Post bleach water rinse: necessary?

For most of my sanitization (except for when I'm bottling, for which I use star-san to save time) I've been doing bleach water soaking. Basically soaking the items in bleach water (bucket fermenters, tubing, thermometers when cooling wort to pitch temp, etc) and then rising them in plain tap water. I also soak my bottles in bleach water/rinse with regular before using them to sanitize them and make it easier to pry the labels off.

I worry that using regular tap water to rinse poses a threat to contaminating the items, leading to no good infections. Could I just let these items air dry instead of the extra rinse step? If I do just air dry, has anyone had any issues with off flavors or stuff not fermenting properly?

I'm curious if it matters how strong the bleach to water ratio is. I haven't been precise in this area, usually just put enough bleach to cover most of the bottom of the bucket and then topping off with around 3-4 gallons of tap water.

i always use 2 cups of bleach to 5 gallons of water. never had any problem. I always air dry my botttles and no problems.

Why do you not use star-san all the time?

IMO, chlorine and beer do not mix well. Rinse it well, then sanitize with Starsan.

Star San - solves the problem.

I have always used iodine and it has never given me a problem. No rinse and let air day.... There can be some residual fluid in the bottles from sanitizing nothing negative has occurred. It is water soluble..

Clann said:

Why do you not use star-san all the time?

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That was my thought.

Bleach is cheap and effective. I use 1 tbsp per gallon, I don't rinse and I've never had a problem.

brockettbrews said:

i always use 2 cups of bleach to 5 gallons of water. never had any problem. I always air dry my botttles and no problems.

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Wow, way too much IMO.

OP, if you use the bleach vineagar combination, it's a no rinse solution. I always let it air dry, though. Two Tablespoons bleach, then 2 of vineager in five gallons.

See this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/bleach-bottle-sanitation-208417/

post #7
"I thought I remembered that Charlie Talley said one ounce of bleach and vinegar, so I went back to the podcast to check, and sure enough it is one ounce, not one tablespoon. One fluid ounce would be two tablespoons of bleach and two tablespoons of vinegar per five gallons of water."

1 food grade bucket (they are white) and translucent lid from Home Depot is $7 total. While you are there grab a refillable spray bottle for another $2. Rinse bucket + bottle out well with clean tap water.

Make Starsan in bucket, fill spray bottle, put lid on bucket.

Starsan keeps for a VERY long time. It is not a submersion NRS it is a contact NRS meaning if your spray bottle can "mist it 1 or 2 times" it is sanitized. I literally sanitize 95% of everything with my spray bottle. I dip the pre-cleaned hoses/tubes and racking canes into the the bucket only because of the ease to do it that way.

I have had the same bottle of Starsan for over 2 years and am just running out now. @ 16.99 for a 32oz. bottle, the peace of mind I have is worth MUCH, MUCH more than the pennys you save using what could potentially taint and ruin your beer and equipment.

Would I use the above sanitizer in an emergency situation? yes. But no one knows how long that type of NRS keeps. I know that chlorine based sanitizers in the restaurant biz are good only for hours before they need replaced.

In my experience not rinsing bleach will eventually develop into a nasty, nasty flavor in the beer. If you drink through your batches in a month or two but if you go longer you'll start to get a terrible medicinal flavor. I started out using bleach and rinsing (but not enough) and the beer would be fine but as it got about three months out from brew day it would get medicinal quickly. Switched to starsan, never had that problem since.

Zamial said:

Starsan keeps for a VERY long time.

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After diluting, its useful life depends on the water you mixed it with. In my water, I don't trust it past a week or two. I just unsealed a gallon or so that I'd used to soak equipment a month ago and there was junk floating that certainly looked like it had grown there...

20 years of brewing, using bleach and rinsing. Never had an infection, never had off flavors.

MC

I don't use bleach much anymore because I have quite a few stainless items now, but I've used it before. I was never able to detect off flavors, but it is a possibility. One time I got horrible chlorophenols in a rauchbier using chlorinated brewing water.

To the OP, I personally wouldn't recommend rinsing with regular tap water because that's essentially un-sanitizing it after your water/bleach treatment. The water itself is pretty low risk, but I guarantee the faucet and other plumbing connections have various populations of bacteria growing on them. Doesn't mean you will get an infection, just means you're unnecessarily increasing the chances of one.

Re bleach, there was a basic brewing podcast a few years back on how to properly sanitize. I do remember that they discussed how bleach isn't very shelf stable compared to other sanitizers like iodophor and star san. I can't remember the specifics but I want to say that it's very possible for it to lose a lot of it's sanitizing capabilities after sitting on the shelf for a month or so. Maybe someone else has recently listened to that podcast and can remember more details.

9-12 months shelf life.

http://www.clorox.com/blogs/dr-laundry/2010/10/07/shelf-life-of-clorox-bleach/

MC

Back when I started bleach is what you had.I still use it today and rinse, never had a problem, ever. You have some other issues to worry about if your tap water contaminates your brew. I also use starsan, but I'm not as paranoid as most who post here.

Cheers

haven't used starsan for everything due to price. also, because i'm still getting used to brewing, there's been a few times that i've sanitized something, dumped out the bleach water, then realized i had something else to sanitize and had to draw another batch of bleach water. so initially i was worried about using about going through 2-3 oz each timed i brewed.

so no one has had problems with reusing starsan after it's mixed? i didn't know it lasted a while. would it work if i mixed up a big 5 gallon batch of it and reused it for a while? do i need to keep it covered/sealed when i'm not using it? the spay bottle idea seems really good too.

thanks for all the help!

domdom said:

haven't used starsan for everything due to price. also, because i'm still getting used to brewing, there's been a few times that i've sanitized something, dumped out the bleach water, then realized i had something else to sanitize and had to draw another batch of bleach water. so initially i was worried about using about going through 2-3 oz each timed i brewed.

so no one has had problems with reusing starsan after it's mixed? i didn't know it lasted a while. would it work if i mixed up a big 5 gallon batch of it and reused it for a while? do i need to keep it covered/sealed when i'm not using it? the spay bottle idea seems really good too.

thanks for all the help!

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You can mix up 5 gallons of it at a time, I guess, but that's a lot! I mix up a gallon in distilled water (right in the jug the water comes in), and then fill a small spray bottle too. I use, reuse, save, use again, etc, over and over and over. It will last indefinitely. I usually end up spilling most of it pouring it back in the jug over a couple of months. I brew twice per month, keg twice per month, plus make wine and rack the wine. One .25 ounce portion of star-san (the amount in one gallon of water) will last months and months. If I was more careful and used a funnel, it would probably go a lot longer.

I've been using star-san for about 6 years, and I'm on my second small bottle. So, yes, it's expensive when you buy the bottle. But if one bottle lasts 200+ brewdays, it's way cheaper than bleach!

+1 to Yooper (she knows her stuff)

I used to mix up 5 gals of Star-san, but I've started using 1 gallon and a spray bottle. I keep two 1 gal jugs. 1 full, 1 empty just to sanitize my siphon by transferring from 1 jug to the other.

i've been doing a lot of the one bucket sanitizing method: putting everything i need sanitized in a bucket, filling up about 2/3 with bleach water, put on lid, flip a few times.

starsan is supposed to sanitize in a minute correct? without having to worry about rinsing, should make my sanitizing go a lot quicker!

also: is the sticky film it leaves on stuff after it dries normal?

Normal and no worries.