How to Sanitize a Carboy?

We all hear it - "sanitize everything that comes into contact with cooled wort."

But this solid bit of advice guesses the question - what is the best way to sanitize something as big as a 6.5 gal glass carboy? Or a 7 gal bucket?

I presently use BrewVint Cleanitizer, which comes in 8 oz packages @ $2.29 apiece. The mixing rate is 1 Tbl. per gallon.

That means that I'm using one packet to clean/sanitize about sixteen gallons of H20...this doesn't seem very frugal. OneStep, et al, are working at similar rates.

So - here's the rub...what specific techniques are we all using to sanitize our big fermentors?

(and to add some spice to the conversation...I've been experimenting with 1 oz each of bleach and white vinegar in 5 gal of water, per the instructions of Charlie Talley of Five Star Chemicals [WARNING - mix the bleach and the water first, then add the vinegar - NEVER mix bleach and vinegar directly, unless you want a trip to the hospital...or funeral home]. He actually says that rinsing isn't required at that ratio!)

For sanitizing carboys, the easiest thing to do is get a sanitizer the requires low contact time, such as Star San or Iodophor. They only need to be in contact for about a minute or two to be effective. This way, you can put a quart or two of sanitizer in your CLEAN carboy, put on a stopper, and then swish the sanitizer around to sterilize the whole inside.

You could also use your bleach solution (very effective) but it requires a much longer contact time, meaning that you would have to fill the whole carboy up and let it sit for a while. Works just as well, but it is a PITA.

yep, pretty much what FlyGuy said is what I do. OneStep requires a few more minutes of contact time, so it takes several 'shakings' to really sanitize properly with a 1-2gal solution.

Well, in actuality, the bleach solution only requires 30 seconds, according to Charley Talley (and he invented StarSan, so I trust him.

The BrewVint only requires 30 seconds, as well.

Side note - all commercially-available "sanitizers" are going to say 2 minutes b/c that's the shortest test that the FDA does.

So what I'm hearing is that swishing around just a couple of quarts is going to do the job?

I suse StarSan, used to use bleach. Approach was the same. If I was making a bunch of sanitizer, I'd fill teh carboy with it, let it soak for awhile, then siphon the sanitizer into a RubberMaid tub for other uses.

If I just want to sanitize a carboy, I'll mix up a half-gallon and slosh it around in the carboy. Let sit a minute or two, repeat a couple times.

I always clean/rinse my carboys after a racking....no visible schmootz.....

...when I'm ready to brew anything, it seems I fill up my carboy with idophor and let it sit for a few mins, then rack that into my sanitizing bucket for all of my equipment. Seems to work fine for me

The star San foam is enough to sanitize. I only get the carboy about half full of water and there is foam shooting out the top. You can save Star San for several weeks after mixing.

I use iodophor, about a quart in and shake it until I get tired (<1 min), flip it and let it drain.

Key is, as it was said before, clean after use and all you have to do on brew day is sanitize.

Idophor or Starsan in a spray bottle, sprayed into the neck of a carboy laying on the floor and rotated works well for me. The sanitizer clings to the sides and I get at least the required contact time. Also, I only use a few ounces of the stuff, so I don't go through a whole lot of sanitizer. When I'm ready to rack the brew in, I just turn the carboy over to pour out the extra that's collected and rack away (an unneeded step, but why not).

I think there is a big disconnect between what most people think contact time means. Contact time refers to the time the disinfectant is in actual contact. It is not required that the surface be totally immersed. As a surface that is wetted with solution will remain wet for a period of time. So that a gal. swirlled around the inside of a carboy for 1 minute or 2 will do the job. As others have said this applies to a clean surface.

Here's a good piece on Iodophor.

http://www.bayareamashers.org/content/maindocs/iodophor.htm

I heard a good question on an archive of Brewing Radio today - someone had asked if Better Bottle (i.e. PET bottles) carboys didn't get the benefit of "sheeting action" in terms of sanitizing, as glass bottles do (the plastic seems to shed water).

