Sterilizing on the go!

[dougmac]

I am particularly new to this beer making lark and did my first full mash brew the other day, everything went well and I found only a few problems in my newly built 25lt gravity fed system. Only problem was that the power kept cutting out in my shed so had to keep flicking the switch on my extension cord, a real pain. Though 25litres on Timothey Taylor Bitter Clone is now fermenting brilliantlly in my back room.

However my question is:

We have to use a load of utensils, thermometers, hydrometers through the beer making process. How do you keep them sterile on the go as I am forever trying to find a clean place to put them down and then pick them up on the fly so to speak, in a garden shed it is not as easy as it sounds.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Many thanks
Doug

[Jack_Frost]

I am particularly new to this beer making lark and did my first full mash brew the other day, everything went well and I found only a few problems in my newly built 25lt gravity fed system. Only problem was that the power kept cutting out in my shed so had to keep flicking the switch on my extension cord, a real pain. Though 25litres on Timothey Taylor Bitter Clone is now fermenting brilliantlly in my back room.

However my question is:

We have to use a load of utensils, thermometers, hydrometers through the beer making process. How do you keep them sterile on the go as I am forever trying to find a clean place to put them down and then pick them up on the fly so to speak, in a garden shed it is not as easy as it sounds.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Many thanks
Doug

I brew on my boat which is quite a small space. I make sure that all the surfaces are wiped clean first. Then steralise the equipment including a couple of saucepans, which I can dump stuff into. I am not organised as a rule, but this brewing lark is challenging this.

[boingy]

The simple answer is that you don't need to sanitise anything that is used before the boil. Just make sure they are clean.
Post-boil you only really need to use the thermometer and the hydrometer.

[Wolfy]

... and even then depending on how you transfer the wort from kettle to fermenter you may not need to be pedantic about sanitising those either. I collect a clean/sanitised shot glass of wort as it flows into the fermenter, and use that for temp/OG readings (refractometer and digital thermometer helps but the theory is the same).