UV sanitation

Has anyone used uv for sanitation with out any other sanitation measures?

UV would skunk the hops in wort but otherwise that's an interesting idea for other part of the brewery.

i was just thinking to use it on equipment pots, paddels, hose's, kegs, carboys, bottles, etc. but i havent found any one that has used it for this.

Works on toothbrushes, furnace filter applications so it would probably work if you had enough light and knew how long to use it for. That being said, I like using Iodine or StarSan as it also acts as a final rinse in case some stray Oxyclean stuck to the walls of my fermenter or kegs.

UV doesnt kill anything. I makes all the nasties the same sex so they cant reproduce. Not sure if it would work for us or not but i will ask my chemist.

HillbillyDeluxe said:

UV doesnt kill anything. I makes all the nasties the same sex so they cant reproduce. Not sure if it would work for us or not but i will ask my chemist.

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Not sure where you're getting your info, but the nasties we're concerned about don't have gender and reproduce asexually. Not to mention that UV would definitely be an effective bacteria/mold killer, but we use a lot of plastics and those don't like intense UV light. If everything you have is metal then it would be more feasible, but I just don't see UV being practical for the home brewer over conventional methods.

Ill get more info tomorrow(I'm curious too). I have one of these units at work. We use it to sterilize biologics in water prior to a reverse osmossis unit. The manual explains its function the way i did previously. I have experience with the unit but i'm not an expert. i do however have a chemist, a chemical engineer and 2 marine biologist i can get more info from.

UV sanitizers work by effing up the microorganism's DNA.

Check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_water_disinfection

uncia said:

UV sanitizers work by effing up the microorganism's DNA.

Check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_water_disinfection

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Aye, UV is more energetic than visible light and can bum out DNA, hence skin cancer.

i use all glass of stainless equipment. But i can see the problem with uv and plastic . looking foward to some insight from everyone.

I would certainly not us UV on post-boil wort/beer, that would be pure brewicide by skunking. You could use it on your water, but you've got to boil that anyway so it's kind of moot as the boil will 99.9% of the time kill off everything nasty. So that leaves equipment, and again you don't want to use UV on plastics and using it on anything with creases, cracks, crevices, and strange shapes will make it very difficult to completely cover with the UV light. You'd also need a chamber to put the equipment in that will keep the UV in (and away from you) and not fall apart from UV damage after a while.

I had a UV unit for my reef aquarium. It seemed to work. I could see hanging it in a fermenter before transferring wort, but then it there was a shadow, you'd have no protection.

Interesting that UV would not be good for plastic, of course all my toothbrushes are plastic and the majority of the sanitizing system for toothbrushes is made of plastic and so far nothing has blown up or melted so I am not sure where the UV no good for plastic comes into the picture.

samc said:

Interesting that UV would not be good for plastic, of course all my toothbrushes are plastic and the majority of the sanitizing system for toothbrushes is made of plastic and so far nothing has blown up or melted so I am not sure where the UV no good for plastic comes into the picture.

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OK, not all plastics will breakdown quickly, but the HDPE buckets and vinyl tubing we use would likely not stand up to prolonged UV exposure. I've seen many a pipette tip box crumble into dust after being left for a long time in UV light.

Hi,

If you find a piece of plastic outside that is discoloured and brittle, that is due to UV radiation.

Also true, it will cause cancer and it will damage your eyes,...

Then I had an idea. I am currently converting a dishwasher for brew cleaning and sterilization. (see my profile) If you put a UV light inside the dishwasher after cleaning you would ensure an even exposere due to the reflective sides, and you would shield everyone around you

just an idea,...

Dishwashers have reflective surfaces in them now? Mine is ghetto then

I posed the question to the big brains at work, they are trying to get us some answers.