Sanitising dishwasher

Was wondering whether anyone knows of a dishwasher on the market that is hot enough to truly sanitise, or whether one could be modded to heat up to over 100*C, (if this is the temperature that would be needed).

I wouldn't want to put hydrometers or plastic tubing in there, but it would be a great and potentially easy mod to just press a button to get all my stainless steel equipment boiled, dried under its own heat and ready to go in 5 mins without the need of chems.

100 C is boiling at sea level... I'm wondering how you could exceed this at all, since a dishwasher isn't a pressure-capable machine.

I used to use my dish washer to sterliize my bottles, never had an infection. It was just a regular dish washer.

BUT, not in 5 minutes, are you kidding?

I just wish there was a way to say add a squirt or 2 of Star San on the rinse cycle. Man I could patent that and it would be Brewers dream.!

JesseRC said:

I just wish there was a way to say add a squirt or 2 of Star San on the rinse cycle. Man I could patent that and it would be Brewers dream.!

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You could always use starsan in the jet dry dispenser.


I'm joking. I think.

jpc said:

You could always use starsan in the jet dry dispenser.


I'm joking. I think.

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*blinks*

*thinks about it*

*blinks again*

Why not? Who's going to try it?

Not this guy. My jet dry dispenser is currently filled with jet dry, and I doubt I'd be able to clean all of it out.

But please, someone try this and report back to us!

Many restaurant dishwashers use a chemical sanitizer. Check it out.

ChshreCat said:

Why not? Who's going to try it?

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Umm that's what I do already... I thought everyone did... I have a dedicated "brew" dishwasher in my basement kitchen. PBW in pre-wash hole and star san in rinse-helper (or whatever it's called) hole.

Gabriel, heat sanitizing is a function of time and temp. There is a range of temps from about 60°C on up, with ~ 1 hour required for 60°C to practically "on contact" for 100°C. A standard heat sanitizing temperature in the US (restaurants- dishwashers) as defined by our FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is ~82°C for 30 seconds.

Sometimes, if I need to sanitize something quickly, I use my electric kettle (I mean like for tea, not the boil kettle for beer brewing). When the kettle boils the water, I just pour the ~99°C water over a small item I need to sanitize (holding it with a pair of tongs!). That kills pretty much everything.

I've been rinsing with a mixture of 1/4 cup bleach in one side of a two tub kitchen sink. Three batches and not one spoiled bottle. (Five batches if you include the two rootbeer excursions).

Anyone ever had a bad experience with this?

Thanks,
Bill

I exclusively use my dishwasher for sanitizing bottles.

100's of batches. No problems.

DON'T put Star San in your dishwasher to sanitize bottles (trust me, I know).

It will foam like crazy and shoot out all over the place. Sani Clean (the no-foam version of Star San) on the other hand would probably work.

The dishwashers that have a sanitizing cycle actually get really hot -- close to boiling actually. I think they use the heating element in the bottom of the dishwasher to heat the water and generate steam for sanitizing, which works VERY well. It is my preferred method of sanitizing if I am bottling few enough bottles that I can get them all inside the dishwasher in one batch.

Due to kiddies scalding themselves in the bathtub in the 90's it became standard practice to set water heaters at or below 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Since this is not even hot enough to clean your regular dishes - a "newer dishwasher" has a water heating element to raise the temperature to the appropriate level. so yes... ... it you raise the thermostat on your water heater and then find someone who can tell you how to adjust the temp on your dishwasher you can theoretically make it hot enough to clean the outside of whatever you want... ... you wont be able to get inside of tubes though.

Just buy Star San, it's worth the $10

FlyGuy said:

DON'T put Star San in your dishwasher to sanitize bottles (trust me, I know).

It will foam like crazy and shoot out all over the place. Sani Clean (the no-foam version of Star San) on the other hand would probably work.

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Did you put it in straight? I was planning on putting it in diluted.

ChshreCat said:

Did you put it in straight? I was planning on putting it in diluted.

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My.... ummm friend.... put it in diluted. But I don't think it matters. Put enough in and foam city.

Star San in the dishwashers sounds like a belt with your suspenders to me.

That is, of course, assuming your dishwasher has a sanitizing setting.

FlyGuy said:

DON'T put Star San in your dishwasher to sanitize bottles (trust me, I know).

It will foam like crazy and shoot out all over the place.

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It has always worked fine for me.

bakins said:

It has always worked fine for me.

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Really? It didn't foam? That's weird. Star San foams like crazy for everything I do.

How much did you put in your dishwasher? Was it enough to sanitize anything?

I would be hesitant to reliably put any chemical sanitizer in a home dishwasher. There's no way to know if the proper concentration was reached. On chemical sanitizing dishwashers in the food-safety/restaurant industry, the dishwashers "inject" an exact amount of sanitizer at the start of the final rinse cycle. They have test strips to test for proper concentration (chlorine or quaternary ammonia) at the end of the dishwasher cycle.

I noticed on my diswasher there is a sanitize and anti-bacterial setting. Need to find the manual for further clarification on what each dose. Only problem with mine is that it will take ~94 min. to complete. No way to just do the sanitize rinse.

smokey9015 said:

I noticed on my diswasher there is a sanitize and anti-bacterial setting. Need to find the manual for further clarification on what each dose. Only problem with mine is that it will take ~94 min. to complete. No way to just do the sanitize rinse.

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Mine is the same way. I do an ounce of starsan and the sanitize cycle. Overkill probably, but hey, it's my dishwasher...