Tune Up Your Equipment
The old adage about an ounce of prevention certainly holds true when it comes to taking care of brewing equipment. Many problems can be avoided simply by taking a few extra minutes to thoroughly clean everything before you put it away. This may seem difficult when the clock is striking midnight after a long brewing session, but all too often “I’ll finish cleaning up in the morning” turns into “I’ll clean it the next time I use it.” The result is equipment with dried-on stains and deposits that take hours to soak and scrub loose.
Fermenters
If you were careful and took a few extra minutes after your last brewing session to clean all of the residue out of your fermenters before you put them away, then all you need to do when getting them ready for the new brew is give them a quick visual inspection followed by a thorough rinse and sanitation before use. However, if your last batch was one of those 1 a.m. brewing disasters several months ago and there is a crusty buildup that has dried in place, then you really have your work cut out for you.
Glass carboys require only a quick check for any buildup or deposits that you may have missed during your last cleaning, and then they are usually ready to be sanitized and put to use. If you have any hard water or mineral deposits as the result of water drying in your carboy, they can usually be removed by using any of a number of acidic household deliming agents (such as Lime-Away) that are available at most supermarkets; just be sure to follow the directions carefully and afterward flush thoroughly with plenty of water to remove any traces of the chemical. Do not allow any other types of cleaners or sanitizers to come in contact with these chemicals. A dangerous chemical reaction could result.
Also, check for any cracks in the glass or chips in the neck, even minor ones, and discard carboys that show signs of failing. It may seem expensive to discard a seemingly “good” carboy. But replacing it is cheap compared to the cost and risk of injury when a failed carboy sends broken glass and gallons of what was invariably going to be the best batch of homebrew you ever made all over the new rug in the closet where you keep your fermenting beer.
Make sure your carboy handles are located on the neck and tightened down properly. If you do not have a carboy handle, consider getting one to help make your brewing sessions a little easier and safer.
Don’t forget to look at the bristles on your bottle and carboy brushes to make sure they are still full and in good shape. Many times these simple cleaning tools are overlooked. Brushes wear out and it is virtually impossible to do a good job of cleaning bottles or carboys with a worn brush.
With plastic fermenters, bottling buckets, and any other brewing equipment made of plastic, remember that while these items are usually less expensive initially, they will not last forever. Inspect bottling and fermenting buckets for any scratches that can harbor bacteria. Check the inside lip of the lid to make sure that the gasket that seals the lid shut is intact and in good shape. Snap the lid on your plastic fermenters and place an airlock filled with water on top. When you press down on the center of the lid with your hand, the airlock bubble should move noticeably. If it doesn’t, recheck to make sure that the lid seals are in good shape. Remember, if the lid won’t seal, the airlock will not be able to prevent air (and possibly bacteria) from entering the fermenter when it is full of beer.
Look for stains and smell the air inside the bucket to see if the plastic has taken on any odors from sanitizer or from previous beers. If there is an unusual aroma present, try a wash of chlorinated TSP and hot water applied with a non-abrasive dishrag, followed by a hot rinse and air drying in the sun. Mild staining and discoloring of plastic is normal with use, but if the aroma persists, replace the vessel. On buckets equipped with a plastic spigot, remove the spigot and check the gasket that seals the spigot to the bucket. The gasket should be in good shape and should not have any cracks that can harbor mold or bacteria, not to mention cause a leak.
Any fermenter, be it glass or plastic, that has dried residue from a previous fermentation will require a good soaking with plenty of hot water and a strong cleanser. Repeated washings and rinsings may be necessary, and it is imperative not to use any type of abrasive pad or brush on plastic fermenters. (See Tips for Plastic, bottom of the page).
All-Grain Equipment
All-grain brewers should check their mash tuns and false bottoms to make sure that they seal adequately and are free of any deposits or grain buildup that can clog the screen or mesh. If the mash tun has a manifold-style false bottom, disassemble each of the runner tubes and flush them with hot water. A nylon brush of the type used for cleaning rifles and shotguns is helpful to run down each tube to remove any deposits or old grains. Picnic coolers used for mashing will warp and distort; check for any cracks in the inside liner.
Most of the grain mills manufactured today for home use do not require any type of lubrication to the rollers, bearings, or gears. Periodically blow out any grain husks and dust with a quick blast from an air-compressor hose, check all of the adjustment settings to ensure that they are snug, and then run a handful of grain through to see that the roller gap is still within specification by producing a satisfactory grist.
