Brewing Beer Demands Higher Cleaning Standards
May 14, 2008 by Scott "The Wine Making Guy"
Filed under Beer, Equipment
Did you know that sulphite is not strong enough to kill bacteria and therefore is of no use in beermaking?
I typically make wine and therefore use a metabisulphite solution to clean my equipment and to date have had no issues with my batches. I should point out though that I’m pretty fussy about keeping my equipment clean, especially when storing it between batches!
I was surprised to read in the cleaning instructions that came with the Brew House beer kit from RJ Spagnols that sulphites shouldn’t be used to clean beer making equipment as they can’t kill bacteria, which will alter the taste of the beer and also opens up the possibility that you’ll get sick from your beer – not good!
I have to say though that I was quite impressed with the cleaning instructions that they included with the kit as they give four cleaning options: Trisodium Phosphate (aka T.S.P. – i.e. the stuff you clean your walls with before you paint them), Diversol (aka Sani-Brew – i.e. the pink solution commonly used in beer/wine making), Bleach (i.e. aka the stuff you use to whiten your shirts) and Iodophor (aka Iodine).
My personal preference is Sani-Brew as it has bleach in it (so I know it’s a good disinfectant) and works well when removing stains from your equipment (especially for your primary – great when you are brewing several different types of wines/beers out of the same container).
Here’s a the page on RJ Spagnol’s website that goes into greater detail about cleaning your equipment as well as the differences between four types of cleansers that they recommend. Definitely worth checking out (even if to serve as a refresher):
www.RJSjspagnols.com/resource_view.asp?HandoutID=44
I realize that cleaning your equipment is one of the least favourite jobs when making beer or wine but consider this interesting thought from RJ Spagnols:
“If you get tired of scrubbing and sanitizing, remember: lapses in sanitation are responsible for 90% of all homebrewing failures. You can avoid them.”
- Scott “The Wine Making Guy”
