Eucalyptus oil as a sanitizer for brewing

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bradbase

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2008
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Hello everyone,

I'd like to ask if anyone has used eucalyptus oil as a sanitizer for brewing?

I know it's a little obscure, especially since this is a predominantly U.S. forum and this oil is not usually abundant outside of Aussie shores, but on the off chance I thought I'd ask.

The main reason I'm looking for advice on this is to discover if a small amount of eucalyptus oil (particularly a thin film of residue left after wiping with oil) would harm the brewing process eg; kill the yeast, stop the floating gunk from doing it's job or something?

In Australia eucalyptus oil is known for a vast range of properties including as an antiseptic, an antibacterial, perfume, delicate detergent, heavy grease remover and massage oil (among others). It's great because it's mostly water dispersible. I don't know how scientific the antibacterial or antiseptic is, however anecdotally it does seem to work well.

I might have to try it and report back...
 
bradbase said:
In Australia eucalyptus oil is known for a vast range of properties including as an antiseptic, an antibacterial, perfume, delicate detergent, heavy grease remover and massage oil (among others). It's great because it's mostly water dispersible. I don't know how scientific the antibacterial or antiseptic is, however anecdotally it does seem to work well.

I might have to try it and report back...

There are some pretty good reasons to look elsewhere....

For one, you don't know what concentration will be effective for brewery sanitization purposes. Second, it sounds like a great entry point for off flavors and aromas.

Third, isn't it toxic if ingested?

Someone with more knowledge on the topic might be able to provide specific direction.
 
I would think that it would be so pungent that it couldn't help but leave off flavors in your beers...You'd need a serious rinsing, which then would sort of defeat the purpose of the sanitizer unless you were using sanitized or boiled water to rinse with...
 
No way would I let eucalyptus near my brewery! The smell is ok (sometimes I'll use a couple drops in the shower), but I don't like the flavor & getting rid of it would be extremely difficult.
 
I'm with David here. that oil is far too strong and would easily leave its odor behind in any plastics or vinyls in the brewery. I'd be wary of its effect on Stainless steel also.
 
Thanks for the input.

In terms of toxicity, when it's properly used as far as I know it is not toxic. At food grade it is commonly put in boiled lollies and cough lozenges. If you eat as much as a Koala would, then yes you'd most probably have a problem (but then so do Koalas, they're stoned 98% of the day).

As for flavour, I like it. But then I like Vegemite as well...

Stainless steel has no problems with eucalyptus oil. I've used it to remove cooked on crusts and difficult scum marks in pots.

The rationale for thinking of eucalyptus oil is that I'm trying to find a natural sanitiser, or something that is as close to natural as I can find. Not that it's natural but bleach will work. Apparently bleach should be avoided (as mentioned in the lead pipe thread). The other no-rinse sanitisers may be great due to not tainting the beer, but how natural are they?
 
Well, Idophor is basically the element Iodine. Star-san is phosphoric acid. All no rinse sanitizers are designed to be food grade and biodegradable. Heck, Star-san is even consumed by the yeast as a nutrient. I would not use anything with the word 'oil' in the name. You'll never get the taste out of your equipment and it'll taint your batches.

I don't know why people think that just because something is natural, that it's safe. Many natural fertilizers that aren't made in a laboratory are still quite poisonous. Arsenic is also perfectly natural too. The only truely natural way you'll be able to sanitize your equipment is an autoclave or using your oven.
 
EvilTOJ said:
Well, Idophor is basically the element Iodine. Star-san is phosphoric acid. All no rinse sanitizers are designed to be food grade and biodegradable. Heck, Star-san is even consumed by the yeast as a nutrient. I would not use anything with the word 'oil' in the name. You'll never get the taste out of your equipment and it'll taint your batches.

I don't know why people think that just because something is natural, that it's safe. Many natural fertilizers that aren't made in a laboratory are still quite poisonous. Arsenic is also perfectly natural too. The only truely natural way you'll be able to sanitize your equipment is an autoclave or using your oven.

I agree...the problem like EvilToj said is that it is oil based. You may not be able to dilute it to the right strength like you can with starsan and iodophor.

And you probably wont be able to get it off your stuff if you use it and realize it's a bad idea...

If you really want to try this, then make up a small batch of something, like Ed's Apgfelwein in a 1 gallon glass jug... go through all your sanitization process with the oil, ...and brew the wine, and when it's done rack it to another glass jug and try to clean everything...Then you'll know a) how much taste it imparts and b) if you can clean your equipment.

If you use the 1 gallon then you wan't ruin your 5 gallon fermenter, but may have to replace your hoses and and airlock...so you'll only be out a few bucks as opposed to replacing all your gear...

With the apfelwein, you won't need your hydrometer and you can (just for once) mouth siphon to rack so you won't ruin your autosiphon or racking cane....then you can see how easy it will be to get the stuff off of glass...It it's a pain with the glass then you know it will be 10 times worse with plastic gear....

Bottle the wine in 12 ounce beer bottles, and sample every couple of weeks to see if the eukolyptus flavor fades.....

Using the apfelwein recipe, you won't be out too much money for ingredients either...just a couple bucks for the juice, sugar and yeast...and you'll be able to taste whether or not it gets affected by the oil.
 
Again, thanks for all the input. It has helped me double-take.

I have done a very small test by way of getting some boiling water in a mug and adding a teaspoon of eucalyptus oil. It's been there about 5 days and there is still an odour and, seemingly, a residue. I'm happy to accept the test as proving the point that my concept was flawed.
 
Back
Top