Bottle Sanitizing Question...
- Thread starter evans5150
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I've used bleach for 14 years for brewing. I ALWAYS rinse with hot water. Sanitize in HOT water, Rinse with HOT water. I don't really trust no rinse with bleach and I tend to use more than the 1 teaspoon to 1 gallon solution. If the water feels slippery you have used way to much though and that is very bad and will leave a residue. A stronger solution will sanitise faster, but will need rinsing. I use a bottle washer and our hot water gets up to 145F. The hot water rinses out chlorine much better.
Personally I'd like to try idophor but it's hard to get in my local area. I forgot to ask the brewpub where I've started getting grains if he could sell me some. I'll have to remember to ask him next time I see him.
Either method if done CORRECTLY will work fine. Don't see what all the bitchin' is about.
Personally I'd like to try idophor but it's hard to get in my local area. I forgot to ask the brewpub where I've started getting grains if he could sell me some. I'll have to remember to ask him next time I see him.
Either method if done CORRECTLY will work fine. Don't see what all the bitchin' is about.
Denny's Brew said:
I made a simple comment, and everyone gets insulted like a bunch of woman. I have used bleach too, but after a couple of batches that i rinsed out about 4 or 5 times, i had the bleach leach through. I made the comment that real brewers dont use bleach. What i meant was that you will never find bleach in any brewery or winery and thats for a reason. You try to teach people the right way and they get all sensitive like its a personal attack. If people are this sensitive about there homebrewing then maybe they need to seek A.A. Its suppose to be a hobby. Your right I dont see what all the bitchin is about. I use the idophor and its wonderful. Just a tip, if you get star san phosphoric acid sanitizer, it leaves a film of sanitizer on your equipment so you dont have to sanitize on brew day. I sanitize my bottles and equipment with it and dont have to sanitize on brew day, and not even bottling day. Just a quick rinse with some water and your ready to go.
loopmd
Well-Known Member
usmcruz said:
Just a reminder, you are the one who started this off with a personal attack. It would have been wonderful if originally you would have made the comment "you would never find bleach in any brewery or winery". That's a good, constructive comment. Don't know if it's true, but it's a good comment. Just no need for comments like "your not a true brewer...."
As for everyone's I.Q. and taking an insult like a woman, well, when you become a member of MENSA, then we'll talk. Until then, Semper Fi!
loop
tnlandsailor
Well-Known Member
Boy, did I get in on this late. Sounds like you all are having quite a good time. Insults and trash talk and flaming, oh my.
If I was a beginning brewer, and someone told me (calmly), that I could use bleach as a sanitizer, but that I would have to rinse it several times to reduce the smell, or, I could use Iodophor (or Starsan or whatever) and not rinse at all, I never would have used bleach as a sanitizer, ever. No rinse sanitizers are effective, fairly cheap (no, not as cheap as bleach, but we're talking pennies here), a huge time saver, and a real plus on the contamination reduction part of brewing. There can't be any argument about rinsing after using bleach. I don't even like the smell after rinsing with tap water because of the chlorine content. Plus, your rinse water is definitely not sanitary, so rinsing does seem to be a bit counter productive. Do people get away with it? Of course, otherwise no one would be using bleach. But why not take prudent steps to eliminate every variable that you can, plus save time? No rinse, baby, the only way to go.
If I was a beginning brewer, and someone told me (calmly), that I could use bleach as a sanitizer, but that I would have to rinse it several times to reduce the smell, or, I could use Iodophor (or Starsan or whatever) and not rinse at all, I never would have used bleach as a sanitizer, ever. No rinse sanitizers are effective, fairly cheap (no, not as cheap as bleach, but we're talking pennies here), a huge time saver, and a real plus on the contamination reduction part of brewing. There can't be any argument about rinsing after using bleach. I don't even like the smell after rinsing with tap water because of the chlorine content. Plus, your rinse water is definitely not sanitary, so rinsing does seem to be a bit counter productive. Do people get away with it? Of course, otherwise no one would be using bleach. But why not take prudent steps to eliminate every variable that you can, plus save time? No rinse, baby, the only way to go.
loopmd said:
Thats great, leave the killing to me, and you could bash somebody with some your long drawn out words that makes you feel smart and everyone else tired.
Become a member at my club first
UNITED STATES MARINE CORP
Until then dont say semper fi, when you dont mean it, and havent earned the right to say it let alone type it. You may be smarter than me and a member of mensa the top 2 % of high I.Q. scores, but i would whip your ***. So if thats all you got to say to me then lets squash it. Im here to teach and learn not to get into some pissing contest with you or anyone else. I apologize if i offended you, but there are ways of talking to people without starting an argument. PM me if you need to directly solve something, and I will be more than happy to obligue. You see in the corp we usually take the problems to the tree line, and later on were drinking together. This is how it is, so i consider us drinking right now. get it
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Does star san stain or discolor if splashed on clothing?
