sanitizing question

first question, whats a good sanitizer that i can use indoors, maybe in a big plastic tub without having to worry about the botton falling out??? I wanted to use like a big heavy duty tubberware tub but i don't know if it will work with all these heavy duty acid based sanitizers.

thanks for any info,
Josh Brady

I'm a N00b so take this for what it is.
From my understanding, you can do this with the Starsan and some others.
I have a 6 gallon bucket filled with Starsan and has been for about two weeks (with a lid on). I read here and other places that guys will put that stuff in a spray bottle. So going by that, I would say you would be fine with Starsan. That is as long as the bubbles don't bother you.

We use StarSan and put it in plastic buckets, Wal-Mart Keg Tubs, glass, and whatever else, as well as put our hands in it all the time. No problem whatsoever. No vapors, no nothing. Like JBrady says, there are bubbles which take a little getting used to.

Iodophor doesn't have those and is even milder on the hands, but does stain a little bit. I also am in the camp that feels like I've gotten an Iodophor taste in my finished beer, but many people who I respect disagree. Also, I now kind of think that any taste I was getting might be traceable to having put my nylon hop and grain bags in Iodophor which allowed them to soak up a lot of the solution.

Regardless, either is good and safe for most materials and indoor use.

I use Iodophor inside, in the kitchen all the time. I really like it. Use it at 12.5ppm and you will get a little staining on white plastic if you let it sit for an hour. The bucket I use to sanitize my bottles is stained. I dump it in the tub when I am done and rinse and there are no stains.

Buy a 3ml syringe. 3ml/1 gallon is about 12.5ppm. Easy and cheap.

Have never had (nor heard of until Moonpile's post) of anyone tasting iodophor in their beer.

The guy from basic brewing radio interviewed a guy from B-T-F (they make Iodophor). It was very informative. If I wasn't already using it, I would have switched. You can get the streaming mp3 of it here, if you want:http://img671.libsyn.com/img671/e172f74d76b247075b36254a8d85ed17/467b3021/7615/4011/bbr03-22-07.mp3

StarSan and Iodophor are by far the two most popular sanitizers. Both are excellent. Personally I prefer Star San because it lasts for a long time and can be reused. It is also absolutely no rinse, and has a very short contact time (meaning it works great in a spray bottle).

There's also another version of Star San that doesn't foam. I can't recall its name at the moment, but it exists.

Yes, it is called SaniClean. But you WANT the foam! Love the foam! Foam is good!

SaniClean is also more expensive than StarSan, on a per gallon of solution basis. It also requires longer contact time than Star San to be lethal. Still a good product, though, I would think. But I have never actually used it myself (for the above reasons).

Beerrific said:

Have never had (nor heard of until Moonpile's post) of anyone tasting iodophor in their beer.

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That was from my brews about 10 years ago, before a long hiatus that only recently ended! I had reusable nylon bags that I used for hops, grains and for straining the wort. I sanitized them in Iodophor and wouldn't be surprised if I was using a too highly concentrated solution. I had the taste in two or three batches. I also wouldn't be surprised if something else were responsible for that taste. It was a long time ago.

When I resumed brewing my friends and I started with Iodophor and had no problems at all. After we used up the small bottle of iodophor we tried a small StarSan, and decided to stick with that, more because of the lack of staining than anything else.

I guess i'm the only one taht uses One-Step no rinse oxygen sanitizer?

malkore said:

I guess i'm the only one taht uses One-Step no rinse oxygen sanitizer?

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I use it! It came with my initial brew kit and I like the results, so I stuck with it. I haven't had any issues with contamination to-date. Sometimes I accidently add too much and have to rinse it with a little extra water. I know it says no rinsing, but I don't want to leave a bunch of it in my fermenter before I add my wort!!

There is probably cheaper option out there...

I use one-step, but I'm going back to Iodaphor when this big bag runs out. I like the color of Iodaphor, it helps me remember what has sanitizer in it and what has plain water.

By the way, you don't need a massive tub of sanitizer, it's wasteful. Only make about 2 gallons total. Shake the crap out of your fermenters with a gallon it in. Pour it into a bowl or bucket to sanitize other things on the same batch.

Dave N said:

So the foam is good? Ive always been sceptical of it and continued to keep rinsing with the spray bottle til almost all of it was out. Knowing this will save me some time then.

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The foam will not hurt your beer in any way. StarSan's a no-rinse food-grade acid-based sanitizer that is inactivated above pH 3.

Thanks for all the info guys