Re: Possible to leave sterilising solution in bins etc ?

Scott Sellers wrote:

snip

Yeah. Clean for storage, sanitize for use.

Meanwhile, keeping equipment dry helps keep stuff from growing.
I store hoses and other brewday equipment in my brewing buckets,
open to the air. (This is in a clean environment, up out of the
way.) The way I see it, towel dry with a lid on isn't really dry.

Here is my routine:

Steps 1 & 2 only if I'm going to save the yeast slurry:
1. Boil a small pot of water, with a lid, to rid it of chlorine and any nasties; let it cool.
2. Sanitize a plastic jug and lid.
3. Rack my beer from my carboy, and if saving the slurry I IMMEDIATELY add the santized water, swirl, and pour into the plastic jug.
4. IMMEDIATELY (even before bottling since my bottling bucket has a lid over it) fill the empty carboy with plain hot water and let it sit in the bathtub to soak; this helps loosen the crud and keeps it from drying harder onto the glass.
5. After bottling, I hit the carboy with a bottle brush to remove visible crud, dump it, rinse, and then fill a little over half way with water and cleaner -- like 3 gallons for a 5 gallon carboy -- and let it soak for a few hours (I use Five Star PBW). I save almost half the cost of the PBW by mixing a smaller amount, and then I put a bucket over the carboy and carefully tip it on its side and then upright the bucket to soak the top half of the carboy for a few hours. When I'm finished, I hit the carboy one last time with the brush, and then rinse it a couple of times. I then drain and store it upside down in a milk crate, with the carboy remaining open to dry.
6. On brew day, I swirl some no-rinse sanitizer (previously Iodophor but I'm now trying vinegar and bleach), and let it drain dry upside down in the milk crate.

As for all of my hoses, spoons, airlocks, etc., I store them in a bucket of whatever sanitizer I used on brew day, sealed with a lid, and I've never had any mold or other problems. However, on my next brew day, I replace the sanitizing solution with a fresh solution for that day and to store everything until the next brew day. The only things I can't store like that are my siphon-starter and beer thief, which are too long. I know that sanitizer loses its strength with time, however, I think that with everything already santized in a sealed bucket, that probably doesn't matter for storage.

The above has worked very well for me, but if someone has an easier way or can explain some problems, I'm open to comments and suggestions.

Cheers.

Bill Velek - PERSONAL sites = www.velek.com & www.2plus2is4.com
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