StillSmart

probably a basic question but do you guys sterilise? I plan to as i got a load of milton cheap but i just wondered

I use baby bottle tablets and slosh them around the brew buckets but just ordinary washing for everything else

I use a cleaner steriliser,its a brewcraft product.Get it cheap enough from the home brew store.Clean my fermenters,bottles,hydrometers,trial jars etc eith it.

probably a basic question but do you guys sterilise?

depends what you mean.i always sterilise my wash buckets, syphon tube, jugs, hydrometer, sample jar and mixing spoon as bacteria will kill the yeast in the wash and the wash temp is ideal for bacteria growth so a tiny amount can soon turn into a lot. but i dont with my still, collecting jar, spirit hydrometer and jar or bottles, i just give them a good hot rinse as anything that spirit comes into contact with will be sterilised by it.
cheers, hoppin

Milton fluid, if I remember correctly, is bleach based (but mild enough not to be a problem like most baby steriliser).
richies cleaner/sanitiser is also bleach based.
there\'s nothing wrong with using bleach based stuff, just as long as you make sure that all kit is properly rinsed to be free of chemical residues.
If something needs a good cleaning, I just use the richies stuff, if it\'s already clean but needs a final sanitising (the richies instructions give it about an hour after it\'s been sterilised/sanitised) I keep a spray made up, of 5 campden tablets crushed, 1 teaspoon of citric acid made up into a pint of water (from CJJ\'s wine book) and spray everything with that, allowing about 5 min\'s contact time. So far, it\'s worked brilliantly and I haven\'t suffered any contaminations....

Phantom

I will try your method with the campden tablets as I brew a lot of beer and find sanitising a pain especially with bleach based sanitisers,my local HB shop has been trying to get some star san in stock for me,I think that will speed things up as it works with only a few seconds contact time and needs no rinsing,unlike bleach based products where I find I have to rinse several times and give a final rinse with boiling water to get rid of the bleach odour.

I use milton fluid on everything even the syphon and all tubing.Its cheap enough and lasts a while n i dont want to take the risks for the sake of 1/2 an hour sterilising.

I do everything with Sodium Metabisulfite, always have even years ago when brewing beer.

Cheap and easy to use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_metabisulfite

I do the same as hoppin. I also use the hot water coming off the still to wash out the fermenter and my racking fermenter. I then fill the fermenter up with more of the hot water then add the sterilise solution. This allows me to soak every thing for a day or so. A good reuse of the wasted water....I\'m on tank water.

Personally, I stick everything that needs sterilising into the fermenting bucket, chuck a couple of capfuls of bleach in, fill it with hot water and stick the lid on, slosh it about a bit, and leave in in the bath until someone complains they want to have a shower! Then I rinse it all thoroughly, never had any problems doing it this way. I did use Milton for a while because someone at work gave me some, again no issues.

well i miltoned the lot, then rinsed it out
my wash is bubbling away

Possibly useful tip: a weak metabisulphite solution is good to get rid of the last traces of chlorine smell.
Just don\'t add it to the bleach or you\'ll gas yourself.