Sanitizing a Stainless Steel Fermenter

[peterlonz]

Worth mentioning that for most of us, brewing lowish quantities in fermenters with 23 lire capacity, well your never likely to need to passive the stainless keg or fermenter.
Mechanical cleaning, as in vigorous brushing or similar, is rarely needed, several wash outs with near boiling water is almost always sufficient to clean. Further sanitation generally unnecessary. Remember to pass the very hot water through the delivery tube to ensure it's washed clean.
Starsan or equivalents easy to use & safe if a further step is thought necessay to sanitise.
I don't go beyond the hot wash & rinse routine with my 7 kegs, but also I don't seal up empty kegs because I have seen condensation occur inside kegs stored with access hatch firmly in place.

 

[MHB]

Don't really agree, over time you will get a buildup of waxy resins mostly from hops, if these aren't removed they can become a harbour for bacteria as well as being bad for head on beer, you will also get a build up of beer stone that must be removed for the same reasons.
A home brewer working at the scale where we are talking about temperature controlled stainless CCV's doesn't get a free pass from the same problems that commercial brewers encounter. If anything we need to be even more careful as we don't have all the other infrastructure that supports a commercial brewer. Stuff like Quality assured water on tap, regular cleaning and sanitising programs, much larger yeast pitches of assured quality... its a pretty big list if you work through it.

Cleaning and sterilising (sanitation) is best practice, you can getaway with cutting corners a lot of the time, even for a long time but sooner or later it will bite you on the arse.
Mark

 

[peterlonz]

MHB
Since I am unsure what "scale" you have in mind giving this advice I am unable to comment further, I don't know what CCV is.
I do know that none of the problems you outline are likely to effect the home brewer doing annually say around a dozen 23 litre batches.
My experience is brewing 40 years+, kegging 12 years. No infections whatever! Occasionally I do sanitise my kegs & always sanitise the fermenter - just to be clear.
No argument on what is best practice

 

[Coalminer]

CCV - cylindro-conical vessel