so am building a lauter tun from a rubbermaid beverage cooler and am just curious if there are special methods or different materials used to sanitize them before brewing with them?
is it new or old and really dirty? If really filthy soak with a cleaner such as oxyclean, rinse as normal. There isnt really a need to sanitize per se since you will be boiling the wort after to use it.
I rinse and wash with mild dish soap and rinse well before I put it up. I rinse it out before I use it because of the dust in my shed. +1 on no need to sanitize because the boil will sanitize the runnings.
I rinse with the hose and set out to dry. That's all I've ever done, and all I will ever do with a cooler mash/lauter tun. You don't need to sanitize the tun.
