Homebrewing: Cleaning and SterilisationOur lovingly prepared homebrew provides the perfect environment for brewing yeast to flourish in. Unfortunately, it is also the perfect environment for the millions of bacteria and wild yeasts that are floating round in the air and living on our brewing equipment. Nearly all of these will harm the flavour of our brew if they are allowed to take hold. To prevent these unwanted nasties from munching on the precious malt sugars which were meant for our yeast, we need to clean and sterilise ALL the equipment that our beer will touch. CleaningBrewing equipment, like our cutlery and crockery, needs to be thoroughly washed and cleaned. Unlike them, it also needs to be thoroughly rinsed, following cleaning, to remove any traces of detergent. Traces of detergent in the finished beer will affect the surface tension and result in poor head retention (i.e. a flat, unattractive pint!). Sterilising AgentsSterilisation is different from cleaning; it involves rinsing the equipment in a prepared solution which is designed to kill bacteria and yeast. There are two main types of sterilising agents available to the homebrewer: -
Of the two, I would recommend chlorine-based sterilisers, as they are more effective against wild yeasts, and actually kill them, rather than just inhibiting growth (as sulphur dioxide does). While is is possible to make your own chlorine-based steriliser from household bleach, I would recommend buying a commercially available one, especially if is combined with a cleaner (which saves a lot of work!) I use VWP Cleaner Steriliser, which comes in the form of a white powder which you dissolve in water.
Sterilising Tips
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