Cleaning my new kit - how

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Hi,

I'm soon to embark on an epic AG adventure and was wondering what is the best way to clean my gear before starting the brew day.
I've seen that a mixture of vinegar and water in the boiler will clean the grease of my immersion cooler and hop filter etc - do I need to heat this and can I then use it to clean the inside of my mash tun & manifold? Is there some other common-all-garden solution that I've missed?
Before you shout at me I'll be santizing my FV whilst the wort is boiling but I thought that the general rule was that all the gear that is used pre-boil just needs cleaning and not santizing.

Thanks,
Paul

[hoppingMad]

On brew day pretty much all I clean is the outside of my boil kettle which gets a bit blackened sometimes after the boil. The inside gets a light scrub with a plastic brush. The syphon tube is well rinsed after syphoning then sanitised and put away for next time. Anything else is just rinsed and wiped clean.

Narurally on other days all FVs are scrubbed after use but I never use detergents, just hot water, then rinsed, sanitised and left til next time.

My imersion chiller and copper lautering manifold both just get only a rinse before use too. I get no grease build up at all and I'm not sure where this would be coming from on yours.
Hopp.

[edit1now]

2 tablespoons of washing soda in a litre or so of hot water will shift anything you'll find in brewing kit, including grease on metal bits. It turns to soap...

Rinse it off thoroughly, then, just before you use them, sanitise your FV and anything else which will come in contact with post-boil wort.

If you're in a local shop in Belgium, ask for Carbonate de sodium in French or Natriumcarbonaat in Flemish - the Wikipedia pages in French and Dutch didn't mention a phrase equivalent to washing soda, neither do my Routledge's Dutch or Cassell's French dictionaries.

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Excellent, thanks for all the help.
For information my manifold is greasy cause I made it using off-cuts from my local plumbing supply shop - those plumbers sure do have greasy mits! I guessed that the immersion chiller and hop filter would benefit from the same treatment but I've not really checked their greasiness (is that a word?).
I like the idea of using washing soda - the modern manufacturing process happens to have been invented by a Belgian, when in Rome etc etc etc.
Finally if you are wondering why someone living in Belgium, surrounded by great Belgian beers (which are relatively cheap - six bottles of Duvel will set you back about 6 euros) well I've never really lost my English roots and real bitter is impossible to find here.

Cheers

Paul