Cleaning and Sanitising Your Equipment

Without doubt, the golden rule of successful home brewing is proper cleaning and sanitization of your brewing equipment.  Beer wort (especially when it is warm) is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.   With the air around us containing millions and millions of wild yeast spores that can also infect a beer, having clean, sanitised brewing equipment is essential.  Brewers Choice has recently reviewed its range of cleaning and sanitising products and now stock 4 products - we believe these are the best products available, at the right price, easy to use and safe for home brewing.

Cleaning, sanitizing and sterilizing are often used interchangeably, but we are really looking at a two-step process.  As home brewers, we will never achieve sterilisation (the absence of all life forms, including micro-organisms), but we can achieve sanitisation, where the presence of micro-organisms is negligible.  However, even sanitisation is not possible if we do not have a clean vessel to start with!  The performance of all sanitisers is compromised by the presence of organic deposits which can harbor bacteria and shield the surface from being reached by the sanitiser.  So we need to look at cleaning and sanitising separately.

Cleaning

There are a number of options for cleaners, the most common being detergents, bleaches, Chlorinated tri-sodium phosphates (Pink) and percarbonates.

Detergents

Detergents have two major problems – many contain some form of perfumes which can be absorbed in plastic fermenters and can leach back into the beer.  They may also leave a film on the surface which can affect the taste of your beer.  Very thorough rinsing is needed.

Bleaches

Bleach (a mix of chlorine, chlorides and hypochlorites) is a very versatile cleaner.  When mixed with cold water, it forms a caustic solution that breaks up organic deposits very well.  However, it can be damaging to your health, the environment and particularly to brass, copper and stainless steel and some poly-propelenes– so if you distill or keg, stay away!

Chlorinated tri-sodium phosphates (Pink).

Chlorinated Tri-sodium Phosphate (Pink) is a very effective cleaner and with the chlorine is also a sanitizer.  Brewing equipment cleaned with Pink needs to be rinsed very well before use.   Pink was one of our favourites but is a fairly aggressive product and is becoming harder to source due to the risk of handling the product.

Percarbonates

Percarbonates are either Sodium or Potassium Carbonate reacted with Hydrogen Peroxide.  It is a very effective cleaner for all brewery equipment and rinses easily.  Brewers Choice Brew Wash is an alkaline (non-caustic), safe-to-handle Percarbonate designed for commercial cleaning of carbonated beverage vessels and in the dairy processing industry.

If you add Sodium Metasilicate to Percarbonate, it increases the effectiveness of the cleaner and prevents corrosion of metals like copper and aluminum that strong alkaline solutions can cause.  Brewers Choice Keg Wash is a professional beer line cleaner made from Sodium Percarbonate and Metasilicate.  It is designed not to taint the taste of your beer and does not affect the quality of the head.  It is ideal for cleaning beer lines, kegs and taps.

Sanitising

Once all the organic deposits have been removed from the surfaces of your brewing equipment, the equipment can be sanitised.  There are three main types of sanitisers – Bleaches, Iodophor and Acid Sanitisers.

Bleaches

Bleaches are effective sanitisers as a result of the chlorine.  Equipment needs to soak for a minimum of 20 minutes.  It generally needs a thorough rinsing otherwise it may leave a chlorine flavour.  (See above for concerns about bleach)

Iodophor

Iodophor is a mix of Iodine and Phosphoric acid, and has been used extensively in the dairy industry.  It is still a favourite for cheese making and is stocked by Brewers Choice for that purpose. There is a slight long-term risk of overdosing on iodine and continued use will result in your fermenter discolouring.

Acid sanitisers

Acid sanitisers such as Star San are the Brewing Industry standard.  A mixture of Phosphoric Acid and a suphonic acid produces a product that is not affected by how many micor-organisms it has to eat through.  It requires only 30 seconds contact and does not need rinsing.  Brewers Choice Brew San is a low foam Acid Sanitiser.  It is biodegradable and only requires 5mls per litre.

Storing Your Equipment

You may have noticed that an old favorite, Sodium Metabisulphite has not been listed.  Although this was offered for a very long time as a sanitiser, it is in fact a Bacterial Inhibitor, not a sanitiser!  Brewers Choice Sodium Metabisulphite excels in maintaining your brewing equipment in a clean state while being stored.   Keep a small amount of Sodium Met in the bottom of your fermenter between brews and you will never find mould growing in there when you go to start brewing.

So there you go.  Look for the range of four Brewers Choice cleaning and sanitizing products and you should never have a problem with bacteria, wild yeast or mould again!