Alkyl amine oxide

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OppamaBrendan

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Oppama, 追浜
Hi guys, I use bleach/vinegar solution for sanitizing as per Charlie Tally's (starsan inventor) no-rinse recipe. I do this because it is the cheapest and most accessible no rinse sanitizer available to me in Japan.

I had a bit of a language barrier on my bleach purchases though, I can read the bleach part but on the ingredient list was something I missed and translates to Alkyl amine oxide. The sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide are there as well.

Does anyone know definitively if Alkyl amine oxide is detrimental to beer? The no rinse solution was about 31ml bleach per 20L of water, and I let most of it drip out of any sanitized equipment prior to use. Wikipedia says it is a surfactant, and I have noticed head retention problems that I couldn't pinpoint. I don't want to jump the gun and assume this was the cause, so if anyone can say for sure that would be helpful. Regardless, I will be switching to a bleach that does not contain Alkyl amine oxide.
 
So far things look good on my first batch since the switch. Compared to previous batches, the hot break was thick, when I drained to the primary I splashed the wort in over about 30 minutes, and it created enough foam to reach the top of the fermenter, and there was a good krausen and blowoff. Everything is pointing towards a better foam stability and I hope head retention.
 
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