Fermentation Vessels
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MARMITE
Fermentation Vessels
I'm very keen to sterilize everything and haven't had any problems but I always rinse well with tap water after sterilizing and am wondering if this is a potential cause of infection.I've just watched Chris's video on making a 1 litre starter and the container is boiled for 15 mins.If that starter is pitched into a FV which has been rinsed with tap water then does that not undermine all our previous efforts particularly if one wants to crop the yeast for future brews?
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Wolfy
Re: Fermentation Vessels
Yes/no. 
If you rinse your FV with water it will not be sterile but it may well be sanitised enough to avoid any problems.
Most town water is chlorinated (or chloramine-anated) so in theory the risk of infection is minimal.
However the town water supply and/or your own pluming/fittings/taps are not ideally sterile, so where possible I think it's best to use a no-rinse sanitiser, but many people do what you do (and have done so for years) without problems.
In terms of starters you are dealing with a much smaller volume of wort and yeast so the risk of infection is much higher, once you pitch a decent amount of yeast into a batch of wort the yeast quickly 'take over' and make the conditions unsuitable for most infections. However with starters you are often pitching only a small amount of yeast, the lag time is often greater and hence there is a larger risk of infection and more need to sanitise or even sterilise everything as much as possible.
If you rinse your FV with water it will not be sterile but it may well be sanitised enough to avoid any problems.
Most town water is chlorinated (or chloramine-anated) so in theory the risk of infection is minimal.
However the town water supply and/or your own pluming/fittings/taps are not ideally sterile, so where possible I think it's best to use a no-rinse sanitiser, but many people do what you do (and have done so for years) without problems.
In terms of starters you are dealing with a much smaller volume of wort and yeast so the risk of infection is much higher, once you pitch a decent amount of yeast into a batch of wort the yeast quickly 'take over' and make the conditions unsuitable for most infections. However with starters you are often pitching only a small amount of yeast, the lag time is often greater and hence there is a larger risk of infection and more need to sanitise or even sterilise everything as much as possible.