the napisan.

When your cleaning ya 3v brew rigs, how many system rinses do you do to make sure its all out of the system, lines, pumps, heat exchanger, etc, before you would sanitize???

Do you clean with napisan after every brew?
Straight after, or just before the next brew?

Obviously you would sanitize just before your next, not just after your last.

Only ever done extract, and cleaning my new-ish rig is the only thing scaring me :unsure: , making sure all the crap is out of the nooks and crannys these rigs have.

You don’t need to sanitise your 3v rig or anything hot side. I sometimes run phosphoric sanitiser through the chiller but mostly just recirculate boiling wort.

I tip the grain from the mash tun rinse it and fill it with hot water from the counter flow chiller and some nappy san. When the wort is chilled and kettle is empty I drain the mash tun in to the kettle.

With cubes, casks, fermenters etc I use 1 or 2 litres of hot caustic, I prefer to clean my 60 litre fermenter with just 2 litres of hot caustic in 10 minutes rather than fill it with 60 litres cold and leave it soaking over night.

 

[Bats]

I'll be using Starsan for the very first time to sanitize a keg this afternoon. I have progressed from Iodiphor to starsan.

My question is with the mixing ratio as the bottle instructions are in US.

Is 1.5ml starsan the correct ratio per litre of water? That's what I have heard anyway.

Also, do you sanitize using hot or cold water when using starsan?

 

[Camo6]

1.5ml per litre works for me. Mixed with cold water.

Clean keg with PBW if it's been out of the fridge and/or lost its pressure. Rinse well then add a 1-2L mix of starsan, shake and drain. I drain all my excess starsan into a bucket and reuse it around the brewery.

 

[Coach_R]

Hi all,

Just after some info on how everyone uses starsan when bottling. I haven't used starsan before but im thinking about buying some this weekend.

Is it as simple as make up the correct concentration, fill "X" amount into longneck, give it a good shake and then pour out excess and whack longkneck on bottling tree?

At the moment i feel i'm just wasting too much time/effort cleaning my bottles when there seems to be a far easier/timesaving option!

Any advice would be great
.

Cheers!

 

[Camo6]

I just mix up a 500ml spray bottle and give each bottle 4-5 squirts while rolling the bottle in my hand. I stand them up for a minute or so before draining but don't think that's really necessary. This is after the bottles were soaked in PBW or napisan and rinsed, of course.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Basically fill, shake, drain into next bottle, place on bottle tree.

 

[Coach_R]

Awesome, Just as i'd thought! thanks for the feedback gents!
:beer:

 

[shaunous]

I keep an esky 3/4 full of starsan mix, esky has a decent sealing lid and bottles basically get thrown in esky and given a swirl then straight to filling (Don't have a tree), just make sure you turf the starsan mix before it gets cloudy, but I've had some in an esky in a cold dark spot in my shed for 3 weeks now and its still rockin.