KHB,
Fermenters should be sanitised before use rather than after cleaning and storage
Are you sanitising your tubing between your kettle and fermenter?
cheers
darren
KHB, like Darren says above sanitise before use.
After use disassemble fermenters, remove lid O ring, tap and seal. Keep a 2L ice cream container with lid in the brewery about 3/4 full of a strong 10:1 bleach solution, store taps and airlocks in this until needed then rinse before use with no rinse sanitiser. Store grommets and seals etc in a separate clean covered container. After use clean fermenters with something like napisan, drain and store. The morning before use make 2L of 20:1 bleach solution with 5ml of white vinegar to lower the ph. Assemble the fermenter lid O ring tap and seal, put the air lock, transfer hose atc inside and add the bleach solution, give a good shake, repeat a couple of times over a few hours. Prior to use make up 2L of non rinse sanitiser Iodophor/PhosAcid/StarSan etc, tip out the bleach (preferably into something for re-use) and rinse out with clean tap water. Add the no rinse solution and shake, leave this until just prior to use (at least 20 min). Tip out and drain prior to adding wort.
Rehydrate dry yeast in 10 times it's weight of water - ie: 12g of yeast, put 120ml of cooled pre boiled water into a jug, sprinkle yeast on top, cover with glad wrap and wait 15 min. Whisk the yeast and water a little and replace glad wrap, leave for a further 15 min then pitch at your required pitching temp.
Assuming your brewing ales, ferment at your desired ferm temp until gravity readings are stable over 3 days (no matter how long, sometimes as little as 5 days) then drop the temp to 4C and leave there for 3 days. Rack off the yeast to another container and store at 4C for another 3 days, add finings and after another day keg or bottle. Get it cold after fermentation ceases, reduces the risk of infection.
With No Chill - transfer immediately after flame out, important to have the wort as hot as possible to sanitise the transfer tubing and cube, which should have been sanitised in the same way as for fermenters above prior to use. Transferring hot wort is added insurance. Don't keep the beer in the cube any longer than necessary before transferring to the fermenter, dropping to fermentation temp and pitching yeast.
Long rant I know sorry, needs to be said, if you think Darren is anal about sanitisation, he is, and it pays off.
Cheers and happy brewing,
Screwy