iodine sanitizer we all use

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tmongoose

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dont know if this has been asked in the past but just curious if anyone has come up with a substitute or a simple recipe for the solution we use to sanitizing equipment...when we first started brewing it was like $14/bottle and would last awhile now its $20....just looking for a cheaper way...any help out there?
 
A lot of old school homebrewers think that rinse-less sanitizers such as Star San are the best thing thats happened to their brewing. Doesn't seem like a place to skimp, plus the per batch cost of Star San is negligible.
 
understandable and not trying to skimp just wondering if there was a home recipe for said solution mix..
 
Bleach? I wouldn't use it but it is used globally to make water potable so perhaps it would be a cheap alternative?
 
I bought a 32 oz bottle of starsan for about $20. I usually use a half oz for bottling, half oz for brewing -- often the same batch for both. That will see me through at least a year's worth of brews. Having to rinse the first couple batches was a pain.
 
I used bleach when I first started. Never got an infection, but if I wasn't extremely thorough when rinsing I could sure taste it.

As far as a substitute for Star-san or Iodophor, can't help you there. And as has been said above, sanitizing is something I won't skimp. If I run out of Star-San, I put off whatever I needed to do until I'm able to get more.

I've seen homemade recipes for Oxyclean or PBW, but haven't tried them.
 
I bought a 32 oz bottle of starsan for about $20. I usually use a half oz for bottling, half oz for brewing -- often the same batch for both. That will see me through at least a year's worth of brews. Having to rinse the first couple batches was a pain.
I just use it to mix up a 5 gallon batch and store it in a bucket/keg. Don't need to mix up a fresh batch each time. 32 oz bottle will last a lot longer than a year even brewing 3 times a month.
 
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