Mead Making Process
The most important part of brewing is sanitation. Anything that comes into contact with your brew should be cleaned and sanitised to avoid contamination with stray bacteria and yeasts. Avoid any vessels with deep scratches. The scratches harbor bacteria and are nearly impossible to sanitise completely. Below is a guide to cleaning and sanitising.
Cleaning
Before we sanitise our equipment, we first need to clean it. The goal of cleaning our equipment first is to remove visible dirt and organic matter from the equipment prior to sanitising.
Wash everything with soap and warm water.
Rinse with copious amounts of water.
If you have gunk that’s really stuck on, we suggest PBW (Powdered Brewers Wash). If PBW can’t get it off, throw it away. It’s not worth the risk of contamination. PBW is only for cleaning, NOT sanitation. You will need to wash with lots of water after PBW contact.
Sanitising
Now that our equipment is clean, we now need to sanitise it. Sanitising equipment reduces the amount of bacteria present to a safe level.
Dilute the concentrated sanitiser following the packaging guidelines.
Fully immerse your equipment in the sanitiser and allow it to sit for the minimum contact time as stated on the sanitiser packaging.
For ease of use, we suggest no-rinse sanitizers such as StarSan and Saniclean. A few minutes of contact time, and you’re good to go. You do not need to rinse after these sanitizers. In fact, rinsing would contaminate your gear all over again!
Sanitising Tips
Put your sanitiser in a spray bottle for ease of use on small parts.
Keep a bucket of sanitiser around to toss in bottle caps, spoons, and funnels.
Remove grommets on swing-top bottles to properly sanitise them.