BrewTaster

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Ive heard there are people who use bleach as sanitizer out there, and im sick of paying for iodophor! Does this stuff really work? How do i use it? And is it safe for consumption no-rinse? Also wondering if itd make sense to store my carboys full of bleach water?

Let me know guys, hopefulyl this'll save me a bunch of money for grains and hops!

The Pol

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Bleach is DEFINATELY NOT no-rinse. You want to rinse it well or your brews will be nasty. The dilution rate is something that eludes me now, something along the lines of a tablespoon or so per 5 gallons water.

I use StarSan, mix it up, place it in a spray bottle and you will use like 1/2 quart of mixed solution per session... it is CHEAP!

ArcaneXor

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You can use bleach as a no-rinse sanitizer, but it's at such a low concentration that it becomes very ineffective (i.e. it requires a very long contact time). The flavor threshold for bleach is very low, and its flavor is very unpleasant if you mess up on the dosage. The savings, to me, is not worth the hassle. $18 of Starsan lasts me for a year or more. It's cheap and it works great.

__________________
The Fiesty(sic) Goat Brewery est. 2007 & Clusterfuggle Experimental Ales est. 2009
Planned: Fat Man Porter, sLambic II, Brettennial Falcon IPA, Flanders Red, Orange Blossom Mead
Primary: Winexpert Riesling Ice Wine, sLambic I
Secondary: Flanders Red
Kegged:Black or Blue EyePA, Cherrywood-aged Crystal Stout,
2013 dump volume: ~2 gallons

BigEd

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If you are too cheap to buy iodophor or Starsan you can use bleach but it is not a no-rinse sanitiser. Bleach also takes longer to work so you need a much longer contact time than iodine products. A small bottle of iodophor lasts a long time, doesn't cost all that much, is very fast acting and can be mixed as a no-rinse solution. I do use bleach for cleaning glass carboys. A couple of ounces and fill with water followed by just letting them soak. It's easy and low maintenance but I still rinse the hell out of them afterwards and then use iodophor to sanitize before using. It's up to you but to me the advantages of modern sanitizing products have it all over bleach.

GilaMinumBeer

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Sorry Pol have to interject.

According to Charlie Talley bleach can be no-rinse as long as it is acidulated (vinegar) but it does not have a good shelf life and it has to be highly diluted.

For more seek out Basic Brewing podcast with Five Star.

BTW, Star San is no-rinse and has an extremely long shelf life when mixed with distilled or even reverse osmotified. I've had 5 gallons stay at proper pH for nearly 2 years.

The Pol

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Okay, I recant... for anyone normal, bleach is not no-rinse

jds

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How much iodophor are you using? 3ml per gallon (excuse the mixed units) is all you need for no-rinse use. A small bottle of iodophor lasts me a year or more.

BrewTaster

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1ml/liter, which works out to about 4ml/gallon. Maybe i just need to be more efficient in my use of it. How big of bottles are you using?

The Pol

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If you dunk items in it, you will use a lot more... if you place a no rinse in a spray bottle to spray your equipment, you will use almost nothing.

BrewTaster

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I beleive that you sir have just explained my overusage! I feel like a moron lol.