Sanitation Question

Do you guys fill your fermentors completely or just use a few gallons and "wash" down the sides when you sanitize? I'm especially interested in how you sanitize your carboys as I will be using one for the first time.

It's not necessary to fill them. Get a couple gallons in there and shake it up good. I do fill it up sometimes just so I have a good 5 gallons to go around for all phases of brewing. It gets reused and I store my empty carboys with sanitizer in them. When I need a quart or two for sanitizing small stuff, I just pour some out. Need to sanitize a primary? Pour it in and siphon back after. Get your money's worth.

After cleaning my carboys I just add a couple of gallons and shake it around so everything is coated. I put a rag over the mouth and shake on the floor. I do it a few times for insurance.

I fill'em. Iodophor is cheap.

What solution strength do you use, Walker-san. Going by the instructions on the bottle, you need three milliliters per gallon, so that is 18 milliliters for a six gallon carboy. Actually 17.74 ml, based on 3/10ths fluid ounce (US) per three gallons. Do you use that much?

Personally, I don't have the capability of measuring hundredths of a milileter, so I use one capful for 2.5 gallons That's the recommended strength. Remember, you don't need to fill the carboy, it just needs to be sloshed around for a while (30 seconds or so) and it's all set; no need to waste.

Best article I've seen on Iodophor: http://www.bayareamashers.org/content/maindocs/iodophor.htm

I just measured a capfull, full to the brim of the cap, and it came to 6.6 ml. A little less than my calculated 2.957 ml per gallon. YMMV, as a bottle cap is not a precise measuring device.

I can't measure to the hundredths of a ml either. Actually, I'm interpolating between the markings on the graduate to get tenths of a ml

I bet two capfuls per carboy is fine.

You're saying 2 capfuls for a carboy; I'm saying 1 capful for 2.5 gallons - I think we're in agreement. There's just no need, from all that I've read, to actually FILL the carboy. It doesn't need to soak, it just needs about half a minute of contact time. And, 2.5 gallons is just about what I need to sanitize all of my other equipment, so it works out nice, once the carboy is done I can sanitize all my other gear and I've only used one capful for everything.

1/2 oz for 5 gallons, but I usually fill closer to the top and dump in a half-oz.

I bought the Clorox instant sanitizer and I'm thinking of experimenting with that since it's a lot easier than filling and dumping.

Mine get a 2 day full soak with bleach (yes bleach) water AFTER I USE THEM to kill everything that might be in there. I then rinse, wash with soap and water and store. When I am ready to use, I rinse them, then spray the inside with my no rinse sanitzer (I think I am using Star San now) works great, and no issues yet. I do not use any bleach in the "pre" use cleanings anymore, but I do use it in the "post-op"- especially my plastic primary.

I use PBW to clean my carboy fill erup and then siphon to my bottling bucket clean all my tools and bottles then fill the carboy with water and StarSan...and repeat the siphon to the bucket to sanatise the equipment and bottles...a little time consuming but it works for me....

i guess i am reeaally cheap.
i make up 2 litres of star san and it lasts me 2 brew and bottling sessions.
i use a spray bottle for plastic fermenters, just spray down real good and let sit for 2 minutes and spray down again
for carboys i put in 1/2 a cup and slosh around for 5 minutes and let drain
no problems so far
edit i also bleach buckets and carboys after use - rinse well and then use potassium metabisulphite(campden tablet) to neutralize any residual bleach

I use the StarSan in a spray bottle too. works great. The reason I use bleach in the carboys for post op is that it is cheap, and that way I can just let them soak for a day or two.

I use the Starsan spray bottle to do my bottles prior to filling too.

I use one of the medicine measuring spoons that come with my kids medicine to measure my iodophor. The conversion was a bit hard for someone with my limited math skills to figure out, but I marked it with a sharpie and I'm good from now on.

On the carboy thing I usually fill it all the way up with bleach water and then rinse with about a gallon of Iodophor water.

God Emporer BillyBrew said:

On the carboy thing I usually fill it all the way up with bleach water and then rinse with about a gallon of Iodophor water.

Click to expand...

Are you using the bleach as a cleaner, or are you just a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy? I don't get why you would use both....