How far do you go when cleaning?

So, been lurking for a few weeks and enjoying the posts. Used Beer Smith for my second All Grain a couple weeks ago and will be doing another this week. I use a 100qt Coleman cooler (large rectangular one) that I retrofitted with a ball valve assembly I put together from the local building supply store ("baumarkt" in German, similar to Lowes/Home Depot). The ball valve, bulkhead and associated adapters are all brass. I also built a copper tube manifold system for the bottom of the MT to lauter my mash (screwed together with stainless steel screws....to avoid accidental disassembly during mash and getting a stuck sparge...like last time!)  I bought and use food grade silicon tubing to transfer from vessels. My boil kettle is a 30qt aluminum turkey fryer (bought new) that I also put the same ball valve assembly on. I ferment in 23liter fermentation buckets (most common here in Germany) for now (plan to move to either the conical or the Norther Brewer big mouth). I am not doing the keg thing yet (working my way up to that) and for now am using flippie top .5liter bottles (again, common here in Germany), which I now have successfully emptied 80 bottles of (that was rough work!) I am using PBW to do my cleaning and Star San to do my sanitizing (not opening a debate on that). I leave a 30liter bucket full of mixed up Star San sitting around about 3/4 full to use as needed (fill up a spray bottle, dunk, soak, etc...) Now, here are my questions.

1. How far do you go when tearing down and cleaning your brew equipment? Do you take your ball valves assemblies apart to clean up all the cracks and crevices or do you just flush things thoroughly? I have been disassembling mine and the brass seems to be discoloring (suspect it's normal). I am cleaning with PBW and brushes, so it's "clean" but I just can't help thinking about the discoloring (OCD).  Should I skip taking all that apart and just clean/flush best I can? It's a crap ton of work taking it all apart, cleaning each individual piece and then reassembling it....plus then I've always got to go re-test for leaks.

2. I tend to get lazy and just clean things up well with PBW and then toss them into my Star San bucket and forget for a while. Is there any harm to letting stuff soak in there? I recently threw a turkey baster in there and left it for a week or so...came back and the ball part was all sticky and nasty...had to throw it out and order a new one! I guess that could be from it being 25 years old...but thought it could be from leaving it in there....anything to worry about?

3. As far as bottles go. Can I clean all 80 bottles (remove all labels, clean with a brush and PBW), rinse and then fill with about a 1/8cup of Star San each, seal them (again, they're flippies!) and then when time to use just shake the pizz out of them, drain the Star San and start filling with bier (spelled it that way on purpose!)?

Am I being to anal/OCD and overthinking things here?

Appreciate any input!
Thanks,
Randy

You really don't want to get lazy with cleaning, especially with equipment that comes into contact with post-boil wort.  That's how you get infections. Plastic should always be cleaned immediately, and replaced if it smells or discolors. 

I clean everything immediately after I use it. Hot water and a cloth (NEVER anything abrasive) is usually enough for plastic, while I use PBW on glass and steel. Everything except steel gets a good spritz from my spray bottle of Star San. My mixed bucket of Star San is only used to refill the spray bottle. That works well and lasts a long time.  I then let the stuff air dry overnight, and then put it away the next day.

When I brew I clean between steps. If I've got a previous batch to rack or keg, I do that during the mash. That includes cleaning everything.  During the sparge I clean my mash bucket, and during boil I clean my sparge equipment. That way when the chilled wort goes into the fermenting vessel, all that's left to clean is the brew pot, the bucket I pour into from the brew pot to aerate, the chiller, and funnel I use to pour into the glass carboy. And the hydrometer of course. The brewpot usually sits overnight after cleaning with a couple inches PBW solution in it to loosen the beer stone. That's the only thing that isn't air drying with a spritz of Star San at the end of the day. The next day I finish cleaning the brew pot and put everything else away. Finally the next day the brew pot has had time to air dry, and it gets put away. Everything is done. Nothing to worry about.

I believe the expression 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' has its origins with monks who made beer.

If you don't like to clean stuff, then you picked the wrooooooooong hobby. 

To summarize - I'm somewhat lax about cleaning stuff that comes into contact with the brew before it is boiled, and aggressively anal/OCD about anything that comes into contact with it post-boil.

Final edit - During the mash and sparge, if you introduce anything that could cause a potential infection, it shouldn't have time to contaminate things before the boil.  For that equipment hot water immediately after use plus a Star San mist is usually enough.  But after the boil you've got an Eden for bacteria, mold, and wild yeast. With the exception of using abrasives that can create crevasses that can harbor bad guys, you really can't over-clean post-boil equipment. 

Happy brewing!

Thanks for the quick reply. I think maybe I didn't explain well enough. I do clean well, what I would consider too well to some extent. The only way I get lazy is after cleaning i throw some stuff (not all, should have said that) in my Star San bucket. For example, spoons, tubes, siphon, hydrometer, etc. You did provide some good feedback, which I really appreciate, but really didn't answer my main questions. I'm really looking for some specific feedback on those areas.

Thanks again!
Randy

I wouldn't soak stuff in Star San. It's not a cleanser. Besides that, I wouldn't want to contaminate or dilute it.  That's why I use a spray bottle. Star San is meant to be used to dip or spray equipment after it has been cleaned, then when it dries it leaves behind a low PH film that inhibits bacteria.  As far as cleaning goes, like I said I'm somewhat lax with pre-boil equipment, and aggressive with post-boil equipment.  I don't think you can clean stuff too much, but for pre-boil equipment I don't think it's necessary to go overboard. Maybe tear stuff down every few batches, but not after every one.  Post-boil equipment I would consider tearing down after every use.  It also depends on how long stuff sits before you clean it. I try to clean stuff right away before anything has a chance to dry. That way hot water washes most everything away. Then I use PBW on stuff that is actually soiled, like the carboys and the brew pot.

Instead of dropping stuff into the Star San bucket and walking away, maybe you could put a towel or two down, dip the stuff, and let it air dry on the towel overnight. That's basically what I do. Part of my brew area is just table surfaces covered with towels where I place the equipment to dry. I go through a ton of those things when I brew. Restaurant towels.  White with a blue stripe. I use them to clean under the hot water and then as a mat for drying. 

Hope that was closer to the feedback you wanted.

Yes, that does help, thanks! I've been tearing down my mash tun and boil kettle ball valves each brew, but that's a pain when it comes to reassembly and getting everything leak free again.

Appreciate the info!
Randy

Ditto what Maine said. I think in terms of before and after knockout. Everything that touches the wort before knockout is cleaned well before I brew, but I don't get OCD about it. Everything that touches it after knockout, however, is cleaned very well and sanitized or sterilized. I keep a cake pan filled with StarSan on the counter top to hold tools and tubing. And I keep a spray bottle of it handy, too. I cover my work area with saran before brewing. The whole while I'm boiling my chiller sits in my fermentor, which is filled with StarSan.

I'm particularly picky when rehydrating yeast. I use a Pyrex bowl, stainless steel spoon and glass thermometer, all of which go in the high-heat drying cycle of the dishwasher to sterilize them before use. I do the same with all my bottles. I've put swing-tops in there, too, but had a horrible "meltdown" when I realized one of the tops was plastic, not ceramic. I remove the gaskets beforehand and soak them in StarSan. I wear a surgical mask and gloves when rehydrating and make ample use of saran to cover things.

But the best advise I've followed to date is to not touch the fermentor until I'm ready to bottle the beer. Keep a plastic bottle of inoculated wort next to your fermentor and take samples from that ... Don't touch the fermentor!