cleaning vs. sanitizing

[banjolawyer]

Is it true that you should clean ALL your equipment with a cleaner such as OxyClean or Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW)

but that you only have to sanitize the equipment that touches the post-boil wirt (i.e. syphon tubes, carboys, wort chiller, etc) with sanitizers such as StarSan, Saniclean, and BTF Idophor?

[brewmonkey]

That is about the gyst of it. I would however stay clear of products like Oxy Clean. While it works wonders on my funky socks it is not something I would want near my carboys. While all cleaners need to be rinsed well some of them not specifically designed for food service cleaning can leave a film.

Anything that will be coming in to contact with the wort cold side should be sanitized.

[BluesHarp]

I wash everything prior to brewing in PBW or One-Step and sanitize in Star-San. I keep afive gallon pail of Star-San next to where I'm brewing; everything goes in when not being used: spoons, whisks, thermometers, measuring cups, funnels, airlocks, etc...even cans of extract. It may be excessive, but knock on wood, I've never had an infected batch.

[kevin]

how long does star-san keep when mixed with water?

[fuji6100]

the label gives a PH range that it must stay below to be effective (can't recall off the top of my head... I think brewmonkey might remember). Unless you have PH strips, this can be hard to judge. I've gone about 24 hours with it in a sealed bucket but I've heard of people keeping it for much longer than that (sealed).

[Erkwist]

I love the fact that we switched to a new sanatizer at work(coffee shop) so i got in and "claimed" all the stuff from the previous "system" , loads of free food and bev. grade sanitizer. Got a couple of hundred packets of the stuff, just rip open the disovable little baggies (they take to long and if they hit something before they disolve they make it all sticky) and pour it on in.I toss two into a tub full of hot water and sanitize everything, there's plenty of it there, and no harm in being overly sanitized.
side note on sanitation; nice and easy to take your auto syphion if ya got one and use it as a "pump" to pump some sanitizer into the carboys, gets the auto and the hoses in one swoop:D
-erk

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Erkwist
nice and easy to take your auto syphion if ya got one and use it as a "pump" to pump some sanitizer into the carboys, gets the auto and the hoses in one swoop:D
-erk

That's exactly what I do