Brewing my first batch in Pakistan. Need sanitization help

[hussain182]

Hi All,

So I am ready to brew my first ever batch in a country where alcohol is banned so home brewing supplies are a bit tricky to obtain.
Still, managed to source most equipment and ingredients. Planning to use a water 5 gallon water cooler bottle as a fermenter. Also managed to bring a recipe kit for wheat ale in my luggage. Only problem is that they took away my star san at the aiport .

The other alternative Iodophor is also hard to find here (though still trying)

So after a bit of research Ive narrowed down my options to these two alternatives.
-Bleach and Vinegar sanitizer
-Povidone-Iodone (Betadine) 10%

Would really like some input about which of these two would be a better to use as a sanitizer and the pros/cons of each. Also would there be a need to rinse both of these? And what concentrations to use.

Any other options i may have missed?

Thanks

 

[passedpawn]

There must be some sanitizers that are used by local butchers etc for sanitizing surfaces. Ask there.

 

[RM-MN]

Boiling water works worldwide, no restrictions, and no rinsing necessary. Make sure it touches all surfaces for at least 2 seconds.

 

[magno]

I'd research the bleach or betadine options... I've used both in the past without issue. But I second passedpawn... whatever the local food service folks are using will work for your purposes too.

Did they offer a reason for confiscating the Star San?

Best of luck!

 

[hoffmeister]

Boiling water alone will work, but in my early days I always used a bleach solution because it was cheap, effective and readily available. I would dilute 2 oz. bleach in 5 gallons of water (or scale down as needed), and rinse everything thoroughly with hot water. You'll be able to smell if there are still traces of bleach on any of your equipment. Best of luck with the brew!

 

[hussain182]

Did they offer a reason for confiscating the Star San?

Best of luck!

The person just kept pointing to the sticker with the corrosive/hazardous material warning. Was eyeing all of my other supplies suspiciously, like malt extract, auto-siphon etc. The unlabelled packets of priming sugar that came with the recipe kit didnt help much either .
So i kinda gave up the star san to save everything else. Didnt argue much. Also mistakenly picked up a bigger bottle of Star San. Maybe a smaller one wouldve slipped through unnoticed.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Bleach works great for non-porous materials. I still use bleach for my glass carboys. I'd be careful with the concentration when using it on plastic, you don't want residual bleach smell to taint the plastic. You will need to rinse. If your water is safe to drink, it will already contain a trace amount of clorine.

MC

 

[Gravity]

I've been using betadine for the last 3-4 months/couple of batches, as starsan has been hard to come by - and its worked really well. You can search the forum for quantities but usually I use about a tablespoon or so per liter
Its good for cleaning fermentors etc...swirl it around and let it touch all surfaces for it to work. Its meant to be no-rinse. If using plastic, betadine has been known to stain plastic.

I avoid using bleach whenever possible - just a matter of preference.

 

[LTBrewer]

In your situation, bleach, rinsed with boiled, not necessary boiling water. It will do everything you need it it to do and probably don't need to look for it.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I avoid using bleach whenever possible - just a matter of preference.

That's fine, but in the OP's situation, it's not a matter of preference, but a matter of availability...

MC

 

[hussain182]

Update: So I found this Iodophor disinfectant from some veterinary suppliers.
Can anyone tell me if this is the same as the Iodophor sanitizer used for home brewing. And would this be a better option than the bleach etc

.

Appreciate all the wonderful replies so far. Thrilled to be part of this great community

 

[charlesbrewer]

Actually modern brewers gets too crazy about chemical sanitizing. Just make sure that you have boil water rinse your metal equipment and then have your brew environment clean, no damp & no mole. Your fermentor can similarly get away by soap cleaning and rinse by boiled water.

 

[macbrak]

I’m pretty sure iodine use in brewing was borrowed from dairy industry so I can’t see why not. I’d also say bleach solutions are a good idea and that’s what I did before star San.

Update: So I found this Iodophor disinfectant from some veterinary suppliers.
Can anyone tell me if this is the same as the Iodophor sanitizer used for home brewing. And would this be a better option than the bleach etc

.
View attachment 708900

Appreciate all the wonderful replies so far. Thrilled to be part of this great community

 

[macbrak]

Iodophor not iodine

 

[Calder]

Use bleach. It is not a problem. Make sure you keep everything clean, and use bleach at a rate of a couple of ozs per gallon (research Clorox site for concentration). Soak equipment for 5 to 30 minutes, and rinse with hot water. If you trust the water from the tap, use it straight from the tap, otherwise boil. Rinse several times with a small amount of water rather than once with a lot of water.

