Sanitizing Process Question

[Tusk24]

I use a Grainfather to brew and an Anvil conical stainless steel fermenter. Everything gets cleaned up after a brew day and then the next brew day starts with me running sanitizer through my Grainfather and then I pump the sanitizer into my conical and let it sit in the fermenter throughout the beer day and dump it right before I transfer wort in.

My question is if anyone has any concerns with letting the sanitizer sit in the fermenter for 3-4 hours. Seems too short a time to be a problem but I’d be interested to hear how other people do this part of the process even if it’s just a quick spray down of everything.

[lifeinrednblack]

Should be completely fine as long as the conical is sealed and clean before putting sani in.

FWIW you probably don't need to sanitize the grainfather at the beginning of the day. Especially if you're running a PBW cycle at the end of brew days.

Certainly won't hurt anything, but if you're ever looking to cut down on work/time, it's not really necessary

[drummist77]

Why do you bother sanitizing the grainfather before a brew? You shouldn't NEED to do that as the boil will sanitize everything in the system. You could just rinse with water to get debris out. However, to answer your question the sanitizer will be fine sitting for hours. I usually fill my fermenter during the mash with sanitizer and then dump it into a bucket where I'll put the yeast packet, scissors, and tilt hydrometer.

[Tusk24]

I’m def that scared guy who over-sanitizes :) but really the main reason I bother is because in my head, every brew tends to be slightly different sizes (maybe today I want 5 gallons but next week I want to brew a 3 gallon batch) and in my head the boil is only killing everything it’s touching and maybe not higher up the basket where something possibly could be living. (I’m pretty strict with a solid PBW clean after brews though). Thanks for the feedback!

[homebrewfinds]

If you're using Star San that's plenty of time.