Sanitization comes before everything as you can do everything perfectly regarding the recipe and its execution, but if you fail at sanitization, everything will suffer.
The brew kettle is the place where we put all ingredients and actually brew, so do you need to sanitize it like the rest of the brewing equipment?
You don’t have to sanitize the brew kettle with a sanitization solution like the rest of your brewing equipment as the brew kettle gets sanitized when we reach the boiling point of 212°F (100°C).
So, don’t worry about sanitizing anything that will at one point be boiled as boiling effectively kills any bacteria. Similarly, you don’t have to sanitize a thermometer, a brewing spoon, and brewing bags.
Moreover, if you brew all grain most recipes will call for 60 minutes of boil after which the brew is ready to be cooled, but even 15 minutes of boiling would kill the bacteria.
When should you sanitize the brew kettle?
While you shouldn’t sanitize your brew kettle before brewing, it doesn’t mean that it’s safe to skip the sanitation protocol when the wort cools down.
Some homebrewers prefer to chill their wort within the same brew kettle they used to brew it, and this is when potential dangers occur.
When wort is chilled, it loses it’s natural protection which is heat and it’s once again exposed to bacteria which might activate.
Pouring the wort through an inbuilt ball valve or over the top area of the kettle side could introduce unwanted germs into the wort and contaminate it as these areas might not get sanitized by the heat.
If you pour the wort from the kettle while it’s still hot and let it cool inside the fermenter this shouldn’t worry you, but if you cool the wort inside the brew kettle it’s recommended to spray some sanitizer at those areas that will get in contact with the cooled wort.
If you use a siphon to rack it from the kettle to the fermenter you’ll need to sanitize the siphon, but I guess it’s common sense.
How important is sanitation in brewing?
Sanitation is everything in brewing and you can’t ever have enough. Okay, I am being a bit too extreme and I always sanitize everything twice while some people I know are more liberal with sanitation and are not as paranoid as I am.
However, I don’t receive an infected batch of beer, mead, and ciders and I have heard complaints from others who underrated this crucial step.
Sanitation is preparation, so I like to view it as I am preparing for a boxing match, you want to have the best starting point once you step into the ring to have the highest odds of winning. The same is true with sanitation, when everything is super clean and sanitized everything else that follows works at 100% as it’s not being pulled back by bad preparation.
So, let me share a few quick tips on where the dangers are because you know the saying, the devil is in the details.
How do you sanitize homebrew equipment?
Always have the following 3 steps in mind when dealing with the sanitization of your homebrewing equipment.
1. First clean everything
It’s important to remove any visible dirt, grease, or particles such as sediment, dried wort, and grain stains from the previous brew. The equipment must be as clean as it was when you bought it and used it for the first time.
This is important because sanitization liquid like Star San can’t sanitize visible parts of dirt, stains, and grease as it would need to somehow dematerialize them and it’s not a magical solution. If any of the mentioned ends up in your final brew it has a decent chance to infect it as bacteria can be hidden deep in.
Now, this seems obvious but you’d be surprised how deep the dirt and stains can get into some parts of equipment we sometimes overlook as everything seems clean at first.
Take for example the spigot area, it will always host lots of dirt because it’s difficult to reach it with water and detergent. This is the reason why it’s recommended to clean brewing equipment (and especially fermenters) as soon as the fermentation is complete and you proceed to the next stage (such as secondary fermentation or bottling).
If you leave a couple of days, everything will dry and it will be more difficult to clean the gear so you’ll have more work to do later and thus greater odds of causing an infection if you don’t do the job right.
2. Sanitize
Only once you are sure everything is super clean, you can prepare a mixture with your favorite sanitizer and apply it to the brewing equipment.
I like to use Star San as it works great for the price and it can stay on the shelf for a long time.
Prepare the solution with water and sink everything that will be in contact with the brew after the boiling as once we cool the brew, it’s at risk of being infected.
Make sure that all area of equipment is sanitized, so give a good shake to cover all inside walls of a fermenter and leave some liquid in an airlock (unless you’ll use vodka).
Remove the solution liquid and continue with the process as you don’t have to wait for the equipment to get completely dry and the foam shouldn’t scare you (it’s good and food-edible).
Don’t expose any of sanitized gear to possible contact with bacteria, so if you have problems with space, keep some liquid in a container and store all equipment there. Clean hands are obvious, and although you don’t need the gloves, they are suggested if you brew frequently as the acidic properties of sanitizers can damage the tissue in the long term (nothing serious, but prevention is worth it).
3. Don’t let the bacteria come back later
Once you seal the fermenter, you are safe as long as you respect the previous steps. Be careful not to accidentally drop something in when pitching yeast or when transferring the brew later. I bottle or transfer straight from the spigot, so I don’t have to remove the lid ever but if your fermenter doesn’t have the spigot be careful.
Not to mention that you should always additionally spray the spigot from the outside with sanitizer before transferring or bottling and always sanitize any gear such as a bottling wand or siphon and eventually bottles or a keg.
During fermentation don’t let the airlock go dry and only use alcohol or sanitizer/water mixture instead of any other liquid such as pure water.
It’s recommended to also boil the priming solution of sugar unless you buy new unopened sugar (however even then you risk a bit).
Final take on
Sanitation is super important and it’s worth being extra careful about it. I might sometimes be boring with all the forcing and double-mentioning of certain warnings, but I can’t help it, I just want you to never experience an infected brew.
Trust me, all the energy and time spent to make a brew only for it to be infected because you were lazy at one step is a nightmare.
With proper sanitation, life is easier!