When I first started (a long time ago), bleach was all that was available, and worked fine.

 

[IslandLizard]

Use bleach

If you can get Iodine sanitizer (Iodophor, Povidone, etc.), I'd use that at the right no-rinse dilution, over chlorine (bleach).* You don't need to make large buckets full to submerge everything, a small, 2-3 liter container of it is plenty, and a wash cloth can be used to mop sides of vessels, lids, tools, etc. Small parts or tubing are best submerged or filled, and left for a minute or 2 (or longer) before draining.

An Iodine sanitizer working solution is only potent for about 12-24 hours, keep that in mind.

* Even the small amount of chlorine added to (municipal) drinking water (to keep it sanitary during distribution), can play havoc with your beer as it creates chlorophenols. Using a Campden tablet will remove it, in very short time.
If you can taste chlorine or you know it's in your brewing water, you should remove it with Campden before use.

 

[magno]

It looks to me like the iodophor that you were able to locate out there will work...

I would use this over bleach.

 

[Rickdude]

Definitely go with the iodine based product. Bleach presents issues with rinsing and can significantly impact your beer if not rinsed thoroughly. It also can degrade your equipment depending on what the pieces are made of. Certain food contact surfaces can become porous and present sanitation issues over time if they are cleaned with bleach.

You will certainly need to dilute the iodine sanitizer (it's not necessarily an "iodophor"). To determine how much, look at the active concentration (should be on the label). You want between 12.5 and 25ppm iodine, and sticking closer to the 12.5ppm level will slow down the rate at which it will stain your plastic (more on iodine use below). The reason why I'm not saying to just stick to the label instructions is because different levels are proscribed for different uses. Your use is for pre-cleaned food contact surfaces and I don't see that on the label shot.

1% = 10,000ppm, so you can use that conversion factor to figure out the needed dilution. As an example:

2.5% Active iodine (2.5% * 10,000ppm) = 25,000ppm
1 gram to 1 liter water (which is 1000 grams water) -- 1*25,000/1000 = 25ppm
or
0.5 gram to 1 liter water -- 0.5*25,000/1000 = 12.5 ppm

(Not meaning to insult your intelligence, just trying to be thorough)

Some general things about iodine sanitizers are that they will stain plastic. At 12.5ppm it will be less of an issue, but it will still stain it. You can minimize that staining by using the lower dilution and also keeping your contact time to 30 seconds. I'm not saying that you should rinse, I'm just saying that if you are soaking hoses, filling buckets and so forth, just take out the items and/or drain at that point.

When your plastic does get stained, that is not "residual iodine" that will remain biocidal. The point of the iodine sanitizers is to use "free iodine" and stains certainly fit in the realm of bound iodine!

Good luck and let us know how your batch goes!!

Rick

 

[Gravity]

That's fine, but in the OP's situation, it's not a matter of preference, but a matter of availability...

MC

I read the post as the betadine being among one of his options, along with bleach and vinegar. All the suggestions given would work — but for sure, one should go with whats available - boiled water, bleach...etc...

 

[kiwipen]

Can a water cooler bottle handle boiling water?

Can you get punished if the local authorities learn what you are doing?

 

[jrgtr42]

I'd go with the bleach solution. Boiling works great too, but I don't know about how the plastic jugs would handle those temps.
I used bleach for a long time myself, and it worked fine. Like others said, a couple ox per 5 gallons water, and make sure you rinse well.

 

[stealthfixr]

"A friend of mine" quietly brewed in Islamabad years ago and used Bleach. StarSan is much quicker and easier.

Used an AL pot from a local market (F7?) and brewed on the stovetop, fermented in a 6.5gal brew bucket, chilled in the otherwise empty freezer for 2 hours with sanitized/frozen water bottles added. A supply shop like Midwest Supplies didn't scream "BEER" on the packaging. Dry yeast only, and Kveik yeast in the summer there would be a fantastic option. In the houses that have a downstairs with an AC unit, the 'ambient' temps can easily be held at 70F or below (when power is on).