If you want to make sure all of the brewing equipment is clean and safe to use, you should include bottle sanitisers in the cleaning process. Beer brewing is a delicate process that requires an equally delicate approach. Even the slightest trace of dirt can spoil your beer and ruin your efforts. But, thanks to the bottle sanitisers you can avoid that.
What Is a Beer Brewing Sanitizer?
Hygiene is the second most important thing in brewing, with the first being the beer recipe. If everything you use during the process isn’t 100% clean and sterilized, you risk ending up with a spoilt beer that’s no good for drinking. The beer brewing equipment and bottle sanitizer does a great job at removing stains and visible dirt from the surfaces but it also sterilizes ergo kills the invisible bacteria and microorganisms.
When it comes to bacteria and microorganisms, you can never be sure that you removed everything since there’s no way for you to notice the presence. That’s why it is important to use a bottle sanitizer with a strong formula that never fails to leave whatever you’re cleaning spotless and as sterilized as possible.
There are different types of sanitisers available for you to choose from: no-rinse brew sanitiser, sanitiser in a form of a spray, no-rinse sterilizing sockets and sulphur dioxide sterilizer. As the name suggests, the no-rinse homebrew sanitizer is the one you don’t have to rinse after you apply it. The sanitiser in a form of a spray is simple and convenient to use, plus it’s 100% biodegradable, doesn’t contain detergents and solvents, it’s not toxic and can be used on anything. It’s the ideal non-polluting cleaner.
The sockets contain a single dose and are enough for you to sterilize all the bottles and equipment. Once applied the socket sterilizer breaks down to oxygen, water and natural minerals. You need to mix it with cold water and leave it for a couple of minutes before draining the liquid. Afterwards, there’s no need for you to rinse the equipment because this beer bottle cleaner doesn’t leave traces behind. It just evaporates to oxygen.
The sulphur dioxide sterilizer contains sulphur dioxide which is a colourless gas with antimicrobial properties. It’s water-soluble and kills bacteria very efficiently. When used in recommended concentrations it’s completely harmless.
How to Use a Brewing Sanitizer
The brewing equipment consists of a pot, plastic buckets, fermentation bucket, airlock and stopper, racking cane, hydrometer and a jar, bottle caps, bottles as well as a stainless kettle. Everything on that list needs to be impeccably clean and sterile because it gets in contact with the beer. And here’s where the bottle sanitiser comes into play.
The easiest thing you can do is gather the equipment, make a sanitizing solution and start cleaning. The bottle sanitiser will leave everything spotless and ready for beer brewing. It is best if you do the cleaning the day before the actual brewing because both processes are demanding and you can’t do everything at once. You can use the bottle sanitiser both for metal and glass containers as well as for the surfaces you’re going to use and place the equipment on. The bottle sanitiser is completely safe to use and doesn’t leave any residue.
There are two methods of cleaning that you can use. First, you can make a solution and use a cloth or a sponge to scrub the equipment or you can prepare a larger amount of cleaning and sanitizing solution and soak all the equipment in. Both methods are efficient except that the second one requires less effort from your side. So, if you’re not a fan of scrubbing (who is anyway?) you should go for method number two.
Either way, this cleaning solution will help you keep everything clean and ready for brewing. You can dedicate yourself solely to making the beer perfect knowing that there isn’t dirt or bacteria on your equipment that can spoil your beer.
The Bottom Line
Although brewing beer sounds like a very easy thing to do once you acquire the necessary equipment, it most certainly isn’t the easiest task you can take on. If you want to make beer of great quality you need to pick your ingredients carefully, get a good beer recipe and acquire quality equipment. But here’s not where the story ends. You need to get to know the process, what works best and what doesn’t, and go step by step through every phase if you want to get everything right.
And since beer making is very delicate, you need to pay special attention to cleaning and sterilizing the equipment you use before you start brewing. Every good brewer knows the outcome of using dirty equipment. And it’s not a good one. You make beer with fermentation and by adding yeast. This has to be done in a sterile environment. Otherwise, the final product won’t be beer but something undrinkable.
For that reason, you need to consider acquiring quality sanitizing solutions that get the job done so that after you can do your job and end up drinking amazing beer. The cleaning solutions you use as well as the cleaning method can make quite a big difference for the end result when it comes to brewing.
