Peracetic acid as sanitizer

Hi

I have read on the forums of guys using peracetic acid as a no-rinse sanitizer. As I work in a hospital I got my hands on some PeraSafe powder they use to sterilise surgical eguipment.

Do I mix in the same concentration as for medical use or should I use a weaker solution in my homebrewing?

What concentrations would be considered for no-rinse use?

Coincidentally, this morning I happened to spot a conversation on some other forum that mentioned this stuff, when I was searching around about problems with C-Brite (which I now think ruined my 2nd batch due to me not rinsing well enough, but that's a whole other sob story).

Bottom line from what I heard is that, yes, it's very effective and safe as a no-rinse sanitizer -- but it's nasty stuff and smells terrible, so most people just use Starsan. I have no idea about concentrations. djsethall's snarky suggestion is probably a good one

Yes google has a wealth of info, but unfortunately I only found stuff on its medical applications.

I'll experiment a bit and see what happens

Hangman said:

Yes google has a wealth of info, but unfortunately I only found stuff on its medical applications.

I'll experiment a bit and see what happens

Click to expand...

Did you put "brewing" in your Google search to narrow it down?

I think this link answers the question, right?

Packaging
Pale blue/white powder supplied in 100 x 16.2gm, 24 x 81gm, 12 x 162gm and 6 x 810gm packs making 100 x 1, 24 x 5, 12 x 10 and 6 x 50 litres of working solution respectively.

That was on the first unsponsored search result. So deduction would tell me that 16.2 grams mixed with 1 liter of water is the correct ratio. Effinay, not only google it, but have to interpet the answer given from google. Sheesh. Just kiddin around. Please don't "experiment" with chemicals, easy way to blow yourself up.

Seems like the minimal cost and advantages of StarSan outweigh screwing around with Peracetic acid that you "got my hands on".

I have a gallon of peracetic and it doesn't work as well as star san IMO. I had done a 10 gallon batch of my house ale after sanitizing my conical with peracetic and I got an infection. The next batch I sanitized it with star san and this time, no infection.

Just a data point but it pays not to skimp on sanitizing.

Used properly, it should be "as good as" Starsan, at least in terms of sanitizing effectiveness. Some commercial breweries use it, if I understand correctly.

I agree with samc that it's not really worth it if the only benefit is the potential cost savings, though... Starsan is dirt cheap once you dilute it properly, I just can't imagine any reason to use anything else.

(Especially after I just discovered my 2nd batch has been irrevocably ruined by insufficient rinsing after I was using up the rest of my C-Brite at bottling time. WTF... so pissed off...)

I used it at the right concentration according to the label, and I'm a chemical engineer so I think I have a pretty good idea of how to measure volumes and the like. It didn't work for me and I had a relatively new batch of it as I was in the working range of the dates listed.

I won't count on using it again.

Peracetic acid is a very effective sanitizer, but is not designed for the brewing industry the way Star-san was. I would use it up if I had some around, but I would not buy any. Star-san/Iodophor are tried and true products, and lots of people have experience with them so you do not need to mess around trying to find an appropriate rate. IMO not worth the hassle for a few $$.