Odds and Ends
Siphon tubing, stoppers, and airlocks are all relatively inexpensive items that can be difficult to clean and maintain for the long term. There are brushes available to help clean out an airlock after a fermenter “blows over,” but for the most part these are items that you will want to watch closely and replace regularly. Even storing these items in a bucket of sanitizing solution will eventually result in their acquiring the flavor and aroma of sanitizer, and imparting it into everything with which they come in contact. Rubber stoppers will become discolored, dry out, and eventually begin to crack, leaving places for beer-spoiling bacteria to hide.
Test instruments should be checked regularly to ascertain their accuracy. The standard floating dairy thermometer used by many brewers can be checked by comparing it to another thermometer of known accuracy. On probe-style thermometers check to see that the probe is clean. On digital models check the battery. Stick-on types of thermometers need to be firmly attached to the fermenter to read accurately; check to see that repeated washing cycles have not caused the adhesive to loosen.
Most hydrometers are calibrated to read correctly at 60° F. When immersed in water at this temperature, the hydrometer should read 1.000 (0° Plato).
Most small kitchen scales are equipped with an adjustment knob to set the pointer to read accurately at zero. Any business that uses a scale for retail trade is required to have it certified by state authorities, so checking the accuracy of your home hop or grain scale is as easy as going down to the local homebrew shop and carefully weighing out a measured amount of grain on the certified scale, then comparing the reading to the one you get on your home scale. As with the thermometer, electric models should have their batteries checked and replaced if necessary.
If your instruments don’t read satisfactorily, either replace them or note the discrepancy in your brewing log so that you can compensate for any readings made with them.
Wort chillers are among the easiest items to maintain, but since they make contact with the wort after the boil and prior to the pitching of yeast, they are also among the most critical. The immersion-style chiller is virtually foolproof; all that is required is to rinse off the outside of the coil with hot water after each use and once again before immersing it in the next batch of beer. The oxidation or tarnish that builds up on copper is perfectly normal. While it may look unpleasant, the only danger to your beer comes from dried deposits stuck onto the metal from previous batches.
The care of the counterflow-style chiller is a little more involved and critical, since the wort passes through the chiller, where it is virtually impossible to make a visual inspection to ensure cleanliness. With a counterflow chiller it is imperative to flush the chiller after each use with plenty of hot water to remove any residue or deposits before they have a chance to dry and set, then completely drain the coils to prevent the buildup of mold growth. When you’re getting ready to use the chiller the next time, flush the coils with plenty of hot water, and then sanitize.
Bottle cappers — good-quality two-handled or bench-type cappers — can last a lifetime. When you take your equipment out of storage, check all of the pivot points and lubricate them using a light oil or petroleum jelly. Put a thin film of petroleum jelly on the inside of the crimping cup; it extends the life of the cup, crimping the caps requires less effort, and the capped bottles release easier. Remember, a little goes a long way. Too heavy a film could cause the lubricant to squish out and get onto the inside of the cap, potentially ruining the head retention and flavor of the beer inside.
Cornelius-type kegging systems that have not seen service for some time need to be physically dismantled. Each of the kegs, especially if there is any residue inside from a previous batch of beer, should be broken down and cleaned thoroughly. Check and replace all O-rings as needed. Even if they are not leaking, they may have acquired flavors from whatever was in the keg when it was put into storage. Check all hoses and, as with siphon tubing, consider replacing on a regular basis to prevent bacterial contamination or off-flavors.
Ingredients
After brewing only a few batches, most brewers begin to assemble an assortment of extra or leftover ingredients. If you maintain the ingredients as well as equipment, these ingredients can still be good even after an extended storage period, provided they were stored properly to begin with.
Malt extracts, whether in syrup or dry form, will last indefinitely with very few adverse effects. Some darkening of lighter malt extracts is normal with age. Dry malts can absorb water over time and eventually become rock hard. While this rock is a little more difficult to dissolve into wort, it can be done and the extract used with no negative outcome on the finished beer. The same general rules apply to adjunct syrups or powders, such as corn sugar used for priming.
