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Cleaning and Sanitizing
Cleaning and Sanitising Equipment
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- Category: Equipment
- Published on Monday, 15 February 2010 09:27
- Written by Administrator
- Hits: 1164
Basic Equipment for Cleaning and Sanitising
One of the most important things you simply must get the hang of to do any sort of home brewing is the cleaning and sanitizing process. Actually doing it is describe din detail in the techniques section, but the following is the equipment you need.
The golden rule with everything though is clean it as you go. Don't let anything sit around dirty.
Bottle Brush
Don't just rely on giving bottles a switch or a shake with water. Use a bottle brush as sometimes you do get a kind of film on the inside surfaces of the bottle. A good bottle brush available from most supermarkets is the simplest way to make sure your bottles are clean.
Also don't throw away your bottle brush once it becomes out-of-shape. An old bottle brush is very useful for cleaning the internal thread of your fermenter.
Clean, Dedicated Cloth and Scotchbrite Scourer
Never use the same cloths, chux, sponges etc you use to clean the rest of your house. The amount of bacteria they can harbor along with the oils and greases they may contain just isn't worth it. Either keep your cleaning kit dedicated for this task or use new ones each time. Use these for cleaning your fermenter.
Never be tempted to use a steel scourer or anything else that will scratch the surface of your fermenter. Try to remove any stuck-on brew with just the cloth first before resorting to a scourer.
Jug or Container for Sanitizer
You need a jug you can use to mix up sanitizer in that has a spout good enough to make pouring into bottle openings easy.
I use 2 x 2 litre plastic jugs. They have a lid on them as well so I can store used sanitizer in it as well. The jug(s) also serve to use to top up my fermenter with cold water. I often have at least one filled and sitting int eh fridge well in advance of mixing up a brew to get the pitching temperature down.