Beer Forum

Hey all.....I just racked a APA from my primary carboy to a second carboy for conditioning and dry hopping. My question is......I have cleaned the primary carboy with PBW, rinsed, then sanitized it with Star San, emptied it, and covered it tightly with sanitized aluminum foil. Is there any reason I need to re-sanitize the carboy when I brew next week? Any thoughts or comments on practices you guys use?

Thanks

Jay

I do pretty much the same as you but I leave about a cup of starsan in the carboy. When I get ready to use the carboy, I swirl the starsan around to wet the entire inside once more before I drain it. The key to making this work is how you mix your starsan. I mix mine using RO water. Starsan will stay good for months mixed this way. With my high carbonate tap water the stuff will be neutralized in a couple of days.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

Wayne, you are continually feeding me great advice. My water is also high in carbonate well water. If I ever actually brew some good beer I'm gonna send you a bottle or two. My main problem is trying to put the cart before the horse and changing too many things. I'm not as patient as I thought.

Jay

I personally have no use for this method because of my process. I like to fill my carboy with 5 gallons of sanitizer solution (in my case iodophor) and then dump that into my sanitizing bucket for the sanitization of my tubing, blow off, funnel etc. Though it is interesting to hear that with StarSan this is an option.

I like the method B3 has in their tutorials. You fill the carboy with sanitizer and wait and few minutes, then siphon it out into your sanitizing bucket using a cap and a HEPA. This way the make up air is also filtered. I would just be a quick step added to the process of filling your sanitizing bucket.

Yaboosh wrote:I like to fill my carboy with 5 gallons of sanitizer solution (in my case iodophor) and then dump that into my sanitizing bucket for the sanitization of my tubing, blow off, funnel etc.

I just used this process with my last session and am now converted. I find it much easier to have a bucket around of iodopher solution then to kep having to spray things with StarSan. I still use StarSan for spot sanitizing though. It also gave me something to do while waiting for my boil.

I've also stopped "dumping" out of my carboys and now just siphon everything. Takes a little longer but sure is safer and easier.

David

Yeah, actually I don't "dump" them out anymore either. It is extermely dangerous "dumping" out a 6.5 gal glass carboy. I go the siphon route too. The cap and filter is a nice touch too!