I'm guessing idophor will stain?
I'm brewing in a basement suite with a rather small kitchen and tend to splash sanitizer by accident on things.
Have to boil outrside in the friggen cold since the smell of boiling wort bothers upstairs. One of these days I'll have my own brewing room...
I'm guessing idophor will stain?
I'm brewing in a basement suite with a rather small kitchen and tend to splash sanitizer by accident on things.
Have to boil outrside in the friggen cold since the smell of boiling wort bothers upstairs. One of these days I'll have my own brewing room...
Denny's Brew said:
Yes idophor will stain hands and clothing and the star san will mess up clothes. It will actually eat holes in clothes, but its a food grade phosphoric acid. If you got it on your clothes wash immediatly and no harm will be done. I feel ya bro, i had to brew in a small 1 bedroom apartment, but luckily the people upstairs were heavy drinkers so they said it was like potpourrii to them.lol I have to brew outside as well at my new place here in guam. My wife hates beer, but i will turn her one of these day's
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
Denny's Brew said:
it sure will. stained many a good brew-t w/ iodaphor spalshing all over the place. my wife told me i look like a 2 yr old in a wash tube w/ that stuff
tnlandsailor said:
hey brother, where in knoxville tn do you live. My uncle was working with the tennessee vol. His name is mike curcio, do you know him. He played arena ball for tennessee and his wife cindy was cheerleading for them. Plus he would really like to try some homebrew. He doesnt believe me that its the best beer out there.
tnlandsailor
Well-Known Member
I don't know him, but then again, I don't get out much. I live outside of Farragut. Have him drop me an e-mail, my taps are always open.
Genghis77
Well-Known Member
I visited the Sam Adams website. Under home brewing he advocates using bleach as a sanitizer........ or is he just trying to be misleading? I think the issue of using bleach gets about a 50/50 split. Are there better things to use? Yes. But some people are set in their ways and are unlikely to change. If something works or you, stick with it. Personally, I like all the home brews I ever tried, and techniques were widely varied.
SteveM
Well-Known Member
There is one other point that really has to be addressed from the original post. I am amazed that in five pages of discussion it was overlooked.
Forty eight bottles? Dude! Buy a couple of six packs of something good and drain those puppies (and I don't mean down the sink!). You are likely to need about fifty six bottles (plus or minus a few), and there is nothing more painful than running out of bottles before you run out of beer to go in 'em.
Forty eight bottles? Dude! Buy a couple of six packs of something good and drain those puppies (and I don't mean down the sink!). You are likely to need about fifty six bottles (plus or minus a few), and there is nothing more painful than running out of bottles before you run out of beer to go in 'em.
Yeah, I went scouring through the house when I first brewed looking for pop bottles to quickly sanitise and use since I was about a six pack short, ended up putting it into a 2 L pop bottle. I learned quick. I was brewing 5gal Can so that about 6 or 6.5gal US and hadn't realized that at the time. I assumed it was a 5gal us carboy.
I used to call them "canadian sized" carboys. haha
I told our British neighbor (who was a HB'er) that the 2 L bottle was a Canadian sized beer.
I used to call them "canadian sized" carboys. haha
I told our British neighbor (who was a HB'er) that the 2 L bottle was a Canadian sized beer.
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
it's tuff. all the sacrifices we make so our homebrews will have a nice little tinted home ! :~)
SteveM
Well-Known Member
DeRoux's Broux said:
It is the necessary sacrifices - like downing a couple of sixers of quality microbrews - that truly separate the Master Brewer from the dilettantes and pretenders! It is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the sake of my art! :cross:
Catfish
Art by David Shrigley
pretty much that is all that needed to be said a while ago.evans5150 said:
I love beer too.
Rhoobarb
Well-Known Member
Man, I got in on this too late, too! Well, this topic has been done to death before - but not to this level of fever pitch! Yee-haw!
Well, here's what had been doing for nine years now: I soaked them in the bleach/water dilution El Pisto mentioned, then rinsed the hell out of them in hot water. The night before, I loaded them in the dishwasher and ran them without any soap whatsoever.
Now, here's where things differ: During the last year or so I have skipped bottle 'sanitation' with any kind of chemical or cleanser altogether. I now only bleach soak and scrub bottles that have been donated or are of unknown origin.
Now, when I open a bottle of commercial or homebrew and pour it into a glass I immediately rinse the bottles thoroughly three times with hot tap water and air dry it upside down, then store it. I run them through the DW the night before bottling, same as before. And, so far, it works!
