One of the most important aspects of good health (and the dating scene) is cleanliness. This is also true of brewing good beer. When we remove the sugars from malted barley, boil it, and cool it down, we have created an ideal environment for yeast to propagate. What we’ve also done is create a perfect environment for many other micro organisms. These other little bugs can do harm to our beer by imparting off flavors and smells.
To prevent these beer spoilers from getting into our beer proper cleaning and sanitation procedures need to be used. When thinking about cleanliness, we can divide the brewing process into two steps: pre- and post-boil. Obviously boiling the wort will kill any of these harmful organisms, so while pre-boil cleaning is important, it does not need to be as thorough.
All equipment used for pre-boil brewing should be given a good once over with soap and hot water. This includes the mash tun, manifold, thermometer, siphon, whatever vessel is used to recirculation, and brew kettle. I like to use all natural, scent free soap for this.
The soap I use for cleaning
To sanitize the wort chiller, I give it a once over with soap and water and then add it to the brew kettle a few minutes before the boil is done. The hot wort will kill any organisms still on it.
After the boil and cooling of the wort, extra caution needs to be taken. All equipment that touches the young beer from this point on must be cleaned AND sanitized. This includes the thermometer (unless it was put in the last few minutes of the boil), hydrometer, airlock, and the fermenter. I use a liquid acid sanitizer.
Sanitizer
Lastly, when it comes time to bottle or keg the beer, all containers that will hold the beer must be sanitized. I use the same liquid sanitizer for this.
Cleanliness is definitely not the most glamorous aspect of brewing nor is it the most fun, but it is absolutely one of the most important.
