wafflesbr0wn
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How much should I use in a 6.5 primary and, how long should it soak?
Hey waffles, I typically use one scoop for about 6 gallons of water. Generally I let it sit until the gunk on the sides has dissolved. I use the Scoop that comes in the container of oxy clean. Has always worked for me and I rinse extremely well with hot water.
some people take sanitation too seriously. be clean, sanitize, but let's not go overboard. i don't do all your extra steps and i don't get infections either. star-san alone gets the job done, all this triple-washing and double-rinsing is a bit much IMO. disinfecting your hands then putting them in gloves? those extra steps don't get you much (certainly not enough to justify them - again IMO), just one or the other would suffice. aerate well & pitch properly and the yeast will take over before anything else has a chance. alcohol is a great disinfectant, too.People take sanitation too lightly. If you dont want your tattoo parlor taking his needles from your sanitation to inject you, then you dont want to introduce that to your wort/beer. Your wort/beer is a culture medium just waiting to grow an infection. You need to think like a lab. You want your beer to flourish with the innoculated controlled yeast infection you give it, but no other. I know I take extra steps, but I dont get infections in my brew.
barneygumble has quite a sanitary operation going on!!
barneygumble said:Yes I do. lol.
When I first got into brewing, I lost at least half my batches to infection. I endend up stopping for a short time until I found one of the first LHBS in the area. Full of info and stressed sanitation. He's the one who said to me back then, "think of your beer as a petri dish in a lab. To get proper results you need to eliminate and control all variables. You want to grow just the one infection you give your petri dish". Having worked in a lab, I knew just what to do. Twenty years later and the only "infection" I've ever gotten is sitting in secondary right now on 9 lbs of raspberries. These too, are infections I want to give my brew.
some people take sanitation too seriously. be clean, sanitize, but let's not go overboard. i don't do all your extra steps and i don't get infections either. star-san alone gets the job done, all this triple-washing and double-rinsing is a bit much IMO. disinfecting your hands then putting them in gloves? those extra steps don't get you much (certainly not enough to justify them - again IMO), just one or the other would suffice. aerate well & pitch properly and the yeast will take over before anything else has a chance. alcohol is a great disinfectant, too.
just wanted to offer a slightly different take - YMMV
Whatever works for you but I don't go any where near that extent and have never had an infected beer and I've brewed somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 gallons. If it works for you, cool, but let's not give everyone the idea that they need to be surgically sterile to brew beer.
Cheers!
If I had to do all of those steps, I would quit homebrewing.
barneygumble said:Lol.
I know I sanitize more than most, but not much more than you should. Wash, cleanse, sanitize. No biggie. Rinses are to remove the cleaners. As far as gloving up, I'll say it again, and throw this out to every woman on this board. Look at those fingernails, and really think where they've been. I dont wanna drink beer from any guy who doesn't glove up.
Ladies, how far off am I here? lol.
barneygumble said:OK, lets hear your process then. Its brew day. You pull a fermenter, airlock, possible stopper, chiller( which I just wash and rinse, the 15 mins of boil time is good there), possible autosiphon for those who dont have a brew kettle, and tubing, etc outta the closet. Been sittin in there for a while or not...go.
Oh I want you to think how many times the stuff you handle comes in contact with the wort. How do you prepare your hands to touch the stuff that touches your wort?
my general technique is that i have a 3-gallon batch of star-san solution sitting on my work surface, and anything that is going to touch the wort gets dunked in there first. if i remove a stopper i might put it down on my unsanitized counter-top momentarily, but it will spend 5-10 seconds in the star-san solution before it is put back on the carboy. auto-siphon gets dunked in the solution and some solution gets pumped though it before it touched any beer. during all this dunking my hands go into the drink too. and that's it. yes there is dirty gunk under my fingernails but if the dunking and soaking in star-san hasn't dislodged it, it is unlikely that it will in the split-second that my hand is over the carboy opening.OK, lets hear your process then. Its brew day. You pull a fermenter, airlock, possible stopper, chiller( which I just wash and rinse, the 15 mins of boil time is good there), possible autosiphon for those who dont have a brew kettle, and tubing, etc outta the closet. Been sittin in there for a while or not...go.
