Getting Back Into Brewing, A Few Questions...

[ShredMaster]

Hi, I'm the new guy here

I used to regularly make homebrew (a can and a kilo method) for a fair while but have not done anything for the past couple of years since a spate of really bad tasting brews. I've done some reading on how to make some nice beer and am going to fire it all up, clean and sterilize and start cranking out weekly batches, wife permitting. As I get back into it more I will progress to working with grains and finally to the all-grain methods. But first I need some more practice....

Some general questions to the experts here:

1. I have not used my fermenter for a couple of years and it has basically just sat around doing nothing. What is the best method to clean and sterilize and get this back to running order? Should I just throw it and get a whole new one? The seals and grommets look intact still.

2. Same question for the bottles, some of them have dried up gunk in them so will probably just take some elbow grease and soaking to get them perfectly clean. Any ideas on what to use for this? I used some type of "oxidising agent" once before which seemed to do a perfect job of cleaning the bottles but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, it was not sodium metabisulphate though.

3. For the bottles, I am thinking of keeping a large tub/bin around and filled with some type of solution which I can stick the used bottles into straight away. When ready to bottle a brew, drain them, sterilize them and away we go. Will that work? What is the best solution to use for it?

4. I mostly use Crown stubbies and have some long-neck bottles and PET bottles, is it worth getting a "bottle tree" to help with cleaning/storage?


Any help or direction to point me in would be much appreciated. I am reading further and further into these forums and there seems to be alot of information to soak up.

Cheers,
Shred.

 

[Lecterfan]

Gday shred,

the articles section has some great info :icon_cheers:

1. http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...;showarticle=18
2. See above.
3. Yes I do something similar to that. See above for what to use.
4. IMHO yes.

(These are my answers, but with over 20,000 members there are just as many opinions).

Particularly take note of activating particular types of bleach with white vinegar. I have been nothing short of astounded with the results of that.


Enjoy.

 

[raven19]

Welcome Shread!

Articles section at the top of the page has oodles of good links for beginners, etc that you should definately check out.

In regards to your Q's:

I would recommend you rinse your bottles straight after use with warm tap water. Then when it comes time to reuse, simply use a norinse sanitiser (plenty of good ones can be found via the sponsors links above) prior to filling with beer and capping.

Stubborn bottles give them a 24hr soak in napisan or similar. Works a treat for me, then norinse, then bottle.

As for Question 3, I would not leave bottles long term in any kind of solution, just give them a rinse after use, and pack them away in a dust free spot until needed again.

 

[Pennywise]

Hi, I'm the new guy here

I used to regularly make homebrew (a can and a kilo method) for a fair while but have not done anything for the past couple of years since a spate of really bad tasting brews. I've done some reading on how to make some nice beer and am going to fire it all up, clean and sterilize and start cranking out weekly batches, wife permitting. As I get back into it more I will progress to working with grains and finally to the all-grain methods. But first I need some more practice....

Some general questions to the experts here:

1. I have not used my fermenter for a couple of years and it has basically just sat around doing nothing. What is the best method to clean and sterilize and get this back to running order? Should I just throw it and get a whole new one? The seals and grommets look intact still.

2. Same question for the bottles, some of them have dried up gunk in them so will probably just take some elbow grease and soaking to get them perfectly clean. Any ideas on what to use for this? I used some type of "oxidising agent" once before which seemed to do a perfect job of cleaning the bottles but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, it was not sodium metabisulphate though.

3. For the bottles, I am thinking of keeping a large tub/bin around and filled with some type of solution which I can stick the used bottles into straight away. When ready to bottle a brew, drain them, sterilize them and away we go. Will that work? What is the best solution to use for it?

4. I mostly use Crown stubbies and have some long-neck bottles and PET bottles, is it worth getting a "bottle tree" to help with cleaning/storage?


Any help or direction to point me in would be much appreciated. I am reading further and further into these forums and there seems to be alot of information to soak up.

Cheers,
Shred.

Welcome to AHB ShredMaster, and good on ya for getting back on the horse

1. As long as the plastic hasn't degraded I don't see why you should need a new one, also make sure there's no little scratch's on the inside of it, as this will harbor bacteria that will most likely be difficult to get rid of. How was it stored?

