UV sterilization?

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Bildo

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I make water purifiers at work and am allowed to take scrap home from time to time. One of the things we use is a UV sterilization bulb that is supposed to be very effective, not only in killing bacteria and stuff but making sure they can no longer reproduce if they live(not sure exactly how this works). Any way, sometimes they don't use the bulbs because the have cosmetic issues, they're really picky and throw things out for the stupidest things, but any way, if i were to use some of these to sterilize my equipment, since it wouldn't cost me anything any way to take one home, would it work, or help?
 
You don't want to expose you beer to it, but I know there's been a couple of discussions about using it on gear on here...here's two I found.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/uv-sanitation-139887/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/ultra-violet-3186/

I know that there has been a gizmo on the market in the last couple of years to use UV to sanitize/steralize the inside of wooden barrels in the winemaking industry. I don't know how many people on here have experience with it, so you may be the groundbreaker for us.
 
Yeah I wouldn't use it on the beer itself, but maybe on the gear and carboys as an extra precaution. But only if I can get a couple bulbs for free, sometimes they're picky on what I can take home, and sometimes they don't car. I took two $600 dollar carbon filters home the other day, just because of cosmetic issues. Too bad the unit they were made for didn't come with it!
 
UV could probably work on your equipment. It might depend on how much light the bulb sends out though. (a steri-pen bulb designed to work in a 1L water bottle, might not cut it in a keggle. Since you work for the company, you could probably find out. In Chem lab, we have a big cabinet that sterilizes our safety goggles.

The UV light probably wouldn't work in beer anyways as I believe the light would deflect off particles floating in the beer.
 
just remember that everything has to be clean first. you cannot sanitize something with leftover organic residue.

i also wonder, when all's said and done, if star-san still wouldn't be cheaper and faster. 30 seconds contact time..how long does the UV light take? cost per kilowatt-hour?
 
Also, be careful as UV exposure can really destroy (make brittle, turn yellow, etc.) some plastics.
 
I say go for it! The only precaution I would take is eye protection.

What is the UV exposure time necessary to kill bacteria? I would imagine it is very short (<1 min).
 
The time to kill every thing in a one liter bottle would be 15 sec with out bulbs. But it wouldn't work in the carboy because of the size.
 
I make water purifiers at work and am allowed to take scrap home from time to time. One of the things we use is a UV sterilization bulb that is supposed to be very effective, not only in killing bacteria and stuff but making sure they can no longer reproduce if they live(not sure exactly how this works). Any way, sometimes they don't use the bulbs because the have cosmetic issues, they're really picky and throw things out for the stupidest things, but any way, if i were to use some of these to sterilize my equipment, since it wouldn't cost me anything any way to take one home, would it work, or help?

The UV rays damage the DNA in microbes. Without the DNA the microbe can't repair other damage from the radiation, and even if it doesn't die, it can't reproduce because it doesn't have the instructions to make another microbe.
 
Last year prior to our bicycle trip in Cuba we bought a UV purifier for water. In clear water you swirl the device around and as dunecat says, it damages DNA, making the water safe for consumption. However, this device only works when submerged in water and shuts off when out - to protect eyes. Though water taste is not affected, perhaps there is some use for this device in our hobby.

B
 
UV light is a serious danger to your eyes!! If you are going to set up something you need to take appropriate precautions to make sure that neither you or anyone in your home could accidentally look at it! This is not a toy!

All UV sterilizers for water systems are enclosed for a reason, that gizmo that birvine mentioned turned off when outside of water, and the UV sterilizers that are used in microbiology labs are only on when a protective screen is on.

To repeat, this is not a toy!!
 
UV is going to be 'line of site'. I don't know your equipment but even a small scratch could end up harboring bacteria the light didn't hit. If your equipment has spouts, spigots and such the job gets much harder. I'm not saying don't use it. Just be aware of this limitation.

I also second the health warnings in the post above.
 
I work in a lab that has a vented hood with UV sterilization. I am planning on using this to sterilize my bottle caps. I have read that star san is not the best to use for sanitizing the oxygen absorbing caps, since once those become moist, they start absorbing oxygen. The best method is to use UV since there is no liquid involved.

Especially considering Hermit's comment above mine, this is about the only thing I'd consider using it for. UV protective goggles recommended. And best to not expose your skin to it either. It may be the sort of UV that does damage without burning your skin (does damage to deeper layers), so you won't even know how much it is harming you.
 
I have read that star san is not the best to use for sanitizing the oxygen absorbing caps, since once those become moist, they start absorbing oxygen. The best method is to use UV since there is no liquid involved.

Then your oxygen barrier caps won't end up working.

The thing to realize is that it doesn't matter if they get activated when soaking them or not, if you're putting the right on the bottles.

Soaking them is what activates the oxygen absorbing magic. It actually takes a week for them to do their job on the bottle.

But you need to get them wet to start the process.

On Basic brewing James Spencer contacted the maker of Oxygen Absorbing Caps (Crown Beverage), and actually recommended you santize them quickly with starsan, evidently the "Oxygen Absorbing Effect" of the caps is not immediate and they need to be wet for a period of time before the magic happens, like days.

Click to listen

It's within the first few minutes of the podcast.

They recommend sanitizing ONLY the caps you are using, and sanitizing just before bottling.

Which you should be doing anyway. You should ALWAYS sanitize fresh on the day you are doing thing, especially with a no rinse, wet contact sanitizer like starsan or iodaphor.
So go ahead an soak away!!!
 
yes, but if you still need to sanitize them anyway, so why not just use the starsan you already have right there instead of spending time or money on another piece of equipment and adding yet another step in the process.

plus, if you add a UV sanitizer into your routein, you are adding electricity to the mix and the possibility for it to come in contact with liquid and become dangerous (granted- a very small posibility, but a greater possibility than using starsan. starsan can not electrocute you).

AND- with UV, there is no positive feedback that the cap was sanitized. maybe there was a small speck of dirt harboring bacteria and the light didnt sanitize underneath it. or you didnt leave the light on long enough or cover the whole cap. with starsan, i positively know that the whole cap has been sanitized because it was submerged and 100% in contact with the liquid, and the starsan residue continues to kill even after you remove it from the bucket and handle the caps.
 
A friend of mine had thought of using uv tech to sterilize make-up water for extract batches. He had been boiling then cooling a couple gallons before he brewed. I told him if he was worried his water was that bad it probably couldn't hurt, but i use normal tap water with no problem.
 
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