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While it's been drilled into me that sanitation and cleaning is a huge part of homebrew...it seems that not many people have actually had an infection. And my brother who also brews, and does quite possibly the poorest cleaning and sanitising out of anyone I've ever seen has never had an infection.

Basically...is all the hubbub about cleaning a bit of an exageration?

How careless have you been and still been ok?

i wouldn't say careless, necessarily... but i do reckon it's pretty tricky keeping everything sterile, no matter which stage of the process you might be currently involved in.

I've had two infections from two instances of stupidity/lazyness.

I don't think it's a myth, I just think lots of people are really lucky

Its impossible to be sterile. Sanitary yes.

Try and be as sanitary as possible. Even small infections may seem unnoticable. And come in many different flavours. But alongise a beer, where virtually no bugs have been introduced, there is a difference.

An astute homebrew judge can pick the tiniest of " Off " flavours. But to the everyday brewer, it usually matters not.

can you get sick with an infected beer?? where do all of those 'homebrew makes you sick' rumours come from?

If it tastes OK, it can't make you sick. The "homebrew makes you sick" rumours probably come from people drinking two slabs in a sitting or something.

normal beer "makes you sick" if you mean puking from drinking too much or a hangover

I reckon most of the taste and gut complaints of HB are psychological. People always trust something less if someone they know made something, whereas if it was made by a faceless corporation they trust the quality more in alot of case.

How true and to the point of the matter is that!

thisispants wrote:
Basically...is all the hubbub about cleaning a bit of an exageration?

I have a set way of sanitizing all my equipment and it would take alot for me to change my ways, there is no worse feeling than having to dump a batch of brew and yes I have done it 3 times when I started brewing, once my methods where set there have been no noticable problems.

Ok .. Didn't sanatise the primary, or secondary. Racked too early, nearly stalled fermentation. Dry hopped. Used and old tap, and couldn't conect any form of hose or bottler. Siphoned in too un sanatised bulk priming vessle. Thought I was being clever by sticking a smalled bit of tubing in racking tube, sucking on that (don't have an auto racking cane) and removing before touching beer, but droped it in too the bulk priming vessle any way ... Tasted brill. Ohh and forgot about it for a few days - was a larger not in fridge, and reached 25*C ish. And had some malt on the outside I didn't wash off that went mouldy. Yeah, prob best yet. (Have since resumed sanatising - not risking it twice)

I think cleanliness more than sanitising is important. I used to use bleach and other sanitisers but stopped a while ago.

These days I boil some water and swirl it in the fermenter just prior to making a brew. Same goes for racking - for the hose I run the boiling water down the hose into the fermenter.

After I have finished a brew I just clean and rinse the fermenter properly and then leave it on the verandah to dry it properly.

Bottling - when you drink it rinse it twice and invert in the dish rack to dry properly. Store upside down in a broccoli container so no dust or cockies can get in.

So far I have had no problem. As people have pointed out sanitising is not sterilising so my conclusion is if you're not going to kill off the nasties anyway why bother.

Was doing my first brew a few months ago, everything going great, just about to put lid on fermenter (screw top barrel type) and the rubber grommet for the airlock hole in the lid fell straight in. Couldn't reach it with largest pair of tongs I had so I washed my arm, stuck it in and retrieved grommet. No infection at all.

I had to remove the airlock after and brew frothed up and clogged it.

I tried to plug up the hole with a pen to keep any nasties out but the pen fell straight through.

So after fishing the pen out I expected the worse but it was ok

The nose always knows!
I've used diluted bleach since whenever.

Agree with Mikey, I used to use bleach and such, and still do occassionally when it is particularly dirty or hasn't been used for a while, but normally a good rinse with boiling water does me fine.

I think the key is to wash it then use it straight away rather than wash it really well then stash it in the cupboard where germs can get to it

In hundreds of brews, I've only had 2 oxidised,and these both were from leaving it in the primary too long.On both times my nose told me things were'nt right but bottled anyway.
If your sanitising methods are working.Stick to them.
Cheers Glenn

I know of a guy whose dog threw a feral tennis ball into 20L of AG wheat, and it apparently turned out fine. He made a mate drink it first though.

MEC wrote:I had to remove the airlock after and brew frothed up and clogged it.

I tried to plug up the hole with a pen to keep any nasties out but the pen fell straight through.

So after fishing the pen out I expected the worse but it was ok

man i had quite a laugh after reading this,could just picture your shocked face

beernut wrote:If your sanitising methods are working.Stick to them.
Cheers Glenn

Thats probably the best advice in the whole thread. I think it also comes down to where you do your brewing. Some do it in the kitchen. SOme do it in the shed, and some do it outside.
It all comes down I think to your enviroment, and how clean it is in regards to things that coudl cause infections.
If you brew in the kitchen and you have a wife like mine, then the kitchen is always clean, so i think you have little worries. Some people brew outside, and personally this would worry me.
But find what works and stick to that.
I have been brewing on and off for years, and full on brewing now for 6 months, and never had an issue so far with basic techniques.