My way is the way it should be done - I am right and the rest of you are wrong - all wrong! Bwaa-ha-ha-ha-haaa!:cross:
Well, this topic has been done to death before - but not to this level of fever pitch! Yee-haw!Well, here's what had been doing for nine years now: I soaked them in the bleach/water dilution El Pisto mentioned, then rinsed the hell out of them in hot water. The night before, I loaded them in the dishwasher and ran them without any soap whatsoever.
Now, here's where things differ: During the last year or so I have skipped bottle 'sanitation' with any kind of chemical or cleanser altogether. I now only bleach soak and scrub bottles that have been donated or are of unknown origin.
Now, when I open a bottle of commercial or homebrew and pour it into a glass I immediately rinse the bottles thoroughly three times with hot tap water and air dry it upside down, then store it. I run them through the DW the night before bottling, same as before. And, so far, it works!
My way is the way it should be done - I am right and the rest of you are wrong - all wrong! Bwaa-ha-ha-ha-haaa!:cross:
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
Rhoobarb said:My way is the way it should be done - I am right and the rest of you are wrong - all wrong! Bwaa-ha-ha-ha-haaa!:cross:
oh yea!?!?!? well i do it this way and it's the shhhiizzzz-nit!
I tired roobarb's method 4 times. Last two times both had 1 bottle with sumthin wierd growing on the bottom. Fist contminated bottles I've ever had.
Those 2 times I put though the last was cycle (where the second soap chamber clicks open) with no soap and used the hot sani dry cycle.
Those 2 times I put though the last was cycle (where the second soap chamber clicks open) with no soap and used the hot sani dry cycle.
SteveM said:
SteveM,
I was actually ahead of MYSELF on this one!! I buy quite a bit of Stone Brewing Company and Rogue Beer...so I have about 10 twenty-two ounce bottles sitting around waiting to be cleaned and sanitized. They have the painted on labels so I will never get those off...but it's a start in case I am short on bottles. Thanks for the heads up though!
evans5150
Genghis77
Well-Known Member
I won't use iodine. Real or imagined, I get a taste if I use it. I suppose the same could result in any of the methods of sanatizing. No one has to stick to particular rules. Heck we all got into this because we didn't like the swill on the shelf and wanted something different. We all experiment at our own rates and create our own. By whatever methods, the proof in what works is its result.
Passload
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Well what way?DeRoux's Broux said:oh yea!?!?!? well i do it this way and it's the shhhiizzzz-nit!
I like cleaning mine with gasoline. Gives it that nice petrol flavor. Seems to leave an oily residue though.
No REAL BREWER uses gasoline . . . . unless they light it afterwards
Yeah I know a kinda late poke in the eye but it was my first chance:cross:
I used to light it on fire, but the bottles blew up.
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
Passload said:
just be'n a smart a**
Just flicked through the post and noticed some of you have a real downer when it comes to using bleach.
It has served the homebrew trade well for many years but it must be proper 'thin' bleach, unsented and with no agents that make it cling to surfaces. Fortunately this stuff is easy to find, certainly here in the UK as it is usualy labled as thin bleach and if not its the stuff that costs around 15p per litre in the plain bottles.
Who ever said brewerys dont use bleach was wrong, not entirely but pretty much wrong. A common cleaning and sanitising routine would be to clean the 'big stuff' with peracetic acid which fortunately doesnt need rinsing and all the little stuff like jugs, funnels, sample points, pipe work etc will be kept in a no rinse solution (120ppm) of Sodium Hypochlorite...BLEACH. (incidently the sample points are made from stainless steel but the dilution isnt enough to adversley effect them, not within a reasonable tme frame anyway)
If anyone is interested 120ppm equates to 1/2 tsp per litre. Here's a link to a brewery near me that uses it...note the awards section...if bleach does effect your beer, it would seem it was for the best.HOPBACK BREWERY/
It has served the homebrew trade well for many years but it must be proper 'thin' bleach, unsented and with no agents that make it cling to surfaces. Fortunately this stuff is easy to find, certainly here in the UK as it is usualy labled as thin bleach and if not its the stuff that costs around 15p per litre in the plain bottles.
Who ever said brewerys dont use bleach was wrong, not entirely but pretty much wrong. A common cleaning and sanitising routine would be to clean the 'big stuff' with peracetic acid which fortunately doesnt need rinsing and all the little stuff like jugs, funnels, sample points, pipe work etc will be kept in a no rinse solution (120ppm) of Sodium Hypochlorite...BLEACH. (incidently the sample points are made from stainless steel but the dilution isnt enough to adversley effect them, not within a reasonable tme frame anyway)
If anyone is interested 120ppm equates to 1/2 tsp per litre. Here's a link to a brewery near me that uses it...note the awards section...if bleach does effect your beer, it would seem it was for the best.HOPBACK BREWERY/
Semper Fi is going to come back here and get you, you know.
