When I started this site, the first thing I imagined posting was a welcome message to the site for people to learn about what they will find here. Or perhaps a step-by-step tutorial on how to homebrew. That is what the people want to know! I wrote the tutorial, and it will be coming soon. However, I realized that I needed to take a step back to talk about what I think is the most important step in brewing: sanitation.
Sanitation and cleanliness are the most important aspects of brewing. Some people will tell you that a good fermentation is more important, but a good fermentation won’t help you if your beer is infected. It is more important that having a perfect recipe. It is more important than any other topic that I will discuss on this website. There is a reason that many professional brewers refer to themselves as glorified janitors. They are focused on keeping everything clean. If you do not properly clean and sanitize your equipment then nothing else matters. You will introduce bacteria and other organisms that will spoil your beer. If the beer is infected in the bottle, there is a chance the bottles could explode which creates a safety issue.
So sanitation is important, but here is the good news: it is easy. Just mix up your cleaning solution to the specified concentration and soak your equipment. I prefer using PBW when cleaning my equipment. If you have some tough build up you can speed up the process with a soft sponge. Do not use the scrubby side of the sponge because that will leave scratches in your equipment for bacteria to hide. When your equipment is clean, prepare your sanitizer and soak your equipment again. Simple as that. My sanitizer of choice is Star San. Most sanitizers only take a couple minutes to be effective. Just remember: if it’s not clean, you can’t sanitize it. If you have any build up on your equipment it won’t be sanitized because bacteria can live inside the gunk!
A clean brewery is a happy brewery. Poor sanitation is one of the biggest causes for new brewers making bad beers. It happened to me on my second batch and I almost stopped brewing. Don’t be a statistic. Be thorough and sanitize everything before you use it. Make good sanitation a habit so you can focus on all the fun parts of making delicious beer.