Home Distiller

I have been reading like crazy all the information presented....both in the new user reading area as well as topics in the forums. One thing though that I either missed or it is not covered is the best ways to clean the fermenting containers.....be they plastic, steel, copper, glass, etc. There is plenty of information on cleaning the stills, but very little that I could discern on the best ways to clean the fermenting containers. I am assuming that you would not want to ferment a new mash without having cleaned the residue of the previous mash. So, taking into account the varied materials and containers that could be used for fermenting, how would you suggest cleaning the fermenters between mash preparation and fermenting?

I mix up a PBW knockoff to soak my stuff, followed by a hot water rinse then sanitized with star San

Perhaps it is in the glossary, but I did not find it, would you mind elaborating what you mean by PBW?

PBW is professional brewery wash. It's a really strong cleaner meant for brewing. You can find it at homebrew stores. Or you can use oxiclean. It's pretty close to the same stuff. I prefer the "oxiclean free" which has no odors or perfumes.

Soak overnight if it's particularly messy. I usually just hose it out and then scrub with a sponge or paper towel. You don't want to use anything abrasive on plastic as you can scratch it and allow bacteria to form in the scratches.

Or you can use dish soap.

Starsan is my favorite sanitizer as you don't have to rinse afterwards.

Btw- if you're doing a ujssm style ferment, you don't usually scrub in between generations.

> PBW is professional brewery wash.

"Powdered Brewery Wash"

PBW is great, I use it to clean my PET carboys ... no scrubbing or wiping required. Just a teaspoon mixed with a quart or two of warm water, swirled around the inside of the carboy for a few minutes, and it's clean as new.

No need to get fancy with the bucket cleaning. Get a spray bottle of cheep wall mart cleaner with bleach. Spray all the stuff used, wait a minute and spray off with the water hose real well, let dry and go to work.

Of course you can go overboard with this and that but what I said here works.

I primarily just use hot water to clean my fermenters... If I need more than that, due to crud that a carboy brush won't remove, I use a mixture of water, vinegar, and washing soda (sodium carbonate)...

rad14701 wrote:I primarily just use hot water to clean my fermenters...

Same. Realistically, if you are going to distill in a month or less sterilizing is not necessary. Just knock the crude out with a brush and use a healthy amount of yeast at the start. It helps to do the cleaning before it dries . The muck created by all grain mashes in particular turns to cement when dried.

Sterilization is much more important for wine and beer because the product needs to be stable for a longer period over a variety of temperatures. Minor contaminations have plenty of time to grow and cause problems. That is not an issue with a wash for distilling.

Be careful with the bleach. It can persist and cause problems with your fermentation. Starsan is a better option that does not require rinsing--"Don't fear the foam" as the brewers say. It is also great for making copper really shiny and cleaning copper mesh.

Water, vinegar, washing soda...Safe, easy, and cheap! Use it every time!

Just to be different... I own a small pressure washer. It works for me.

Diy PBW

70% Oxiclean
30% TSP90 (sodium metasilicate)

Real PBW can be upwards of $10 a pound, this runs around $2.

T

An issue...try not to use anything that will scratch them. Scratches will hold "stuff" next time.

But I'm with Johhnywhiskey...start a new ferment as quick as you can and just keep it going. No need to clean!

Hot water for me too, a little dish soap if it's nasty.

I've also joined the funky barrel club as I got this 20 gallon blue barrel that doesn't fit in my sink. No lid, just lay a board over the top to keep the critters out.

Just a hose down and dry here.

the boiling water i pour over the corn works well for killing anything in the bucket, i rinse with hot water and a sponge after fermentation.

pfshine wrote:Just a hose down and dry here.

Yup. Spray it with the garden hose. Let it sit in the sun to dry sometimes, perhaps the UV rays will help sanitize it.

