General Information

This is information I use often during the course of my brewing. Rather than thumb through pages of books, I simply print it out and have it ready on hand for reference.

Sanitization

Reference: The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing (Charlie Papazian), pages 122 - 126.

Sanitization

Household bleach: ½ to 1½ teaspoons per 5 gallons. Let soak for 30-60 minutes. Some people let drip dry, some rinse the bleach off with hot tap water. I've had good luck with drip drying.
Iodine: 2 teaspoons to 5 gallons for 10 minutes.
Heat: Boiling water held above 170F (71C) will santize equipment within a few minutes. It's OK to use a wooden spoon during the wort boiling.

Beer Label Remover

Ammonia: One cup per 5 gallons with an overnight soak will remove most labels.
Wasing Soda: Also called sodium bicarbonate. Use ¼ - ½ cups of washing soda to 5 gallons of water and let soak overnight. Washing soda corrodes aluminum and releases hydrogen. Don't use aluminum.

Pots, Pans and Equipment

I use this cooler for a sanitizer. It has a capacity of 9 gallons (144 cups) to the lower lip, so it takes about 1 teaspoon of bleach for a half hour sanitization soak.

Remember to rinse it before hand to remove large particles.

This is my "pot with two handles". It has a capacity of 1.125 gallons (18 cups).

This is my wort kettle. The numbers on the inside of the kettle indicate quarts. There are some struts which hold on to the handle; they tend to form oxidation, so I need to scrub them before brewing, just to make sure that no oxidation particles fall into the wort. I should probably think about getting a different wort kettle. It holds more wort than I'll ever want to make in one sitting.

Various Notes

Place malt extract bag in warm water to make it more fluid. This will help get it out of the bag when it comes time to dump it in the wort.

Place grains in the water (future wort) just before the water comes to a boil.