I am prepping for a home brew. What should you clean boil and sparge pots (stainless steel) with ideally? I have a dye and fragrance free dish soap, as well as easy clean sanitizer. I have read to avoid dish soap. But does sanitizer work? Or should I use something else? Thanks!
I've never shied away from a quick soap and hot water cleaning of my equipment and bottles along with a thorough rinsing, but if everything that you use to brew is cleaned well after each use, then it's pretty clean before you use it again. If you have a crud build-up or residue from previous use, then a cleaning is necessary. A sanitizer is just that, a sanitizer, and it not a cleaner. There are powdered cleaners that are available through homebrew outlets, but I think many people use OxyClean or other products that are more easily available. However, I think I've read that some products should not be used on stainless steel (I may be think of something else too), so watch out for label warnings on whatever product you choose.
Kettles and pots used for boiling and heating sparge water need to be clean (e.g., dish detergent / soap ... powdered brewery wash ... fragrance-free Oxyclean) and free of debris but do not need to be sanitized. Whatever you do ... don't use bleach on stainless steel.
