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ewbish · 02-12-2009, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrewTaster

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!

All I use for sanitizing. It works just fine. Don't go overboard, you don't need much.

I store my carboys full of bleach water........After I clean them, I put in about 1/8 cup of bleach and 2 gallons of hot water then put the stopper in. As the water cools, it sucks the stopper in and makes an airtight seal.

I sanitize all my equipment with bleach, everything. For equipment that I'm about to use, I'll use a couple capfuls in a sink of hotwater. I'll put a couple capfuls in my buckets as well. After letting them soak, I'll rinse 'em and let them dry. Bleach is completely inert once it dries.

**BierMuncher** · 02-12-2009, 11:33 PM

I'll admit it.

I'm a bleacher.

Never overly concerned with exact concentrations because I rinse everything under 135 degree tap water.

Usually for a carboy or bucket, it's 2-3 drops of dawn, a good splash of bleach, a 3 second squirt of hot water and a rub down with a soft wash clothe.

Then it's into the shop sink for a good 5-6 second rinse and upside down to drip dry.

No need to store a carboy with any sanitizer. Once it's sanitized, just store it upside down in a milk crate (lined with a paper towel) and let it dry...then plug with stopper and store.

PseudoChef · 02-13-2009, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Pol

Storing a bleach solution can be an exercise in futiity since chlorine gass is pretty volitile and will evaporate,

Chlorine gas does not evaporate out of bleach. If it did, a lot of people would be dead.

BrewTaster · 02-13-2009, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BierMuncher

I'll admit it.

I'm a bleacher.

Never overly concerned with exact concentrations because I rinse everything under 135 degree tap water.

Usually for a carboy or bucket, it's 2-3 drops of dawn, a good splash of bleach, a 3 second squirt of hot water and a rub down with a soft wash clothe.

Then it's into the shop sink for a good 5-6 second rinse and upside down to drip dry.

No need to store a carboy with any sanitizer. Once it's sanitized, just store it upside down in a milk crate (lined with a paper towel) and let it dry...then plug with stopper and store.

So as long as you rinse, its all good?

PseudoChef · 02-13-2009, 01:14 AM

Just trying to sway you here. You can reuse Star-San over and over again. Mix it up with distilled or reverse osmosis water. I have been brewing for 1.5 years and still have half a small container of Star san left. It cost me $10. So say that $10 is for 3 years, hypothetically. Therefore, $3.33 per year. If you can't afford that, you can't afford to brew.

**BierMuncher** · 02-13-2009, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrewTaster

So as long as you rinse, its all good?

yes...........

The Pol · 02-13-2009, 02:07 AM

If time is money, Star San in a spray bottle is the way to go. A bottle of Star San will last you years, no pesky rinsing, just spray and go.

**Yuri_Rage** · 02-13-2009, 02:08 AM

I did this math a few months ago for another thread:

96 oz of Clorox Bleach costs about $15. A concentration of 2 oz per gallon makes 192 gallons of sanitizing solution at 8 cents per gallon.

32 oz of Star San costs about $16.99. A concentration of 1 oz per 5 gallons makes 160 gallons of sanitizing solution at 11 cents per gallon.

If you sanitize with bleach, you ABSOLUTELY NEED to rinse VERY thoroughly. This costs time and water. It's not recommended to put a bleach solution into a spray bottle, so you'll need to use some sort of immersion technique for sanitizing, potentially requiring a large amount of sanitizer.

If you sanitize with Star San, you don't need to rinse. Actually, you shouldn't rinse. You can sanitize by simply spraying the solution from a spray bottle onto the surfaces you wish to sanitize, so you will potentially use very little solution for an entire batch.

So, assuming you use a gallon of sanitizer for a batch (that's A TON of spray bottle usage, or the bare minimum for immersion sanitizing), if you want to save 3 cents and do a ton of rinsing, have fun with the bleach. Star San gets my vote.

**BierMuncher** · 02-13-2009, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yuri_Rage

...96 oz of Clorox Bleach costs about $15....

Yeah, but 96 Oz of Walmart bleach costs about $7.00.

The Pol · 02-13-2009, 02:17 AM

Yeah, if it is $.08 per gallon for bleach and $.11 for StarSan... I can use a quart of StarSan mixture per brew... you will be using GALLONS of bleach mixture, so StarSan is much cheaper, because you dont have to immerse items in it and make copious ammounts of it.