TOPIC:

Hey guys, i'm a bit miffed about what's the best way to clean & then sanitize . My last two coopers kits have resulted in the "sour apple" flavour.

I've been reading Palmers book recently and he says to use an unscented dish washer soap for cleaning then maybe iodaphor or star san for sanitation.

Any chance one of ye guys can let me know how ye clean your fermenters/mash tuns/ bottles.

I know this seems fairly basic but best to get it right before i ruin my all grain brew!

Thanks as always guys.

Ok - you are going to get quite a bit of opinion on this one.

It really boils down to - Do you trust your tap water to be clean?

I use VWP cleaner/steriliser. I mix one teaspoon per gallon - so thats about 5 teaspoons for a typical fermentor. I rinse off the VMP with cold water (so not technically sterilised - but Malahide water is heavily chlorinated)

I dont bother with starsan anymore. I couldn't keep it from going cloudy - I didn't have the equipment to regularly test the PH of my starsan solutions, if the ph is wrong - its effect is nothing - also the idea of putting starsan in a small plant sprayer and calling things sterilised after spraying with that is ridiculous. I might add I have personally seen many batches down the drain from people cleaning with water and then sterilising with starsan.

I have used OXIClean which was great but very expensive, I tried Burtons cleaner steriliser and it was pretty good but worked out expensive at 10euro per 500g.

I buy VWP for about 5 euro for 400g. Best value in my opinion - no infections yet (touch wood... or sanitary surface)

If you don't trust your water at all - you are looking at iodaphor / starsan or the OXI-Clean type solutions.

I suppose there is always a risk topping up your kit with tap water no matter how much sanitising you are doing. The sourness could be badly kept kits or any number or things really.

I go for star san. No problems even when cloudy. I just don't keep it too long and do a ph paper test at times.

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Cheers guys, I'm in Dublin 15 ( Castleknock ) so i'm not too sure if the water will need to be treated etc ( that's another thread altogether ). So for example if i was to clean my fermentor i'd wash it out with hot water and vwp cleaner and then sterilise it with starsan? Same applies for bottles?

Yes exactly as you have described above, that is what I do for fermenters and kegs. Bottle just get a cycle in the dishwasher with no detergent and then a dunk in a bucket full of starsan

"Partridge9":12zmw5l1 wrote: also the idea of putting starsan in a small plant sprayer and calling things sterilised after spraying with that is ridiculous. I might add I have personally seen many batches down the drain from people cleaning with water and then sterilising with starsan.

I have used OXIClean which was great but very expensive, I tried Burtons cleaner steriliser and it was pretty good but worked out expensive at 10euro per 500g.[/quote:12zmw5l1]

That's quite a statement, I use starsan in a spray bottle all the time. Not only is it effective it is also the cheapest solution as it can be reused over and over - you do need soft water. Oxiclean is brilliant for cleaning but it is not a sanitiser.


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