Sterilisation by boiling

[GabrielKnight]

1. Instead of using chemicals to sterilise my stainless steel fermenter, is it okay to just boil some water in it?

2. Does the water need to get right up to a rolling boil? My food preparation guidelines at work suggest that all germs are killed at 69 degrees.

3. Does the fermenter need to be filled right to the top (>50 litres!) or would the dry heat conducted up the sides of a 1/3 filled pan be enough?

4. How long does the fermenter need to be kept at critical temperature for the sterilisation to complete?

[Aleman]

You will probably get away with just boiling a few litres in it, with the lid on. The 'Wet' Steam will do the important work.

Pressure caning is used for foods low in acidity, and requires 15 minutes at 120C (~15psi) in a pressure cooker. This not only sanitises but Sterilises, even killing bacterial spores.

I would guess that 20-30 minutes of boiling would be enough to sanitise the fermenter enough as you are pitching a huge amount of yeast.

[Andy]

[Moved to more appropriate forum section]

[BurtonBrewer]

Fasten a lid on top of your boiler (mine's a circular stainless steel tray from wilko's £ 2.99 with a timber knob fitted on) with a 15mm tank connector and 80mm copper pipe. From this I run a reinforced flexible hose into my stainless steel fermentor and it gets bloody hot !!
My Therminator chiller gets the same treatment to.