From reading bleach is a no no for winery's and a concern in a distillery. Best thing is not to use it. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmed ... S-50-W.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

bluefish_dist wrote:From reading bleach is a no no for winery's and a concern in a distillery. Best thing is not to use it. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmed ... S-50-W.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

When I get an infection I bleach the piss out of it then rinse it out for ages till I don't smell bleach any more

bluefish_dist's post is very important read.

Bleach can actually feed mutate or accelerate some molds! There have been wineries and at least one U.S. distillery that ended up trashing product and bulldozing the buildings...

Quotes-
Presence of chlorine is one of the two major contributors to the production of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), the compound that causes a moldy, musty cork taint.

TCA is usually produced when naturally occurring airborne fungi and bacteria (usually Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Actinomycetes, Botrytis cinerea, Rhizobium sp., or Streptomyces) are presented with chlorinated phenolic compounds, which they then convert into chlorinated anisole derivatives. The chlorophenols can originate from various contaminants such as those found in some pesticides and wood preservatives. Chlorophenols can also be a product of the chlorine bleaching process used to sterilize or bleach wood, paper, and other materials; they can be synthesized by reaction of hypochlorites with lignin. They can also migrate from other objects such as shipping pallets treated by chlorophenols.

Unquote-

TCA changes human brain chemistry and alters your perception of taste.

So, now add that some of us are using concentrated Aspergillus for starch conversion...and we need to be very aware of bleach!

Don't clean black molds with bleach! Kitchen use is just as bad. And now we have kitchen wipes advertised as "with bleach." ahhhhh....

DAD300 wrote:2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), the compound that causes a moldy, musty cork taint...

That's what makes my taint smell that way...

NO IT TANT!

30% ocyclean
30% TSP90
40% Cascade

I get everything at the $ store. Mixed 15 or so lbs lasts about a year. Cost about $2 a lb. for distilling I need very little, for beer I need more. It's a cheap cleaning agent. Rinse w/ hot water sanitize w/star San and all is good

DFitz wrote:30% ocyclean
30% TSP90
40% Cascade

Oxiclean and Cascade are both made up of large quantities of Sodium Carbonate. Which is the least effective ingredient.
I make a home made version with Sodium Percarbonate as the majority ingredient and Sodium Carbonate as a filler, which only constitutes around 20% of the total mix.

Prefer to simply use a plastic brush and/or a rag with a 3% citric acid solution to clean everything down, and it's sterile and ready to use, or rinse it down with water and dry it if you are putting it away. Pretty inexpensive when you are only talking a lightly rounded tsp per gallon of water.

I generally rinse. Dish detergent if something is 'crudded'. For glass, I will soak with hot water and generic oxy-clean. Rinse well

If the equipment is something I'm also going to use later for beer, I'll give it a Starsan rinse or spray. Otherwise, air dry and put away.

Wash with hose then dry. Afrer dry starsan in stray bottle.

B

pfshine wrote:Just a hose down and dry here.

same

I've been using a 10% solution of Nolvasan S on my equipment...in a spray bottle after everything is washed.


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I'm probably too cautious due to my start as a beer brewer. I use 2 5-gallon buckets as my fermenters for about a 6.5 to 7 gallon grain mash. I usually distill on Sunday and make a new mash on Monday, so my buckets only have 24 hours without fermenting mash in them. After I empty them into the strainer for going in the still, I spray them down with the hose, then fill with water and add about a tablespoon of bleach. I drop the stopper and airlock in the water, spray the underside of the bucket top with Starsan and put it on top of the bucket. Next day, it gets drained and re-used. I never scrub as scratches in plastic are an invitation to infection.

Warm water and a cloth is my MO as well.

After it dries I have a spray bottle with some heads that I will spray it down with and then close it. I don't usually do feint runs so I have all this heads laying around and since it is well over 70% ABV and included in many of your store bought drinks...it will kill near anything that could give you problems. It evaporates quickly and doesn't leave a residue that isn't already involved somehow in your product.