Sanitation Question

Hey everyone, I'm about to start my first brew soon and am soaking my carboys in a water/bleach solution to get any possible gunk on the inside off. I know a lot of people use the one step sanitation stuff, but I have bleach and was wondering if that was ok. I'm doin the 1 tablespoon/gallon, and I will rinse everything afterwards. Has anyone had experience with this before to give tips? or possible mishaps with bleach? Thanks

I used bleach to sanitize everything when I brewed my first batch all the way from brew pot to bottles. It worked great. Just be sure to rinse everything really well.

Awesome...thanks! Can't wait to get into this obsession!

Bleach is a controversial topic here.

My $.02...

You'll be fine as long as you rinse everything until it no longer smells like bleach.

You can even use bleach as a no-rinse sanitizer at the right proportions (I don't know what they are--Korncob may jump in here. He is adamant about this although others are adamant that it's a horrible idea.)

Bleach does need a contact time of about 20 minutes to sanitize. This is, IMHO, where you see a huge advantage with sanitizers like iodophor or Star San, which need only 1-2 minutes contact time.

abs2003 said:

I will rinse everything afterwards.

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Therein lies the problem with bleach IMO. When you rinse if your water is contaminated you negated the whole process of cleaning with bleach. On the other hand, if you don't rinse, you're obviously worried it will make stuff taste bad.

I use bleach to soak my bucket and carboys if they have any stubborn gunk in them. Then I just clean them like I normally would with one step or iodophor. if there's no gunk I just use the one step or iodophor.

Iodophor is really cheap if you spread the cost over the 10-15 brews you can make using it.

God Emporer BillyBrew said:

Iodophor is really cheap if you spread the cost over the 10-15 brews you can make using it.

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And if you live in farm country, it's even cheaper at the local farm supply store. Just check to make sure it's just iodophor with no extra ingrediants.

ok, thanks for the advice. what about the dishwasher then? can i put the smaller items in there and put the heat dry cycle on? i also heard that sanitizes pretty well.

abs2003 said:

ok, thanks for the advice. what about the dishwasher then? can i put the smaller items in there and put the heat dry cycle on? i also heard that sanitizes pretty well.

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Controversial question. Many claim that they have used their dishwasher to sanitize with no problems; many others don't see how this can effectively work. I'm in this second camp.

Dishwashers "sanitize" by steaming the water off the contents. To sanitize effectively, water must be coating the entire surface of the item to be sanitized. Lets face it, most brewing implements (especially bottles) are irregularly shaped and the stream of water in the dishwasher doesn't fully penetrate them, creating pockets where no water is really penetrating - hence nothing to steam off, and areas where sanitation is iffy at best.

However, if you'd like to try, go for it. Many say they've done this for a while with no problems.

I've only brewed 9 batches so far, but I'm still using bleach and doing fine with it. I use 3 tablespoons per 5 gallons of hot water and then rinse well with cold water. I've read that you can use a no-rinse concentration of 2 teaspoons per 5 gallons, but I've yet to try that. I fill my bucket, put the hot water in plus bleach, throw in all utensils that will come in contact with the wort, or beer, and allow a 20 minute minimum soak. Then rinse. No problems yet.

I'm not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but I just got some Iodophor to use when I brew again and I'm unsure of the concentration that I need to use. Is the 12.5 ppm mix enough or do I need to use the 25 ppm mix?

Dave R said:

I've only brewed 9 batches so far, but I'm still using bleach and doing fine with it. I use 3 tablespoons per 5 gallons of hot water and then rinse well with cold water. I've read that you can use a no-rinse concentration of 2 teaspoons per 5 gallons, but I've yet to try that. I fill my bucket, put the hot water in plus bleach, throw in all utensils that will come in contact with the wort, or beer, and allow a 20 minute minimum soak. Then rinse. No problems yet.

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Not to burst your bubble but is is advised to add bleach to cold water to clean and to rinse well with HOT water to remove the chlorine. Heat deactivates bleach.

I too still use bleach to clean with but use a sanitizer (star-san) to sanitize my clean equipment.

As for idopher, it is best to follow the instructions on the dose needed as per your label on the bottle. Some bottles offer different levels to use.

myersn024 said:

I'm not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but I just got some Iodophor to use when I brew again and I'm unsure of the concentration that I need to use. Is the 12.5 ppm mix enough or do I need to use the 25 ppm mix?

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Here's some great info on using Iodophor

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