Best way to sanatize secondary (glass carboy)

[silv3rbull3t]

Im going to transfer my first brew into my secondary today. Im about paranoid about infection. When i first cooled my wort i stuck my hands in the pot to get the thermometer a few times so i think i might allready be on the wrong track

Anyhow i have some bleach, and some 5 star sanatizer left. What about soaking the carboy in 1/2 cup of bleech and adding 5 star, then rinsing?

Excuse the stupid questions and poor spelling

 

[Beerrific]

Is the 5 star stuff star san? If so just use that. Pour it into the carboy, shake to soak the inside, let it settle, repeat maybe once. It requires 30 sec contact time with the liquid or foam. DO NOT rinse. Rack onto the foam.

In the future keep some star san in a spray bottle and if you have to touch the wort spray your hands first. Of course using a sanitized spoon or something would be better.

EDIT: Of course dilute the star san to the right concentration if it is in the concentrated form.

 

[Saxmk6]

You may have contaminated the original batch by adding our hand. Not much you can do about it. Smell your primary. If it smells like rotten eggs, dump it and start over.

Holy cow..if you are going to use bleach....be prepared for an enormous amount of rinsing and cleansing........I would not use bleach at all.

My cleaner of choice is Iodine. Fill the carb with water and add just enough iodine to make it look like pee water. Let it soak a few minutes then rinse about 4-5 times completely. I then fill my carb. with water and i add some one step. Rinse one or two times and you are good to go. To this point, I have not had any contamination whatsoever. I am very maticulous about it though. I find that this process it works well, it sanitizes, and cleans exceptionally well. I know it is a step or two more than most, but I get great satisfaction in cleaning my equipment. If you dont have any one step, Oxy-clean from Wallmart works as well. You have to get the oxy-clean in the green lid. NO bleach...

Good Luck man...I hope it turns out well.

 

[King of the Swill]

I use bleach all the time. Only need a small amount (about an ounce) to clean the carboy. Just rinse it 3 times and it will be fine. When you say you stuck your hand in the wort during cooling for the thermometer, do you mean you accidentally dropped the thermometer into it and then put your hand INTO the wort to get it? If so, next time use something else (sanitized) to fish it out. Don't dump your beer if it smells funny--sometimes it does after the primary. Relax and enjoy!

 

[Orfy]

Ask 10 brewers how they clean and sanitise and I'd be suprised if you didn't get 10 answers.

Answer #3.

Oxiclean and iodine solution.

 

[Kayos]

Never bleach
+1 for Star San only w foam

 

[Poindexter]

I am in the bleach camp myself.

I agree I could do less rinsing if I used something else, but I have regular visitors with sulfite allergies... all my brews are served sulfite free.

 

[Got Trub?]

Ask 10 brewers how they clean and sanitise and I'd be suprised if you didn't get 10 answers.

Answer #3.

Oxiclean and iodine solution.

...or 11

I use bleach or Star San depending on if I have some Star San already mixed up.

There is no need to use both. All the sanitizers are effective, each has its advantages and disadvantages. I think what is more important then which one you use is to know how to use the one you have properly and consistently.

GT

 

[Mr Nick]

I use Bleach.....

I took the Plastic tap connector from a portable dish washer and connected a food safe hose to it, and put the proper adapter on my bath room sink tap.

I place the carboy in the bath tub put the bleach in the carboy and fill it with water. About half a hour later I stick the hose in the carboy and rinse away to hearts content. Does a great job.

 

[silv3rbull3t]

So i transfered my brew to the secondary. I think it's good to go so far. Didn't smell funky, it smelt like beer. Didn't taste to bad either, it resembeled the newcastle it was supposed to clone. Tasted a little bit sour, im guessing because it's still premature.

The only mistake i made that i noticed is i forgot to take off the ferment lock off the lid before i opened the lid so a little bit of the water from the ferment lock might of spilled into the beer

 

[DeathBrewer]

i use iodophor for everything. it's just what i started with and it's never done me wrong, so i've never switched

don't worry about the airlock water...nothing will probably come of it. in the future, use cheap vodka in the airlock

 

[Fingers]

My cleaner of choice is Iodine. Fill the carb with water and add just enough iodine to make it look like pee water. Let it soak a few minutes then rinse about 4-5 times completely.

