Cleaning your homebrewing equipment isn’t glamorous, but it’s a crucial step in making great beer. Don’t confuse cleaning with sanitizing. Cleaning is done before sanitizing and its purpose is to remove dirt and grime.
Sanitizing is performed to eliminate most of the bacteria that can infect your beer and potentially ruin it.
Here are the products most commonly used for cleaning homebrew equipment, and my picks for the best cleaners.
My Top Picks – Quick Summary
- Best All-Around Homebrew Cleaner – Star-San
- Best Cleaner for Beer Lines – BLC
- Best Cleaner for Stainless Steel – Bar Keeper’s Friend
Best Cleaning Agents for Homebrewing
PBW
A common homebrewing cleaner, PBW is oxygen based and cleans very well. In fact, I’ve found that it’s the best cleaner out there. And I’ve tried them all.
PBW is an alkaline, non-caustic, environmentally and user friendly cleaner that is very effective in removing thick, difficult, and caked-on organic soils.Safe on skin as well as stainless steel, rubber, soft metals, and on plastics.
The only drawback is that it’s expensive and OxiClean is almost as good (plus much cheaper).
Pros
- Performs better than all other cleaners
- Almost all homebrew shops and websites carry it
Cons
- Expensive
- Leaves equipment slippery
Star-San
Odorless, flavorless, biodegradable,and environmentally friendly. The Homebrewers top choice for all things stainless steel to plastic. Will not harm septic systems.
A very effective acid rinse sanitizer. Find it at any homebrew store or buy online.
Pros:
- Foaming helps get in cracks and crevices
- No rinse
- Colorless and odorless
- A little goes a long ways
- Can be reused as long as pH is below 3
Cons:
- Will make your hands very dry
- The foam scares people, which is silly
Dish Soap
I bet it’s sitting next to your sink right now. Dish soap will do the trick but you must rinse thoroughly to make sure none is left behind. Otherwise, it will leave a soapy taste in your beer and ruin head retention.
If you do use it, try to find a perfume-free variety. Other than that, you’re better off using a different cleaner for the rest of your equipment.
Pros
- Cheap
- Easy to find
- Multi-Tasker
Cons
- Difficult to remove all of the suds
- Anything left behind will affect flavor and head retention
- Not as good a cleaner as PBW and OxiClean
OxiClean
My #1 homebrewing cleaner. Cheap, very effective, and good for a variety of household uses. It’s even great at removing beer bottles labels. Just make sure you rinse it thoroughly.
Pros
- Very good cleaner
- Cheap
- Multi-Tasker
Cons
- Leaves equipment slippery
- Best to use versatile free, which isn’t always easy to find
BLC
If you have a kegging set up, you should have BLC on hand. You can put it in your kegs and pump it through your system to get your beer lines crystal clear. The generic alternatives work well too.
Pros
- Great cleaner for beer lines
- A little goes a long way
Cons
- Not cheap, and just one more cleaner to buy
Bar Keeper’s Friend
A powder that is great for cleaning stainless steel. I use it on my converted kegs, pots, and corny kegs. It’s a light abrasive that you can scrub with a sponge to get out those tough stains. It’s smart to keep a container of this handy.
Pros
- Best cleaner for stainless steel
- Cheap
Cons
- You’ll go through it fast
- Again, one more cleaner to buy
Best Sanitizing Agents for Home-Brewing:
Homebrewing sanitizers are a crucial ingredient to brewing great beer. But with so many on the market, which one do you buy? I’ve done the research for you and will explain the pros and cons of each, and give my recommendation for the best sanitizer.
Bleach
Very common household chemical and super cheap. Only a small amount will make a strong sanitizing solution.
Pros:
- Easy to find
- Cheap
- Powerful
Cons:
- Must rinse it out thoroughly. While rinsing you risk contaminating the equipment if your rinse water is not sterile. Rinsing also takes a lot of time and water, which costs money.
- Harmful to skin, eyes, and clothes.
- If any amount gets into your beer it will ruin the taste.
Overall: Bleach has a lot of uses around the house but sanitizing homebrew equipment shouldn’t be one of them. The rinsing is a time and water waster, and unless you use sterilized water you risk contamination. Also, if you’re like me, you tend to make a wet mess – not good with bleach. Go with a sanitizer that is made specifically for homebrewing.
One-Step
Common oxygen based sanitizer that comes with many starter homebrewing kits.
Pros:
- No rinse
- Good cleaner
Cons:
- No longer classified as a sanitizer by the FDA.
- Many homebrewers treat it as a strong cleaner, and will not sanitize with it.
Overall: From what I’ve read, it sounds like One-Step isn’t classified as a sanitizer by the FDA because they don’t want to go through the approval process, so they may get a pass there. Still, if there is doubt, why risk it when there are better alternatives? You’re probably OK using One-Step, but I’d recommend you buy Iodophor or Star-San when it runs out.
Iodophor
Very effective iodine based sanitizer that can be found at any homebrew store or bought online.
Pros:
- No rinse
- Short contact time
- Cheap
Cons:
- Will stain plastic equipment over time. Will also stain skin and clothing.
- If too much is used (easy to do), it will leave a funny odor and stain badly.
Overall: A great sanitizer and one that I used for years. It’s used by a ton of homebrewers and if Star-San didn’t exist, I would easily rank it #1.
Overall: Don’t fear the foam! Star-San is my #1 pick for the best sanitizer. Put it in a squirt bottle and you will use much less, and make it easier to sanitize your equipment. Mix it with distilled or reverse osmosis water and it can be reused many times.
Lead marketer, brewer, dad, and husband. Pretty much an all-round awesome guy. I’ve been homebrewing for +20 yrs, an aspiring pro-brewer and micro brewery owner!