Brewing Hacks for the Homestead

I've been brewing for a few years now, and along the way learned some neat tricks and tools I'd like to share with you. Some are more obvious, others maybe not, but hopefully they'll make your life easier brewing, just as they do mine.

 #1 The Dishwasher Rack.
The cleanest part in any kitchen, easy to sanitize and with a built-in drain, the bottom drawer of a dishwasher. I use mine right after a wash, to stack and dry bottles, one gallon carboys, funnels, filters, airlocks, buckets and even the occasional 5G carboy.

#2 The 5G carboy dryer.
A small stand to dry your carboy upside down while staying sanitized. One of those things that seems obvious once you know, but took me a few years to find out about!
https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/red-carboy-dryer

#3 A spray bottle.
I use Star-San for all my sanitizing needs, and always have a spray bottle of it available as well. It helps to sanitize small things, like airlocks and rubber stoppers (which then are dried on the dishwasher rack). I like it best to help sanitize hard to get to places without submerging in a large container, like my large funnel, and mos especially, my honey filter.

 
#4 The honey filter.
A new addition to my mead and wine making equipment is the honey filter. As I often ferment on fruit I get a LOT of pulp, and most filters, including brewing funnel filter inserts, cheesecloth and  milk filters, clog up way too fast. But not the honey filter! Having smaller holes than a standard metal kitchen sieve, the mesh is large enough to filter most of the fruit parts without clogging near immediately. The pulp gets separated when settled in the next racking.
https://www.betterbee.com/wax-processing/fc1-filter-cone.asp

#5 The sanitized airlock.
To keep the airlock sanitized in case of draw-back (where temperature change causes the bucket to contract and instead of pushing air out, sucks the airlock liquid back in) for the longest time I would fill it with grain alcohol. But at $20 a bottle that was starting to add up. Then someone told me the secret... to add Star-San instead. Not only is this sterile, this liquid will also show yeast activity as the air bubbles will create soap-like bubbles within the airlock. And there is always spare after sanitizing our equipment.

Keep Calm, and Brew on!