Iodophor is no rinse. Are you rinsing it with unsanitized tap water? If so, you're negating the Iodophor.

 

[DeathBrewer]

i rinse mine out too, but i use my tap water for topping off and everything. i never have problems...i have good water. "no rinse" means you don't have to rinse it, but i swear that stuff leaves a taste if you don't get it all out.

 

[silv3rbull3t]

i use iodophor for everything. it's just what i started with and it's never done me wrong, so i've never switched

don't worry about the airlock water...nothing will probably come of it. in the future, use cheap vodka in the airlock

Im assuming the vodka kills any germs, so if it spills into the brew its not a big deal?

 

[SPLASTiK]

Iodophor is no rinse. Are you rinsing it with unsanitized tap water? If so, you're negating the Iodophor.

Yep. If you can actually taste it you're mixing way too strong or you're not completely draining it.

Here's a good article on a taste test done with undiluted Iodophor into samples of beer. No tester could detect iodophor even when the samples were contaminated with the equivalent of 8 teaspoons.

http://www.bayareamashers.org/content/maindocs/iodophor.htm

 

[kappclark]

Is Oxiclean ok for glass fermenter ?

How often should you use it ? I mean, if the carboy is reasonably clean after jet sprayer, does it always need a soak in oxiclean ? ?

 

[jmiracle]

OP if you use bleach I hope you're a laid back guy...my LHBS didn't have any no-rinse sanitizer and I wanted to brew, so I used bleach for everything and had myself a very paranoid rinse-and-repeat session...I kept swearing I could still smell clorine. I usually like the DIY approach to cleansers and such for household cleaning (using vinegar and baking soda for cleaning counters, etc) but I gotta get ahold of some no-rinse stuff for brewing.

 

[malkore]

a half cup of bleach is a TON.

ditch the bleach, stick to star-san...its almost foolproof in its effectiveness but allows some leeway for mistakes (like not getting every drop poured out...no big deal with star-san...but not rinsing bleach enough gives you a funked out off flavor in the beer that will NOT age out)

 

[Benny Blanco]

Speaking of bleach, for my last beer I made a stout in my primary fermenter bucket and now it has about 10 quarter-sized stains on the bottom. I soaked it in bleach for a week and it didn't do anything. Is this normal?

 

[The Soft Underbelly]

Ask 10 brewers how they clean and sanitise and I'd be suprised if you didn't get 10 answers.

No Kidding....

I'm brewing my 1st batch this evening - 5 gallon partial boil - and i have a question, okay 2...

Can i simply fill my carboy to the top with the appropriate dilution of sanitizer, wait a couple minutes and drain all this into the bucket where i'll be sanitizing the other tools - - OR -- is this overkill, should i fill the carboy partly up, swirl a few times and transfer said solution to bucket for tools

Also.... i'll be using bottled spring water (my tap water sucks) do i need to boil this before putting it in the carboy?

what are peoples thoughts on sanitation processes....

 

[zacster]

15 years ago, when I did this the first time, I used bleach. I remember reading back then to just let it air dry, and I did. I never had any problems and I couldn't detect it. I remember there were some sanitizers available, but the general wisdom was to use bleach.

Now that I've started up again I'm using bleach again. I just rinse everything after using it. My water is good, I use it straight to top off the wort without problem. Bleach is also readily available at any supermarket.

I bottled yesterday. I soaked 18 bottles at a time in my bottling bucket with bleach, rinsed using my bottle washer and let drain. The bucket was obviously bleached as well. When I poured the last pint or so from my bucket into a glass it tasted fine, no chlorine smell.

 

[Moonshae]

Ask 10 brewers how they clean and sanitise and I'd be suprised if you didn't get 10 answers.

Answer #3.

Oxiclean and iodine solution.

There is a similar saying among beekeepers..."Ask 10 beekeepers a question and you'll get 12 different answers."