How do you sanitize odd shaped or large items?

I'm making some apple wine and want to stir the must up from time to time to give the yeast some oxygen. But how the heck do you guys sterilize something like a Carboy stir paddle? It's too long to fit in a pan and I don't want to make 5 gallons of sanitizer every time I need to stir the must. But directions say to make contact for a few minutes. How do. most people handle this? Right now I'm just running it under extremely hot water and the pouring some sanitizer over it, but contact is minimal. Any tips?

Spray bottle of Starsan is my go to, can last a few months. Ive also seen people use those dishes that u use to wet wallpaper with for things like mash paddles and long, weird shaped pieces. They look like a piece of a rain gutter. U can find them at TJ Maxx, Walmart, Lowes, etc.

When making wine I was simply spraying down my large stainless spoon with starsan. Couple spritzes down each size to get an even coating and then wait 30 seconds before putting the spoon in the must. I believe this was overkill considering the process used at the winery but this is how I did it.

The process at the winery was: open a huge vat of fermenting must, let the fruit flies and house flies get a sip, punch the cap, incorporate some flies into must for complexity, remove any dead mice or snakes on surface, and re-cover vat. Repeat a few times a day.

stpug said:

The process at the winery was: open a huge vat of fermenting must, let the fruit flies and house flies get a sip, punch the cap, incorporate some flies into must for complexity, remove any dead mice or snakes on surface, and re-cover vat. Repeat a few times a day.

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You make it sound so appetizing!

Spray bottle is the easy way. Get them at a dollar store.

Ya know I was thinking about this anf thought I would get a few peices of PVC pipe to hold my "Long-Thin-Stuff".

I figure I can also sanitize in them...

Usually what I do is drop them in a keg that I have filled up with sanitizer.... so if I am doing a lot of cleaning... I clean and sanitize even stuff I am not using that brewing cycle because I already have everything made..

EXAMPLE:

Reusing the wort-chiller water to rinse out all dirty kegs and fermentation buckets (I have loads of them....

i made up a tube with 6" PVC pipe. glued a cap on one end and have a screw in plug in the other. fill it 3/4 way with star san, put the plug in, and give it a shake for awhile. use it for spoons and paddles, auto siphones, etc. works good.

Ah, never thought of a spray bottle. So simple, thanks. PVC pipe is a good idea to. Thanks for the tips.

I use a spray bottle and a wallpaper tray.

spray bottle + soak a paper towel and wipe stuff down

Go to home depot and get a five gallon bucket with a lid and make a batch of sanitizer in it. Use it to fill spray bottles, and to have a supply for emergency sanitizing. Starsan is so cheap, there is no reason to not invest is a container to hold sanitizer, and a batch will keep for some time. I usually make a batch at the beginning of a brew and use it for a couple months. I read somewhere that starsan keeps longer in a spray bottle.