Least careful you've been sanitising without an infection

[thisispants]

Yep, basically what the title says.

A lot of old school brewers seem to be fairly bemused about how careful some of the current brewers are about sanitisation. I'm basically wondering just how cavalier you have been with sanitisation without seeing any I'll effects.

 

[dicko]

With regards to sanitation, boiling water coupled with time for contact can be your friend in most brewing practices.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

I'm one of the 'over the top' sanitizers no doubt. But my uncle who has brewed for 30+ years (kits only) and turns his nose up at my all-grain antics (although since I started kegging, he is becoming more interested)... simply drops his hydrometer that's been on the shed shelf exposed to everything straight into the FV to take a gravity reading, then rinses under the tap (not sure if hot water) and wipes with a paper towel, back on the shelf until the next check..... says he's had no infections and I kind of believe him as I'm yet to taste a bad beer from him (for K&K).

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I never used to pull my fermenter taps apart to give them a proper clean, god knows what was lurking in there. Other than that I've always tried to be pretty thorough.

I'm guessing some of the people who are bemused about sanitation, are also bemused about temperature control, pitching rates, fresh ingedients and other unimportant aspects of brewing.

 

[pcmfisher]

With regards to sanitation, boiling water coupled with time for contact can be your friend in most brewing practices.

It's the contact time that is the problem though.

I don't believe swishing a kettle of boiling water around in your fermenter stays hot enough for long enough to do much.

Not saying that is what you do, but that would be some people's interpretation.

 

[dicko]

It's the contact time that is the problem though.

I don't believe swishing a kettle of boiling water around in your fermenter stays hot enough for long enough to do much.

Not saying that is what you do, but that would be some people's interpretation.

But a dismantled fermenter tap in 2 litres of boiling water probably stays hot enough for all intents and purposes

 

[mr_wibble]

Reminds me of a complaint by a manager at bank about year-2000 remediation costs...

"We spent all this time and money on Y-2-K and nothing happened"

Read some stuff.
( http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html )

Work out what works best for you. Bacteria & fungii are pretty easy to sanitise.
But that one time you don't do it properly, all that work will go down the drain with the beer.

 

[superstock]

I didn't clean my taps, then I noticed some discolouration, discovered what a PITA they are to clean, so replaced them with the original bungs and use a racking cane.

 

[jyo]

I've always been a bit paranoid about cleanliness. Before AHB and the existence of Starsan and taking fermenter taps apart, I would just use pink neo and boiling water with my kit n kilos. I had a few infections

After an infection in my AG brewing, I went through a phase of percarbonate soak, pink neo, boiling water then starsan. Probably a bit over the top :blink:

Percarbonate soak, tap dismantle and clean, boiling water and starsan is my regular regime and I'm happy with that time/happiness ratio.

 

[sp0rk]

I didn't clean my taps, then I noticed some discolouration, discovered what a PITA they are to clean, so replaced them with the original bungs and use a racking cane.

New taps are like $3 from Bunnings...

 

[big78sam]

I didn't clean my taps, then I noticed some discolouration, discovered what a PITA they are to clean, so replaced them with the original bungs and use a racking cane.

Bunnings sell plastic taps for 1 or 2 dollars. I grab a few everynow and then and replace after a couple of months. I can't be bothered pulling apart for the sake of a couple of dollars.

 

[superstock]

Bunnings is a 50 km drive for me.

 

[dicko]

Yep, basically what the title says.

A lot of old school brewers seem to be fairly bemused about how careful some of the current brewers are about sanitisation. I'm basically wondering just how cavalier you have been with sanitisation without seeing any I'll effects.

Apologies OP.

I didn't intend to have this topic railroaded to the fors and againsts of cleaning fermenter taps.

In the days before all these new sanitisers were on the market, we home brewers had a choice of Sodium metabisulphide, bleach and /or boiling water.....I tended to use boiling water for most brewery sanitation as I could not stand the smell from the other two.

My regime was to clean everything immediately after use with a mild detergent and a soft sponge or cloth and then rinse it with liberal quantities of boiling water.
Bottles were always a problem as the glass ones tend to break if attacked with boiling water......some used to clean them and then heat them in the oven to achieve sanitation.

Things have certainly changed in the last ten to fifteen years when it comes to sanitisers for use in the brewery

 

[JDW81]

I don't take risks when it comes to sanitising for brewing. For me it is about eliminating variables. I don't spend time brewing and money on the best ingredients to then tip it down the drain cause I didn't sanitise my gear properly.

I've been brewing in the same fermenters for about 5 years and am still yet to get an infected brew (although, one of those fermenters did recently go to the big brewhouse in the sky).

I say why risk it. Sanitising your gear isn't difficult.

JD

 

[GrumpyPaul]

Now you're all making me paranoid....

I have never pulled a tap apart - simply turn the tap on and let the cleaning solution (usually perc) run through for a few seconds.

I have recently started using starsan as well as the washing with perc soluiton.

I am getting better - but mostly the strongest cleaning product I have used is "Blissful Ignorance" - unscented of course

 

[JDW81]

Bunnings is a 50 km drive for me.

Ebay is your friend. Buy a few to make the postage worthwhile.

 

[technobabble66]

Generally fairly careful with cleaning most stuff, though it's only been with sod perc until a recent purchase of Starsan.

However, i decided a while ago that given i had just poured tap water into the FV to make up the appropriate volume with earlier K&K brews, surely tap water is fairly ok in other brews also (assuming yeast is pitched within a few hours, of course). So 4-5 recent brews have had extra cold water from the tap to dilute down to required OG (i'd overshot the OG on them), and i have used ice blocks in the last 2-3 to drop the wort temp a little bit quicker. The ice was just water straight out of the tap, into regular ice trays, into the freezer uncovered, etc, & into the wort the next day. I'm told it's risky, but like i mentioned, it's what's required in K&K recipes (well, the tap water bit, anyway; and not much should be floating around my freezer infecting things) so i'm assuming it's a fairly low risk. No infections so far. h34r:
Livin' life of the edge!! B)

 

[431neb]

How does one embed a video ? I discovered a very easy way to break apart the plastic fermenter taps for cleaning but it would be easier to video it and post the vid.

 

[sponge]

I just put a small bit of dowel/pen/texta/etc that is a bit smaller than the tap diameter but solid enough not to break from a good thumb, turn the tap to about 45' then hit the pen and tap down on a folded up towel and the tap comes apart quite easily in two pieces.

Now, back to the OP!

 

[TimT]

Cleaning is bloody annoying so I'm just waiting for someone on this thread to say, 'yeah, just bung it in there and don't worry about cleaning up the previous brew, it'll be fine', and that'll be my permission.

After you rinse out with whatever - Starsan, sodium percarbonate, or something else - you've got to dry it out. Stuff will always get in in that time between drying out and adding the wort. So though you can minimise risks you can never effectively eliminate them. Trying to eliminate bacteria is like fighting with an invisible world champion wrestler.

Anyway, most important thing for a healthy brew, I'd say, is a good wort and healthy yeast. Once the yeast really gets going it provides a very effective safety blanket of its own (protective layer of gases).