eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.
Summary: How to use equipment cleaners to home brew porter beer; learn more about how beer is made in this free instructional video.
Mark Emiley has been homebrewing since 1998 when he cooked up his first batch of porter. With about 140 extract and all-grain batches under his belt, his beers have won numerous...read more
"Hi, I'm Mark Emiley on behalf of Expert Village. In this segment, we are going to talk about what you need to know to get ready for brewing. In particular, we are going to talk about cleaning and sanitization. "Cleaning" is getting all the major debris off of your equipment. This needs to be done to everything. This means just malt matter, this means hop matter, this means any kind of dirt that is on your equipment. "Sanitization" on the other hand is trying to kill the microbes that exist on your equipment. This requires a further level of cleanliness, as in it goes beyond cleaning and into the killing stage. "Sterilization" is impossible for brewing as this involves killing every microbe, which is not going to happen. But, if you maintain a sanitary environment, this is going to be the best thing you can do for your beer. There are many different products available which can help you with cleaning and sanitization. For mainly cleaning, one of them is "Straight A" which helps break up a lot of organic matter. You can use this at a rate of one tablespoon per gallon for cleaning very, very many of your materials. The most readily available cleaner out there is chlorine bleach which works as a cleaner and a sanitizer. At a rate of one tablespoon per gallon, it will help break out bio-matter and also sanitize your equipment. However, it usually needs to be rinsed out or else you'll get a chlorine-flavor in your beer. "
eHow Article: Equipment Cleaners For Home Brewing Porter Beer