Clean and sanitize all your beer brewing equipment to keep your beer from spoiling. Dirt and microbes are every brewer’s sworn enemy. Even if you follow every step of the brewing process, if you do it with dirty equipment, your brew will be full of off-flavors.
When cleaning, you face many questions: What cleaner should I use? How do you make sure that the device is clean? In this article, we will discuss issues related to cleaning equipment work.
Choosing the Right Cleaning and Disinfecting Chemicals
When it comes to deep cleaning and sanitizing your brewing equipment, the first step is always choosing the right cleaning products. Much debate has been raised about the use of other chemicals not designed for brewing beer.
If it’s not used in the brew, I’ll always say I’m not using it. Here are some alternatives to brewing equipment cleaners that I avoid:
- Bleaching
- Oxygen cleaning
- Dishwashing detergent
How to Sanitize Your Brewing Equipment?
There are two main ways of brewing: cleaning and sanitizing.
Clean
Soil, dirt, and visible stains. Same level as washing dishes. All items used in the brewing process should be spotless, free of dust or grease. Take care to avoid using anything that might scratch the surface during cleaning, these small scratches are ideal places for microbes to hide.
Disinfect
Reduce any potential sources of microbial spoilage to irrelevant levels. That said, you’re getting rid of invisible bacteria to cut the chance of anything ruining your beer. It’s an integral part of brewing.
How to Clean a Fermenter
To prevent biofilm and caked scum, you need to clean.
Dump and rinse the fermenter first, then fill the fermenter with warm water and detergent.
Wipe clean with a soft cloth or sponge and soak for 20 minutes or overnight.
Do not use abrasive pads or brushes on plastic jars or buckets as they may scratch and harbor bacteria. Scrubbing is essential to most methods so we can remove dirt.
Scrub as much as you can, then scrub again. Biofilms and deposits are invisible to the naked eye.
How to Clean Brewing Equipment
For more difficult-to-clean faucets, brackets, siphons, and even pipes, the only real option is to rinse and soak. Disassemble and scrub as completely as possible. Soaking with a strong cleaner must be done immediately after use or it will leave deposits that cannot be cleaned. Improper cleaning prevents proper hygiene and can lead to spoiled, infected beer.
- Using Chemicals: The first step is to use chemicals! Apply it to the tools I’m cleaning and add water as directed. the
- Soak the tools in water and detergent: Now let them soak. Different chemicals recommend different soak times, with longer soaks in case you need it. the
- Scrub hard: Scrub now. Please give it some grease! Scrubbing is an important step that needs to get everything off the surface.
- Rinsing: Rinsing is a step that some people ignore, not sure why. Must be rinsed after cleaning. This is essential for thorough deep cleaning of your brewing equipment.
Is it necessary to clean before disinfection
Clean my brewing equipment before sanitizing. In any case, I do a thorough scrubbing and rinsing of anything that has touched my beer or will touch it in the future before sanitizing the product.
Brewing equipment cleaning conclusion
Excessive cleaning and sanitizing of brewing equipment can make a huge difference in brewing beer.
Some things to consider about proper cleaning and disinfection include:
- Use reputable products for cleaning and disinfection.
- Do not skip the cleaning step before disinfection.
- Be sure to scrub and rinse when cleaning.
- Always discard the device if it cannot be sterilized.
If you follow these steps, you can be confident that you’ve deep cleaned and sanitized your brewing equipment.