Grains are much more perishable. The biggest factors affecting grain are moisture content and pests. Long-term storage of grain can result in various bugs and even rodents feasting on the grain supply, and over time the moisture content of the grain will change, resulting in a stale or moldy flavor that will end up in the finished beer. Pale malts are usually more susceptible to this than specialty grains. Any crushed grain that has been stored for more than a few weeks is probably not suitable for use.
Hops vary greatly in their perishability. Pellet hops, when stored in an airtight container under cold conditions such as the refrigerator or freezer, will last months and even years without a perceptible drop in quality. Leaf hops, or any type of hop stored in a plastic bag or opened mylar bag, can become noticeably oxidized and should probably be discarded. Any hops that are unopened and are still in the original vacuum-packed mylar container will probably be unaffected. You can keep leftover hops stored in the refrigerator in airtight, plastic vials.
Yeast performance varies greatly with age and storage conditions. Dry yeast will last for months and even years providing it is stored in the refrigerator. Dry yeast can tolerate storage at room temperatures for short periods of time but will become suspect if it has been stored excessively warm for more than a few weeks. For this reason it is best to always discard the packet of yeast found taped to the top of a can of extract syrup. Liquid yeasts should always be refrigerated. Most liquid cultures are dated. Activating and propagating a starter goes more slowly as yeasts age, but many brewers have used liquid yeasts up to six-months old with no negative impact on the finished beers. Under no circumstances should packets of yeast, dry or liquid, ever be stored in the freezer. This will quickly render them useless.
If you have any one of a number of ingredient kits that include malt extract, specialty grains, hops, and yeast in a packaged form, take a good look at the quality of the packaging when you open the kit. If everything appears to be airtight and sealed, then most likely all of the ingredients are fine, even after several months at room temperature.
Storing ingredients correctly and periodically checking brewing equipment only takes a few minutes. Preserving ingredients saves you money. Maintaining equipment not only can prolong the life of the equipment but also goes a long way toward making the job of sanitation easier.
Tips for Plastic
Plastic is relatively inexpensive, lightweight, and durable, making it perfect for many applications in homebrewing. For example a plastic fermenter weighs less than half of what a comparably sized glass fermenter does and is unbreakable as well. However, there are a few special properties of plastic to keep in mind if you choose to use it.
Use only food-grade plastics. Food-grade plastic tends to be slightly more expensive than its non-food-grade-rated counterpart. This is because the plastic in food-grade vessels is designed to be as non-reactive as possible with the food products with which it comes in contact so that a plastic flavor or aroma is not imparted. Using a non-food-grade-plastic vessel or tubing in brewing will most likely not hurt you. But unless you are fond of the flavor of the discount buckets or the aroma of the garden hose you found down at the local home-improvement store, it is probably best to spend a little more for the food-grade stuff.
Do not use abrasives on plastic. Plastic is soft, and even the bristles of a common plastic or nylon dishwashing pad can scratch plastic. The microfine scratches are places for bacteria to hide from sanitizer, multiply, and destroy your next batch of beer. Use only soft dishrags and avoid abrasive cleansers.
Plastic will absorb odors and stains. Because plastic is soft, it will tend to absorb strong odors, flavors, and stains from whatever is stored in it and pass these flavors along to future brews. Needless to say, while your local restaurant will probably be glad to give you all of the food-grade buckets they have, unless you are fond of blue cheese- or pickle-flavored beer it is probably best to avoid them! Likewise, the flavors from any especially strong brew such as a fruit beer or wassail can sink into the plastic.
Excessive use of sanitizers can result in a chlorine or solvent-like iodophor flavor and aroma in the beer. With sanitizers, use only the recommended amount and no more (bleach is one ounce per five gallons water; iodophor is 25 parts per million) and try to keep the contact time within the effective range for the sanitizer being used. Mild staining and aroma are unavoidable over time. When this occurs, try leaving plastic fermenters in bright sunlight for an afternoon. The combination of heat, fresh air, and UV radiation will help to cure out many mild aromas and extend the useful life of the vessel.
Plastic can distort. While one of the good properties of plastic is that it can handle a wide range of temperatures that would shatter or crack a glass carboy, its flexibility also allows it to distort, which many times can prevent the lid from getting a good, airtight seal. In general try to avoid using buckets with “locking” lids that are perforated around the perimeter and are designed to be cut off. They do not seal well. Look for a lid that has a tight, interlocking groove between the lid and the lip of the bucket, preferably with a gasket.
