How paranoid about cleaning & sanitization?

Question

I'm a new home brewer. I only have a few batches under my belt -- one partial extract and two all grain. Like most, I've read multiple books and watched videos on the brewing process. Cleaning and Sanitization are talked about in depth. In fact, it's talked about so much so that it has made me a bit paranoid.

On brew day, for example, I clean my equipment with PBW or Oxyclean, then sanitize. I'm good with that, as I understand that this is best practices, and it doesn't take too long. But, after I do that, say with a hydrometer, spoon, pitchers, etc. Do I have to sanitize again every time I put it down?

I'm attempting to find a balance between doing the right thing for my beer but not obsessing about it where cleaning and sanitizing is something I dread, keeping me from brewing. I find a lot of video on the right way to clean and sanitize, but none that actually talk about HOW careful you have to be.

After reviewing these boards, even on a single question about cleaning and sanitizing you get three different answers -- Is it okay to clean/sanitize brewing/bottling equipment the day before I plan to use it?. I'd like to get the opinion on some home brewers that have more experience to see exactly how careful I have to be.

Answer 1

The other advice looks good so far. Having a generally clean work space and equipment is very important, and the fully sanitizing equipment only really matters for things that will come in contact with the wort post-boil. To answer one of your other questions, yes if any equipment that needs to be sanitized does contact anything else that is not sanitized, then it needs to be sanitized again. You may avoid this by putting sanitized equipment down in a sanitized area.

What I would like to add is a suggestion that you consider using a spray bottle with a no-rinse sanitizer, like Star-San. If you are finding the process of sanitizing your equipment burdensome you should seek to make it less so. One avenue is to sanitize less equipment, but the other is to make sanitizing easier.

You do not need to carefully wash with Star-San. Using a spray bottle filled with Star-san or similar product and generally clean equipment, spray any equipment you wish to sanitize generously, and you're good to go.

Answer 2

The concept of sanitation itself implies that you have a significant tolerance for undesired microbes, as opposed to sterility where you have to be more careful. If you think that some of your practices are excessive, try removing them one brew at a time. From my experience, I sanitize the equipment once and whenever I am not using the tools I put them back in the sanitizer. Working in a very clean environment is probably more relevant that continuous sanitation.

Answer 3

When I first started, I figured I needed to sanitize the living hell out of everything all throughout the brew process. As I've done more and more recipes without incident, I've realized that one need not be paranoid but simply attentive.

Nature is very resilient: those yeast cells you're pitching aren't fragile glass ornaments; they're damn scrappy and will beat out the other microbes every time given the right environment.

Here's what I suggest: keep things clean pre boil, and only worry about sanitizing things post boil.

Pre Boil

• Make sure your equipment and workspace are clean. "Clean" to me means free of visible dirt and grime. Assuming your pre-boil equipment is clean, rinsing to remove any small dust particles, etc. is sufficient.
• Create a 2-3 gallon batch of sanitizer to have handy throughout the brew day. I also recommend using a spray bottle, but the bucket is handy for soaking things, or dumping sanitizer into a carboy, for instance. You don't need to soak for very long; 30 seconds appears to be the magic number.

Post Boil

• Re-sanitize any sanitized equipment that comes into contact with something not sanitized. The most common "equipment" you should re-sanitize are your hands, since they're touching everything. I like to have a bucket of sanitizer handy so I can dunk my hands before touching, say, my sanitized racking cane.
• Chill the wort quickly. I've let wort chill overnight before without incident, but I think it's a bit risky, since you're giving other microbes a longer timeframe to multiply. Get the yeast in there quickly to give them the best chance.

The biggest lesson I've learned around sanitation is that -- while it's important -- you don't need to be as diligent about it as you might think. Give nature some credit. After all, people have been making beer for thousands of years, long before Star San was around.

Answer 4

I never sanitize anything, and that works fine, too. I do clean my equipment, just like I clean any other pots and pans used in the kitchen. Then I pour the boiling hot wort into the fermenting bucket. That is good enough to kill whatever might have been in there. I let it sit overnight to cool (closed and with airlock, of course).

Safes me the trouble of buying sanitizer and worrying about when and how to use it.

Answer 5

I spoke to a long time brewer before who had a very relaxed approach. When he finished a bottle he would give it a good rinse out, and the same with the fermenter. When putting on a new batch/bottling he wouldn't bother sanitising unless the fermenter/bottles had been laying around unused for a while.

He explained the yeast would create a self regulating system, and he'd clean and sanitise any bottles if they tasted funny (which apparently was rare).

Personally I've always gone the star-san route with everything myself - though I'm quite interested in what shortcuts are safe-ish. I've relaxed a little when kegging. For kegs I sometimes just rinse them out and pass a kettle of boiling water through them.

Answer 6

Sanitation in brewing is pretty simple.

If it touches your cooled wort make sure it's sanitized.

For example, there's no need to sanitize your hydrometer if you draw a sample for it and discard the sample. But you do need to sanitize the wine thief or device that draws the sample.