How long for bottle sanitation

neildytham · 10-02-2010, 05:06 PM

I was going to bottle my beer a few days ago (weds) but decided to leave it a little longer. I sanitized my bottles with iodine that day, my question is: will they still be sterile today (Sat)? how long generally will that stave off the evil bacterias?
I know, if in doubt I should re sanitize, but it is quite a long ordeal with 50 odd bottles and time to dry etc....

Any thoughts?

**Revvy** · 10-02-2010, 05:11 PM

you should always sanitize fresh.

If not you are playing Russian Roulette with you beer, eventually it will bite you in the butt.

You should sanitize on bottling day (or brew day if you are brewing.) It only takes a few minutes. If you let a no-rinse, wet contact sanitizer like starsan or iodophor, dry your are reducing it's efficacy by half. If it is dry, any micro organisms that touch the surface render it no longer sanitized. If the walls are wet with sanitizer, that organism would be toast. But dry it would still be alive.

It really should take you no more than 10 minutes to sanitize your two cases of beer. Or bottle in an hour. If it takes you longer you need to work on your process, not cut corners with your sanitization regimen.

Here's a lot of bottling tips to make the job easier. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

You'll find a lot of good info/tips to effective sanitization here; http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizer-question-54932/ in cluding how you should get rid of your dry powdered "pseudo sanitizers" in favor of the afore mentioned, no-rinse, wet contact sanitizers like starsan and iodophor.

**Pappers_** · 10-02-2010, 05:30 PM

Hi Neil. If you've left your bottles exposed to the air for a day, then its possible that air-born yeasties or bugs have landed in them. If it were me, I'd sanitize again.

When you say you used iodine, do you mean that literally? Or were you using Iodophor? If you weren't using Iodophor, you really should try it (or Star San), as Revvy suggested. They are no-rinse sanitizers, which just makes everything so much easier and faster.

Finally, you mixed sanitize and sterile in the same sentence and just want to be clear that you are not sterilizing the bottles or any of your equipment. You are sanitizing them, killing off the bugs that will do your beer harm, but it is by no means sterilized.

Using a vinator is a big help in sanitizing for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnD4Xln-E9k