The answer was that the same contact time is occurring on a microscopic scale.

so if you have a gallon of sanitizer of sorts in the carboy, you get your 1-2 min contact time. But do you guys still mix up an entire container to sanitize your tools, or what's your method

I use Starsan and I have a bucket with a lid on it. I reuse it over and over again and just keep it in the bucket with the lid on it. Form what I've read and heard, all you need is 30 sec. contact time, but as long as it's wet thats contact time. On the brewing network the guy that invented the stuff said pretty much everything is sanitized in about 10 sec so I don't think things will dryout in that long anyway but you always have time for a min. or two I just dump it in my clean fermenter, let it sit for a min. then pour it back in my bucket. Starsan uses 1 oz. per 5 gal. and you can use it til it either quits foaming or starts getting hazy, I just started using it so I'm not that far yet, but I put a gate valve in my bottling bucket and just fill up my bottles and then pour them back in the bucket. It says to let everything dry but if you read on a lot of these posts, that's not really necessary.Although I think I wiil let my bottles dry to get rid of the foam,hard to tell when they are full or not. So far it's the best and fastest sanitizer I've used!

Yeah I store my 5gal of StarSan solution in the next carboy I'm racking to. That way it stays sanitized for as long as I am lazy getting around to racking.

I've got a 5 gal. igloo cooler that I mix and keep sanitizer in. Then I can dispense whatever amount I need from the spigot of the cooler.

This also keeps light away from the sanitizer which makes the sanitizer last longer. Especially in the case of Iodine or chlorine.

I also keep a 1 gal. plastic jug that I fill with sanitizer and can put various utensils in to sanitize .

star san can also be put into a spray bottle...used with the same amount of contact time.
that can be really handy for sanitizing long spoons, siphon canes, etc, with a small amount of solution.

As a couple of other people have said Starsan is great because you can reuse it. I will leave my 5 gallon carboy full of it until I am ready to brew, then pour it all out into a bucket which I use to sanitize equipment while brewing. If nothing gross ended up getting into the bucket of Starsan during the process, I will just keep it around in whatever I am going to use next as a primary. Feels good to conserve water and money!

I used to use bleach (no vinegar) It was very cumbersome to make sure everything was rinsed and i was constantly bleaching the bath mat, etc.

Now I use Oxyclean to clean, and Iodaphor to sanitize. On brew day i mix up 1.5 gallons of hot water to 1 teaspoon of Iodaphor. I put this in my old bottling bucket so i can soak small things and pour into carboys through the spigot.

You couldn't pay me to go back to bleach.

sjlammer said:

I used to use bleach (no vinegar) It was very cumbersome to make sure everything was rinsed and i was constantly bleaching the bath mat, etc.

Now I use Oxyclean to clean, and Iodaphor to sanitize. On brew day i mix up 1.5 gallons of hot water to 1 teaspoon of Iodaphor. I put this in my old bottling bucket so i can soak small things and pour into carboys through the spigot.

You couldn't pay me to go back to bleach.

Click to expand...

You're not supposed to mix iodaphor with hot water. Check the bottle because I don't remember what the temperature threshold is. You can use luke warm but not hot.

I learn something new everyday... The bottle says lukewarm...

What's the best way to rinse the carboy after sanitizing? Pre-boiled water sloshed around and dumped out? Or is it safe to just empty the sanitizing fluid and let it dry?

Er - I suppose getting a no-rinse sanitizer helps.

belgoran said:

Er - I suppose getting a no-rinse sanitizer helps.

Click to expand...

Yes, nor do you really want to let them dry, starsan and iodophor are no rinse, wet contact sanitisers. While wet they will continue to kill anything that comes in contact with it. If dry, anything that comes in contact with it will render it no longer necessarily sanitized.

Much obliged - just brewed my first batch and was concerned about rinsing!. Star-San for the next batch!

thanks for the post!

Bump for a great thread.

It can be very economical, just use 1/2 oz star san, add 2.5 gal water, keep it in a bucket with a lid on. Put 1/2 to 1 gallon of the star san mix in your carboy fermentor or whatever, 2 mins contact time and dump it back to the bucket. If the star san stops foaming up pour it out and start over. I just keep some on hand 24/7 so if I'm racking, making a starter, or something else I'm always ready.

Also remember to save the bucket of StarSan for hoses, spoons,airlocks,hoses,bungs, & anything else you might want to sanitize while brewing. Also fill a spray bottle w: it & keep it handy.


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