sanitizing question

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tim1970

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I am now on the 2nd fermentation stage of my first brew, and the only thing that I consider a negative in the whole thing is sanitizing. For my first brew I soaked everything in a bleach solution. Trying to get the bleach smell out of a 5 and 7 gallon carboy is not fun :mad:

I was thinking, for all my equipment except for the carboys, I could put them in my dishwasher without detergent. My dishwasher has a sanitize setting where it superheats the water. Do you think this would work??

Also what is the best sanitizer to use? I don't mind the sanitizing, but I would really like something that will rinse away quicker and easier.


Tim
 
i use star san, but i still have to rinse, because of the sudsy looking bubbles it leaves behind after i shake/agitate whatever it is i'm sanitizing.

brian
 
How much bleach have you been using? I use bleach due to iodine allergies in the family and only use 2 oz per 5 gals with a 30 min soak while getting evrything set up. The odor is not strong at all and a couple of blasts with the bottle washer attachment and very hot water and it is rinsed and no odor at all.
 
There is absolutely no reason to rinse off Star-San foam other than esthetics's. What you can do in the future though is to avoid shaking up the Star-San solution so much and avoid making so much foam in the first place. When adding it to your fermenter, don't pour it, siphon it. Then just gently swirl it around and slowly pour it out. You will end up with barely any foam, and what does stay behind is harmless and will not impart any off flavors to your brew.
 
brian williams said:
i use star san, but i still have to rinse, because of the sudsy looking bubbles it leaves behind after i shake/agitate whatever it is i'm sanitizing.

brian

It's perfectly OK to leave the bubbles. Go ahead and rack on them.
 
johnsma22 said:
There is absolutely no reason to rinse off Star-San foam other than esthetics's...

Exactly. It does leave a film on surfaces, which helps protect items you have sanitized long after they have dried. I love it and have not had any issues with it.

If you are really worried about the foam, use Sani Clean which is basically the same thing, but without the foam.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I will definately look into one of the two choices mentioned above.

How about using the sanitize setting on my dishwasher for smaller items. Would this be adequate. Also, I read somewhere that if I wash my bottles in the dishwasher, that I shouldn't use dishwasher detergent. Is this true?


Tim
 
Don't know about the sanitize setting, but I'd think that an 8 dollar bottle of star-san that will last you for years is a lot cheaper than running your dishwater for a few small pieces of equipment.
 
tim1970 said:
My dishwasher has a sanitize setting where it superheats the water. Do you think this would work??

I use the sanitize setting on my dishwasher to sanitize my bottles, seems to be working fine so far.

<disclaimer> I am very new to brewing, I just started my 5th brew so take my advise with a grain of salt </disclaimer>
 
I started with Iodaphor and was talked into one-step by the LHBS. This place is a brew on prem so they have hundreds of gallons of brew flowing monthly and they claim it has never been a problem. Of course, there are people who claim one-step cannot sanitize.

The things I didn't like about Iodaphor are the potential stains on the countertop from pure iodine, the smell, and the slight staining on buckets/tubing. What I did like is the price and the fact that you can visually see the concentration. Onestep, being clear, looks like water and doesn't "seem" to be doing its job. I mean, I haven't had any infections yet so I suppose it's fine.
 
The only reason one-step is not an official sanitizer is because the company didn't want to spend the money being certified for sanitizing. It does a fine job of sanitizing, it just can't call itself a sanitizer by law.
 
my dishwasher only goes to 70 degrees c (158 F i think)

is this hot enough to sanitize?

.
 
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