2. Something like napisan/hot water should do the trick with a bit of a srub with a bottle brush. Check all the bottles for slight imperfections like chips, this will weaken the bottle quite a bit. I'd chuck any PET's you've had lying around for that long.

3. Again, a napisan solution will do a good job here, I'd still rinse the bottles out straight after use though so no crud gets stuck on there, it'll make cleaning a lot easier.

4. I never used a bottling tree, but really it's just a preferance.

If you can get you hands on sodium percarbonate, the active ingredient in napisan, then you'll most likely save a bit of money there. Rather than paying a premium price for something with a bunch of fillers in it. Also Starsan is a very good no-rinse sanitiser, most of the sponsors sell it

 

[Bribie G]

Yes let Napisan be your friend, if you are in a state that has ALDI, their "oxy" version is cheaper than Napisan and has the most Sodium Percarbonate. Put a cup full in the fermenter, fill with very hot water and leave for 24 hours. It will eat anything and may foam initially as the Sod Perc seeks out and zaps anything organic. Similarly take out the O ring and drop that in as well. Then hose it out thoroughly, remove tap or best bet - go to Bunnings and buy a few taps for $2 each and chuck the old one. I replace my taps a couple of times a year.

The get some starsan which is about the consistency of runny honey and dribble some into the tap thread, screw tap on, dribble some more into the fermenter (it's hyper concentrated, a bottle will last for months), pour in some hot water, seal fermenter and shake like buggery. You will get masses of foam. Leave it like that till you are ready to put the brew in, Then just drain the fermenter. It's called "no rinse" sanitiser because you don't need to rinse and it's food grade so doesn't affect the beer (restaurants use it to sanitise food surfaces like SS bain maries and other surfaces in contact with food)..



Craftbrewer are out of it currently but it comes from the USA and shouldn't be too far away. Barring that, bleach is also ok but rinse well about 4 times as the bleach is sticky. I used bleach for a year then got onto Starsan. Either or - depending on how much effort you want to put in sanitising.

Happy brewing this time around.

 

[kocken42]

If you don't want to buy a bottling tree, a cheaper DIY option is to buy a cheap dish rack (Stainless Steel metal types) and go along and cut individual lines (with a pair of snips or something fit for the job) and then bend the prongs upwards, creating your own bottle tree. If you work out a proper design you can hang it on the wall and work to prongs upwards.

And after you've done all this, you can smile knowing that it would have been much easier to buy a bottle tree.

 

[pdilley]

If you are going to stick to bottling for a while, those bottle trees are a very good investment for speed and efficiency and keeping the bottles out of the way in a high density stack while setting up your fermenter for bottling. I have 8 kegs and still bottle and did a lot of bottling without my tree and wish I had bought it earlier.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[drtomc]

Pieces of equipment I reckon are essential to happy brewing, for the non-kegging individual:

napisan or equivalent
no-rinse sanitiser (I alternate in an ad hoc way between Iodophor and Starsan)
bottle tree
squirty thing for squriting the no-rinse sanitiser into the bottles (came with the bottle tree)
bench capper

I also have a tirage bell for my capper so I can use champagne punts too - I've never had one explode, unlike my regular bottles.

2c,
T.

 

[Pennywise]

The get some starsan which is about the consistency of runny honey and dribble some into the tap thread, screw tap on, dribble some more into the fermenter (it's hyper concentrated, a bottle will last for months), pour in some hot water, seal fermenter and shake like buggery. You will get masses of foam. Leave it like that till you are ready to put the brew in, Then just drain the fermenter. It's called "no rinse" sanitiser because you don't need to rinse and it's food grade so doesn't affect the beer (restaurants use it to sanitise food surfaces like SS bain maries and other surfaces in contact with food)..

Does it work better if using hot water? I've always just used cold

 

[ShredMaster]

Hey thanx for all your replies!

I'll clean up the fermenter and give it all a crack in the next few weeks. I'll get the Mrs to grab some napisan next shop and see how we go.

After looking at my huge pile of dirty, filthy bottles, I have started seriously considering a kegging system. It seems to be much easier to keep the beer flowing without the 1/2 day of cleaning and bottling.

Cheers,
Shred.

 

[JulieRush]

I recently bought a bottle tree and I reckon they're definitely well worth it!

actually, I got an email from brewcraft (no affiliation or anything like that) stating they're on special at the moment (at least, in adelaide anyway). $29 rings a bell?