Oh I want you to think how many times the stuff you handle comes in contact with the wort. How do you prepare your hands to touch the stuff that touches your wort?
my general technique is that i have a 3-gallon batch of star-san solution sitting on my work surface, and anything that is going to touch the wort gets dunked in there first. if i remove a stopper i might put it down on my unsanitized counter-top momentarily, but it will spend 5-10 seconds in the star-san solution before it is put back on the carboy. auto-siphon gets dunked in the solution and some solution gets pumped though it before it touched any beer. during all this dunking my hands go into the drink too. and that's it. yes there is dirty gunk under my fingernails but if the dunking and soaking in star-san hasn't dislodged it, it is unlikely that it will in the split-second that my hand is over the carboy opening.
am i perfectly sterile? nope. am i sanitary enough? yup. have i mentioned that using this "less-than-surgical" approach, my infection rate has been 0.0000%?
p.s. i see a pattern emerging here...
I didn't mention that I clean and sanitize all the equipment before I put it away. Anything used for yeast propagation or storage is sterilized in the autoclave.
The guy at the sammich shop doesn't make my beer. My personal immune system is a finely tuned machine.
barneygumble said:My nails are trimmed and I wash them as well. The gloves are as much psychological as necessary. As long as you soak them like you do. Most dont. And most just spritz the fermenter with star san, wipe it with a paper towel and think they are set to go.
barneygumble said:But think of this. You are at the sandwich shop and the guy making your sammich isn't wearing those disposable plastic gloves. He just cashed someone else out and went right to your sammich. Yum.
barneygumble said:Whatever.
I've been doing this a while. I have my process. It works for me. My first post stated I take more steps than others.
The big message I see here by this pile on is "lets tell the new brewers that sanitation is a passing thought, a half hearted measure that shouldn't really take any time or effort or worry".
wow - very well said. that should be made into a poster and handed out to every new brewer!All new brewers should remember this tho.
Sanitation
Aeration
Pitch Rate
Fermentation Temp Control
Patience
The more you pay attention to these 5 basic things the better your beer will be.
yup, you've got your process and it works for you. you make good beerWhatever.
I've been doing this a while. I have my process. It works for me. My first post stated I take more steps than others.
The big message I see here by this pile on is "lets tell the new brewers that sanitation is a passing thought, a half hearted measure that shouldn't really take any time or effort or worry".
very well said. that should be made into a poster and handed out to every new brewer!All new brewers should remember this tho.
Sanitation
Aeration
Pitch Rate
Fermentation Temp Control
Patience
The more you pay attention to these 5 basic things the better your beer will be.
Whatever.
I've been doing this a while. I have my process. It works for me. My first post stated I take more steps than others.
The big message I see here by this pile on is "lets tell the new brewers that sanitation is a passing thought, a half hearted measure that shouldn't really take any time or effort or worry".
I brew outside, and don't even sanatize the deck or the nearby trees or anything. Beer is NOT like a petri dish, unless you boil your petri dish then inject alcohol in it, killing 99.999999% of all germs and human pathogens. Also, your brew environment DOES NOT have to be "like a lab" to avoid infections. Basic cleanliness and sanitation is all it takes.
I would venture to say 9 times out of 10, brewers who get infections in their beer come from improperly cleaned ball valves, bottling spigots, keg posts, plate chillers, pumps, etc. that are overlooked during basic cleaning and sanitation. It's just not enough to run some cleaner through those guys, you have to open them up and give em a scrub. It's those nooks and crannys that'll get ya.
Anyway, just my rant. Infections are HARD to get, and usually a result of pretty blatant brewer error, even if they can't remember where they screwed up.
It's a pet peave of mine all the brewers on this site that give the impression that every brew is an infection waiting to happen. You scare off the newbies!
WooHokie said:I use 1 scoop per 1 gallon which is what the recommended ratio is on the back of the tub. Wondering now if I've been using too much.
Also, I don't use oxy clean after every batch. I only use it if it was a really nasty batch. I have had no issues with rinsing the buckets with super hot water then using lots of Star San before my next brew session.
for de-labeling, the more you add the faster it'll work and the longer you can re-use the same solution. i don't use a set amount... i use a generous half scoop per 3 gallons, more or less. if the stuff doesn't dilute and ends up powdery at the bottom of the water after mixing then i'd added too much and i'll dilute. i don't feel there is a need to be very scientific about it.So how much oxyclean per gallon of water? De labeling bottles this weekend.
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