Bleach, Rinse?

Bleach is a good Nirvana CD. On that note, I am reading homebrewing for dummies, and they say the most cost effective sanitizer is bleach. Me being a cheap ass, I want to use bleach.

Why do you not have to rinse bleach? I ask, because they say rinsing is not necessary in the book, but I was under the impression that bleach could kill you if swallowed.

Anyway, people dieing from my beer is not ideal. Although, if I put a warning on the label that reads something like this Warning: MAY DIE FROM BEER than I can't be held responsible.

Thanks,

Chris

It doesn't taste good.
It's easily detectable in even minute concentrations.

So rinse.

You do have to rinse when using bleach. There are people out there that think that using bleach for brewing is a mortal sin. Don't listen to them. If you want to use bleach, go right ahead. I did it for years, until I got sick of rinsing. Works great. Just make sure you rinse.

What a shatty book.
No-rinse sanitizer is cheap.

I use bleach when I clean used bottles. When I'm done, I rinse them a couple times to get rid of the smell. I can't imagine not rinsing and having to deal with that smell.

Everything I read indicates that you should rinse if you are using bleach. Really though, a no rinse sanitizer is way easier and won't bring off flavors to a beer that you have spent time,money and love in brewing. Use iodaphor or Star San because it is money well spent.

Well---given that "time" is of limited supply, and it is something that once lost cannot be recuperated, I would say that it should also figure into your calculations of how cheap you want to be.

Star San is a no-rinse sanitizer that takes under a minute to sanitize. You don't have to rinse it (which saves time and also saves water). The solution can be reused many, many times---you can make a 5 gallon solution with an ounce of star san---which costs about $15 for a 32oz bottle. Assuming you get 20 uses from a single batch before the pH drops and you need to add more concentrate (which is probably underestimating it), you're looking at $0.0015 per use.

This, ladies & gentlemen, is what we call a "no-brainer".

Where do I need to go to get Star San? Can I just find it at a local grocery store?

No, it's pretty much exclusively at home brew stores and online homebrew stores. It is definitely my favorite sanitizer, and I've used several different kinds over the last few years.

cglkaptc said:

Where do I need to go to get Star San? Can I just find it at a local grocery store?

Click to expand...

No. Any HBS will have it.

I Use Bleach a lot...but I know i should switch...Both Evan and Yooper recommend it. That means use it.

If you use bleach...rinse a minimum of 3 times...then sniff test. (Just don't get any boogers into the bottles when you sniff, or you'll need a new warning on your labels.

I wanted to start using Star-San for my latest batches, having always used bleach, but the supplier was out. I don't have any problems with bleach except that I have a lot of white streaks on my clothes.

Next time I order something I'll get some. My nearest HBS is an hour away and I'm not driving it unless I have something else to do that way.

cheezydemon said:

What a shatty book.
No-rinse sanitizer is cheap.

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Lots of homebrew books say that Bleach can be a "no rinse" sanitizer IF DONE at a very specific concentration. Something like a tablespoon per batch? or gallon?

That is the point where the bleach will still kill the bugs, but not enough residual to effect the taste. I used bleach for years and years, though I would rinse.

The tricky part is that if you also want to use it to clean, you would first need a stronger concentration to clean, then rinse, then use the diluted amount, then air dry.

Note: I'd trust bleach over B-Brite, One-Step, or Oxi-clean. Those are not considered sanitizers by some. Its such a tricky issue, that I just followed the other lemmings and bought Star San as well.

nic

I've used bleach in a few batches. I used 1.5 ounces per 5 gallons, which is not all that much, but is definitely adequate for sanitizing. When dumped out it left barely a trace of that bleach smell, unnoticeable if I wasn't looking for it. The beer turned out great and bared no resemblance to bleach. I'd say not rinsing is ok, but be warned that normal intuition would make you use much more bleach than necessary. If it smells noticeably like bleach, give it a rinse.

It seems that a lot of people have had success using a mixture of white vinegar and bleach in water as a no rinse sanitizer. Apparently, the addition of vinegar lowers the ph so that the bleach is a lot more effective as a sanitizer. I don't recall the proportions but I believe it was only like 1oz of vinegar and 1 oz of bleach in 5 gallons of water. Do not mix the vinegar and bleach together, though - that would be dangerous. There is a podcast out there with the inventor of StarSan explaining this.


Here's the link with the podcast, see March 29, 2007.

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2007

I never used to rinse either, the instructions I had at the time 15 years ago said it was unnecessary. But now I do, using cold water. I figure it's the same water that is going into the fermenter on my partial boils so how could it hurt. If the water is bad, the whole batch would be bad anyway.

Once the alcohol has formed it will kill much of the bacteria left on any surface from rinsing when doing the bottling. Again, though, I haven't had any problem with my water anyway. NYC tap water is the best!

Bleach in the correct concentration is a no-rinse sanitizer; 1tbsp / gallon. Make sure you get the unscented kind.

On a side note, ingesting small amounts of bleach won't kill you. In fact it is a super cheap way to chemically treat drinking water when camping.