Cleaning & Sanitising
There are several reasons why a batch of freshly brewed beer could be considered a failure, the main one being lack of cleanliness at some stage of the process. Correct cleaning and sanitising is one of the most important, if not THE most important steps to creating a classic beer.
The effects of not cleaning and sanitising your brewing equipment correctly will be catastrophic to your finished beer. Most noticeable are the looks, your brew may appear hazy or cloudy (although there are other reasons for this), smell, your ale may smell ‘off’ and unless you are intentionally brewing a beer with an intense aroma this will be very distracting for the drinker. But most importantly the taste of your home brewed beer will be definitely dodgy!
So what’s the difference between cleaning and sanitising? Well, cleaning is exactly what you think it is. Removing any visible stains, dirt or debris from your equipment. Sanitising on the other hand goes a little deeper and kills off most of the bacteria and wild yeast that is present on your equipment. Cleaning and sanitising is always a two-step process, without the equipment being clean then there is no point in sanitising it.
Cleaning and sanitising should be carried out on your equipment every time you use it and it is best to use proprietary cleaning and sanitising agents. Whilst in theory you could use soap and water for cleaning, in reality you will find it very difficult to rinse the soap film away. With most specialist cleaning products, soaking the equipment in a solution for an hour or so, followed by a thorough rinse will be adequate.
While sanitising is important for all of your equipment it is essential for equipment that will come into contact with your beer after it has been boiled. (Boiling will go a long way to kill off all those nasties, which could kill your beer.) Most of the specialist homes brewing sanitisers require only a few minutes contact with the equipment to do their stuff, and they won’t require rinsing.
Once you realise the importance of properly cleaning and sanitising your home brewing equipment, the chances of your beers ever failing again will be a thing of the past.
For cleaning and sanitising chemicals and equipment look what's available on Ebay.
