Plastic Shovels, Rakes & Brushes

Cleaning gear is the least glamorous part of making anything and the part that decides whether a batch is any good. Grain husks, fruit skins, sticky must and spent lees all need moving, and doing it with the wrong tool means either a sore back or a scratched vessel. Anything that goes into a fermenter or a tank should be smooth, food safe and easy to rinse clean.

What is in here at the moment is the Drill Vortex paddle, a 600mm stainless steel rod that chucks straight into a cordless drill. It has two uses. Run it in a fermenter of water and sanitiser and it scours the sides far better than a hand brush, and run it in fresh wort and it aerates the batch before you pitch yeast. If you are after wider clean up gear for a crush or a brew day, the related collections below will get you closer.

A tip we give everyone. Run the drill slowly and keep the paddle below the surface. High speed near the top splashes sanitiser everywhere and, in wort, whips in more foam than oxygen. Slow and submerged does the job properly.

See also cleaning and sterilising products, spoons, paddles and scoops and buckets and graduated jugs. The team at Laverton North and Epping can point you at the right one.