How sanitized is sanitized?

[geekjitsu]

I'm a reasonably clean person with a reasonably clean house.

If I wash all my equipment with starsan, bleach-water (with adequate rinsing) or some other sterilizing agent, can I leave the equipment sitting around in my kitchen cabinets/counters for a few days or would it be best to use it almost immediately?

 

[idigg]

Cleaning and sanitizing are a lot different in brewing.

 

[geekjitsu]

so it's best to use it immediately after sanitizing it?

 

[freisste]

Clean it and let it sit around as long as you like.

Then rinse and sanitize immediately before use. While I am sure you have a clean house, its not a clean room. You don't have a sterilizing air filter for all the air entering your house, right? You likely have wild yeast and bacteria floating in your air.

 

[woozy]

You *can't* sanitize early because microbes will build up after you sanitize and when you are ready to use it it will no longer be sanitized. Sanitizing does not make equipment microbe repellent. It just kills the microbes that are on it. No point in killing microbes a few days early if the microbes are just going to build up again.

 

[geekjitsu]

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

[BlindFaith]

Sanitation is very important and it is better to be safe rather than sorry. All you have to do is put a splash of StarSan into a squirt bottle and use that to quickly sanitize clean equipment except for the big items (racking cane, wort chiller, bottling wand, etc...). This will save a lot of time if you get tired of sanitizing everything in a bucket.

 

[kh54s10]

Clean - store - then sanitize and use. Starsan and Iodaphor stop sanitizing if they dry.

 

[BigFloyd]

A basic brewing rule = Clean right after each use, sanitize right before each use.

 

[Cyclman]

^^^^^^^This. Do this.