Notes on hygiene

Hygiene is of top priority when brewing beer. Especially in the cold process area (while cooling off, when decanting and while fermenting), the beer and the wort are susceptible to infection, which causes the beer to spoil, meaning that all work could be in vain. For this reason, take particular care in ensuring that all containers (fermentation vessel, bottles) and work materials (spoon, taps, seals) are meticulously clean. In order to disinfect these vessels and equipment, a special disinfecting agent is recommended. You may purchase these items at a local hobby wine-making or beer-making store. This disinfecting agent is also suitable to use in the fermentation lock, to disinfect the fermentation vessel and other equipment. When disinfecting bottles and/or ageing barrels proceed in the same way as when disinfecting fermentation vessels. In this manner you can ensure that the fermented beer is filled into meticulously clean bottles or ageing barrels. When using ageing barrels, this process should be completed a few days prior to the end of the fermentation. This ensures that the filling process can be done quickly and without stress.