Ask any experienced brewer what the single most important thing in brewing is, the one thing we should never forget, well that's easy..the finished product that's why we do it !!!

An easy way to ensure good finished product is cleaning and sanitation. Going crazy about it, becoming totally anal is not necessary but it certainly does not hurt.

Here you will see an increasing range of product to keep your brewery equipment clean and sanitised.

A good cleaning regime.

Scratchless scrubbing never hurts. A good alkaline cleaner will scrub out a lot organics by itself left for a few hours. Caustic Soda is the old workhorse, it is cheap but does need to be dissolved in hot water at 1% to 2% concentration, it has poor rinsability so a couple of rinses are required. Mixed alkaline cleaners incorporating oxygenating chemicals as well as surfactants, such as PBW or Mashematics gPBC (now replaced by StellaClean) at concentrations of 0.75% will not only break down the organics but have an oxidising effect on the scum, it is also easier to rinse.

Rinsing with water is good but for a final thorough clean use an acid based cleanser. Alkaline cleaners are great for removing tough organic soil from the surface , but the additional acid cycle is helpfull to remove inorganic material that could be hiding in the pores of the surface that standard cleaners are too large to penetrate. Also, many alkaline cleaners do not rinse well and, even after a good hot water rinse, there can still be residue. The acid cycle will remove the inorganic solids, beer stone, hard water, minerals and residue left over from the initial cleaning cycle. For a good acid rinse or just a general killing agent (on clean surfaces) use Stella San Phosphoric Acid cleanser.

For general quick clean of ball-locks, yeast vessels and such use Super-Kill 70% ethanol spray.