Tips on sterilizing beyond what the instructions say?

I think you're referring to a sanitizer. Santizers don't sterilize, which is virtually impossible in most brewing situations.

What does the Brewdemon come with and what does its procedure say? I ask because my guess is that it's not very likely that someone else here has that particular fermenter.

 

I don't know what the Brewdemon folks say about sanitization of that system or what chemical comes with the equipment, but packaging of your beer is something that is independent of the brewing system that you're going to need to be concerned about too.

I am not a kegger so I don't know what sanitizing occurs for kegs, beer lines, faucets, etc. But bottles need to be washed and sanitized before filling. Let me start by saying that I reuse my bottles, so after drinking a beer I rinse the empty and drain it well before placing it in one of my cardboard beer cases for storage, thus it's already pretty clean.

I am cautious to the point of over-kill when cleaning and sanitizing, so when it comes time to fill bottles with beer they get a hot soapy soaking and then a soapy washing with a bottle brush followed by a hot water rinse along with an inspection of the inside to be sure that some dried beer isn't still sticking to the bottom (which is rare because of the thorough rinsing I give the empty immediately after drinking the beer).

After the soap and water cleaning I dunk them in an iodophor solution and allow it to drain. The over-kill part is that I then dunk them in another sanitizer because the iodophor has a smell that I don't like and don't want it in my beer. Then after that second sanitizer the bottles are inverted and drained on clean paper towels to help protect against any 'bugs' getting on the lip of the bottle before filling.

Another important part is the filling equipment, so before I discard that bucket-full of sanitizing solution I soak the filling wand, bottle caps, filler hose and the spigot from the bottling bucket, plus the auto-siphon. But I'm still not discarding the sanitizing solution yet. I assemble the spigot and the already-washed-and-cleaned bottling bucket and lid, and dump the sanitizer into the bucket and run some of the solution thru the spigot so that it's now ready for bottling.

It's many steps that take time on bottling day (especially for a 5-gallon batch), which is why so many homebrewers convert to kegging, but it has to be done to avoid infected beers.

(After typing all that I hope you don't tell me that you're going to be a kegger. )

 

I would add that if you intend to use a household detergent make sure it has no added scent or perfumes. Seventh Generation makes a decent one.

There are cleaning products made for brewers. The one I've always used is PBW made by Five Star, but there are others. Five Star also makes Star San sanitizer. Both products are concentrates and will last a long time. If you have a Local Homebrew Supply (LHBS) store worth it's salt, they will have those products or similar. If you're not near a LHBS, the products are readily available online at MoreBeer, Adventures in Homebrewing, Amazon, etc.

 

Interesting. There's a product called One Step distributed by LD Carlson. I suppose it's possible the "BrewDemon On Step" is the same thing in a different package. The description for use sounds about the same. If so, know that it is not technically a sanitizer, but some brewers use it as one. Here's what the product details at Northern Brewer say about it:

"Note: while technically a cleanser, One Step does have some sanitizing properties through the release of hydrogen peroxide. It can be used in no-rinse applications in most home brewing tasks."

If you dig further, I think you can find anecdotes quoting the manufacturer about it just not being worth going through all the testing required to be certified as a sanitizer, but (wink, wink) go ahead and use it as one.

Personally, I use PBW for most cleaning tasks and Star San for sanitizing.

 

Personally for most cleaning I use just a non-scented and non-dyed dish soap, and PBW for harder cleaning. The sanitizer that I go with is Star-San. When bottling, personally all that I do is a thorough rinse (I mean really thorough) with hot water after pouring the beer that was in the bottle, letting it sit upside down to dry completely, and then store in a box until bottling day. On bottling day all that I do is dunk the bottles in a Star-San solution before filling and I never had any issues this way. The sanitizer solution lasts a really long time for me. YMMV.

Sanitizing is too important of a step to use a product that you cannot find information on.

 

Cleaning is to remove all dirt and grime that can harbor microbes.
Sanitizing is to kill any microbes on the cleaned surface.

For cleaning I use ALL Oxi-cleaner Free with TSP added.

Sanitizing is Star-San.

 

Yes. Will that be you?

 

We wish you well. Ask if you've got further questions.