Scut_Monkey

Recipes 

Completely sanitized is kind of a tricky word as this word does not have a quantifiable measure as far as I know. Completely sterilized is another thing. The manufacturer suggests a 1 minute contact time but has said that 30 seconds is a valid time as far as I remember. This is from a thebrewingnetwork.com podcast so someone call me out if I'm wrong as I'm half drunk......... Ok full drunk.

menschmaschine

Recipes 

There is a quantifiable measure of "sanitize". Sanitize means to reduce the risk of contamination by 99.9%. This is measured by the product, at a given concentration and contact time, destroying 99.9% of E. Coli and/or Staphylococcus aureus.

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END TRANSMISSION

iparks81

Recipes 

ahh yes, I had known that Fully sanitized was hard to determin givin all the possibble variables just as long as star-san doesnt require anythign more than 1-2 min at recomended diluted strength
anyways sorry to drag the thread off topic
STAR SAN all the way!
hah

imaguitargod

Recipes 

Anyone know of I can use Straight-A to clean my stainless steel boil kettle? Should be fine right since it "cleans with the power of oxygen", right?

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Brewer for Hoppin' Frog Brewery.
"I am not an alcoholic, I’m a drunk. An alcoholic means that I have a problem and when I drink all my problems go away."

New-B-Brewer

Recipes 

So have I ruined my bottles?

After reading this thread I soaked a case of bottles I got from a craft brew bar in Sun Oxygen Cleaner (Wallyworld's generic version of OxyClean with no perfumes). Many of these bottles had yeast deposits in the bottom so I figured this would get much of that out and free me of the hassle of having to scrub these bottles.
I soaked them for about 20 hours and when I got them out they felt like they were almost etched. This texture would not rinse off with cold or hot water. I found if i rubbed hard with a dish cloth I could get it off but what a pain. Of course, the inside has the same residue as the outside. I think I can get all (most?) of it off the inside using a bottle brush. This is certainly not easier than my old method of cleaning them.
Did I soak them too long? Is the residue safe if I don't get all of it off the inside of the bottles or will it cause off flavors, no carb, poor head retention?

rico567

Recipes 

No. It's just the wrong water. I can't use Oxi-Clean, because it does exactly the same thing to my bottles- leaves a film on them. Use an acid wash of white vinegar to remove the coating, and use something like PBW instead of Oxi-Clean.....or use different water.

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“Malt does more than Milton can / To justify God’s ways to man”

-A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad , 1896.

strohs

Recipes 

I have used one step since day one and its never let me down!

Bdogg

Recipes 

I use TSP for cleaning and sodium metabisulfate for sanitizing. All came with my wine making equipment. You have to rinse the sodium metabisulfate off as good as you can, I always do, and have never had any problems (infections).


Lately the TSP has been cloudy as soon as I mix it. I think something must be up with my water.

Stephen

Recipes 

What is the "wrong water"? I just bought the same oxy product from the local wallymart, mainly from this thread. I was looking for things to clean and sanitize my equipment with out having to run to the local brew store(which isnt so local).

rico567

Recipes 

Specifically, we are in the country, on a well. Our well water is loaded with dissolved calcium and iron. This will not make good beer (or coffee, and we don't use it for drinking or cooking, although we could).

I could invest in a sufficiently sophisticated filter system (regular particulate filters or carbon filters for chlorine or chloramine won't filter what we've got), probably a big aquarium reef tank system, but rather than deal with that expense and complexity, I buy the RO (reverse osmosis) water from the machine at the grocery store for $ .33 per gallon.

I suppose we'd eventually recoup the cost of a filtration system, but it would take quite a while, and I try to employ the K.I.S.S. principle wherever I can. Same way with all my brewing: ferment in plastic buckets, mash in a converted cooler, boil in a cheap SS pot, bottle in plain 12 oz. longnecks. People are constantly trying to evangelize on this forum to go to keggles, RIMS, HERMS, kegerators, etc. Don't need that stuff, and what I use makes great beer, so I don't want it.

Cleaning and sanitizing- same principle. I clean mostly with Dawn dishwashing liquid & where necessary, with PBW. Bottle cleaning can be elimiinated after delabeling with a good PBW soak by rinsing each bottle thoroughly at the time the beer is poured. Sanitizing can be done easily and cheaply with Star San. Some people are put off by the high price of the Star San concentrate, but when mixed according to directions and sprayed on with a spray bottle where possible, it's extremely cheap.

__________________
“Malt does more than Milton can / To justify God’s ways to man”

-A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad , 1896.