bleach

Is it ok to use bleach and water to sanitize your equipment

Yes, but it needs to be rinsed very well. Don't over do it on the concentration either.

Ok what is good half and half or less

uncommonsense said:

Ok what is good half and half or less

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Whoa. Way less than that. Try 1 tablespoon per gallon of water.

Ok good to know

Also, don't use it on your stainless steel equipment. This is a big reason why a lot of people go with StarSan. And it is no-rinse, fact acting, and reusable to a limited extent. I only use bleach anymore for soaking fermenters after use.

Bleach can be used as a no-rinse sanitizer in 1tblsp/gal, so you don't need to rinse it afterwards. In fact, rinsing after you use the bleach solution is counter-productive, because your rinse water has bacteria in it, and will reinfect your equipment.

Bleach is, however, a bad choice of sanitizing solutions for a lot of reasons. First off, it's really deadly and, if you use too much bleach and don't rinse it off, you can really injure yourself and your friends. It also has a powerful smell so, even if you don't leave enough in your fermenter to hurt anybody, your beer may end up smelling and tasting like chlorine. (Ick!)

If you have access to yeast, grain, and hops, then there's no reason that you can't purchase a better cleaner. If you're concerned about cost, try iodophor, or even regular household iodine. There's a thread on this site that lists the amounts of iodine you need to use based on the brand you buy. It took me months to get through a $2.99 bottle from target.

I used bleach for many years. I recently switched to star-san no rinse. It's the best improvement I've made this year and recommend it heartily.

I have a bottle of bleach, but I've never even opened it up... First kit I got (hardware) came with C-Brite, which I used for my first brewing (pain in the a$$)... I went out and got a small bottle of StarSan after that and have been loving it ever since.

I keep a bucket of StarSan mixed at all times (at least 2.5 gallons worth)... Never know when you'll need to sanitize something on the quick...

I keep some star san on hand too. I have a 2 qt bottle and also a spray bottle. This has come in handy many times.

I use a spray bottle of 50/50 bleach to spray out my cooler mash tun in between brews. I also rinse it really well, and then use some star san it (acid to base) immediatly before use.

I only do this to keep critters from growing in there, not as a sanitization factor by itself.

Again - as PVH stated- never use it on Stainless Steel. It will take a while but will destroy corny kegs. It will create pin holes through the SS container and rinsing it "very well" does not stop the pending damage..