Sanitation/Storage

[GilesTH]

So I take my sanitation VERY seriously. I love great tasting beer, and my cleanliness helped make my first two batches taste great! But I'm going to need more equipment, and I'm not sure where to store everything where it won't get infected. Is it a problem if I keep my equipment in my condo's storage closet (right outside the front door)? After a year in the place, almost no dust has collected on the other stuff I have in there, but can I just soak the equipment in PBW if I do get some dust on it?

Right now I have extract equipment, and I'm storing all of it in the guest room in the box it all came in. Works pretty well, and it doesn't take up too much space. But my wife and I want to have kids some day, and I don't want a bunch of brew stuff in their bedroom.

I hope my rambling makes sense. I really love my two extract brews, but some day I want to move up to all grain. It'll have to be an igloo mash tun unless I have a better option for cleaning and sanitizing.

[spiderwrangler]

If your main concern is dust, keep in mind that you only have to worry about sanitation on the cold side of things, mashtun and kettle will get sanitized during your boil. For other things you want to keep dust free, put them away clean and dry with a drawstring garbage bag over them upside down. I do this for things like bottling buckets, etc. Carboys I put away after Starsan treatment and drained dry with foil over the mouth.

[TheDarkSide]

I tend to cover everything even if it isn't long storage ( i.e. lid on kettle, plastic wrap on carboys, grains/dme/nutrients in sealed containers, etc. ). After finding a mouse in one of my carboys once and another time the little pricks ate through a bag of yeast nutrient, I decided covering stuff was a good idea.

[Duzdisluk Infektid]

I tend to cover everything even if it isn't long storage ( i.e. lid on kettle, plastic wrap on carboys, grains/dme/nutrients in sealed containers, etc. ). After finding a mouse in one of my carboys once and another time the little pricks ate through a bag of yeast nutrient, I decided covering stuff was a good idea.

You know, if you took that carboy to the Elsinore brewery, you could have gotten free beer. And possibly a job, eh?

[GilesTH]

If your main concern is dust, keep in mind that you only have to worry about sanitation on the cold side of things, mashtun and kettle will get sanitized during your boil. For other things you want to keep dust free, put them away clean and dry with a drawstring garbage bag over them upside down. I do this for things like bottling buckets, etc. Carboys I put away after Starsan treatment and drained dry with foil over the mouth.

I'm not concerned with much else, so I'll start covering my stuff when I move it out of the clean room that it's in right now.

Thanks! Now I just need to figure out a way to controll temp for my fermentation.

[TheDarkSide]

Thanks! Now I just need to figure out a way to controll temp for my fermentation.

This is how I started. It worked well enough until I was ready for a chest freezer with temperatur controller. Home Depot tub with an aquarium heater...total about $18-$20 I think.

[GilesTH]

This is how I started. It worked well enough until I was ready for a chest freezer with temperatur controller. Home Depot tub with an aquarium heater...total about $18-$20 I think.

That's pretty awesome! Unfortunately, storage space is still a serious problem in my 2 bedroom condo. I'll keep it in mind when I figure out how to get more space.

[gwk453]

Personally....I would have large wort stains on the slippers..well assorted stains anyways!