bleeder

Recipes 

Hi Guys,

I was in my local brew shop the other day and the owner remarked that its the fumes from the sterilizing liquid that actually sterilize the fermentor, and not the liquid.
is this true?
I always have been of the opinion that you had to drown your fermentor to get it sterile.

Thanks

rod

Recipes 

if you are using potassium metabisulphite the sulphite fumes do sterilize but that is the only one i am aware of.

__________________
simplified signature:
beer, wine, cheese in various stages of production

johnsma22

Recipes 

Star-San, which is the best, IMHO, requires liquid contact. That does not mean that the fermenter has to completely filled. It just means that liquid must be in contact with the surface for 30 seconds. I use about 1 gallon and gently swirl it around to coat the entire interior surface.

FWIW, there is a huge difference between sanitized and sterilized. Short of obtaining an autoclave big enough to fit all of your gear into, you will never achieve sterile conditions.

Sanitizing with a sanitizer (Star-San, Iodophor etc..) will sufficiently reduce the microbial levels enough for our purposes.

__________________
Cheers,
John