Making your own Pasteurizing system

[Archer]

This may be a dumb idea, but here goes.... Has any one tried making their own pasteurizing system (other than the stove top system or using a dish washer) ? I was thinking about using a tankless water heater or something similar that I could run the cider through for a moment that would do the job. Any other ideas? If its only passing through something for a a second, how hot does it have to get?

 

[Randzor]

Someone made a metal dome one here on the forums

 

[schwiz]

I was thinking about just using a sous vide machine, seems perfect for the job as its designed to bring a pot of water to a specific temp very precisely. You can set it to 140* and put your bottles in and forget it. There is a kickstarter for a $200 machine (before they were $700+) the guy who did the kickstarter got his start by releasing a schematic to the maker community, so if you are the type to want to build your own you could look up his schematic. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seattlefoodgeek/sansaire-sous-vide-circulator-for-199

 

[ericbw]

This may be a dumb idea, but here goes.... Has any one tried making their own pasteurizing system (other than the stove top system or using a dish washer) ? I was thinking about using a tankless water heater or something similar that I could run the cider through for a moment that would do the job. Any other ideas? If its only passing through something for a a second, how hot does it have to get?

145 degrees for 30 minutes
161 degrees for 15 seconds
191 for 1 second

And that means that the temp of the liquid, which would have to heat up to that point, too. Not sure how your system would move the liquid. We've had luck with vat pasteurizing (in a pot), although others say you'll oxidize the cider.

 

[HopSong]

I have no idea how it would work.. but, UV sterilization comes to mind. A long glass tube surrounded by a reflector and a large UV lamp/tube????

 

[schwiz]

I have no idea how it would work.. but, UV sterilization comes to mind. A long glass tube surrounded by a reflector and a large UV lamp/tube????

Pretty good idea, you can buy UV LED lights, the ones at the frequency that can kill bacteria aren't as easy to find since they can damage your eyes and give you cancer but they are for sale.

 

[ACbrewer]

I have no idea how it would work.. but, UV sterilization comes to mind. A long glass tube surrounded by a reflector and a large UV lamp/tube????

Pretty good idea, you can buy UV LED lights, the ones at the frequency that can kill bacteria aren't as easy to find since they can damage your eyes and give you cancer but they are for sale.

Have to make sure you cider bottles are UV transparent. Just because glass is clear in the visual range, doesn't mean it is at the UV ranges, In fact I know that clear glass is opaque to most non visual light. That being said. UV would be a cool way to go.

 

[ericbw]

Have to make sure you cider bottles are UV transparent. Just because glass is clear in the visual range, doesn't mean it is at the UV ranges, In fact I know that clear glass is opaque to most non visual light. That being said. UV would be a cool way to go.

If that's the case, why does everyone say that beer will skunk in clear bottles? Maybe it's visible light that makes it skunk?

 

[HopSong]

I was thinking of transferring the cider to the bucket for back sweetening.. then bottling. I know there are UV setups for fish tanks to kill organisms that are harmful to fish. Have to check YouTube for a DIY. But, I also need to Google this to see if it would work on yeast.

 

[5WTFLYBUM]

I have been thinking of this very topic and was going to set up a tank that would allow the cider to travel through a tubing or pipe and pass through a uv sterilizer like I use for my salt water reef tank. it could easily work off of gravity and travel into a bottling bucket or other container like strait into a bottle. They are made to not heat the water much and to kill microbials. You just have to be very careful not to look at the lit light. They can cause eye damage. They are intended for salt water use so fairly corrosive safe, I, think. The current one I am using has run for three years constant. Though I have changed the light bulb once. Do not touch those bulbs, they will explode when lit if you do! Also probably should look for one that the liquid doesn't touch the bulb... just in case.

Just my thoughts.

 

[5WTFLYBUM]

Also with some uv sterilizers you can run the exposed light out of the housing that you could place in a ??? maybe cooler with bottled cider/beer to do the job depending on the bottles. Remember the brown and other colored bottles do decrease the amount of uv exposure if I understand right. Probably wouldn't work well with those fancy stainless bottles either Ha Ha

 

[schwiz]

I still say this is the way to go, look at the size of the tub they put the chicken in. Should be able to do an entire batch of bottles at once with no supervision.

 

[HornetSparky]

Slowly making this sous vide machine right now: http://makezine.com/projects/Sous-Vide-Immersion-Cooker/. I am going to use jimmay's TeensyPi controller for versatility and greater goober points. I will post the results of my efforts.

 

[5WTFLYBUM]

Okay I get it now Sorry my brain was not working. I was not getting that you were talking about a submersion heater. That is a really good idea.

 

[schwiz]

Slowly making this sous vide machine right now: http://makezine.com/projects/Sous-Vide-Immersion-Cooker/. I am going to use jimmay's TeensyPi controller for versatility and greater goober points. I will post the results of my efforts.

Interested to see how this turns out. The one I linked actually ciruclates the water so it can have a much more precise temp. A different issue of makerzine has the build out for it. http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/

 

[HornetSparky]

Interested to see how this turns out. The one I linked actually ciruclates the water so it can have a much more precise temp. A different issue of makerzine has the build out for it. http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/

Just looked at that link and it appears to be identical to the one I am building, including the aquarium pump. At any rate, I agree that circulating water is a must. I'll start a thread once I get it working.

 

[schwiz]

Just looked at that link and it appears to be identical to the one I am building, including the aquarium pump. At any rate, I agree that circulating water is a must. I'll start a thread once I get it working.

Awesome, look forward to seeing your results I'm wanting to put one together myself.

 

[Archer]

You guys are awesome! Keep the ideas coming...

 

[ACbrewer]

Have to make sure you cider bottles are UV transparent. Just because glass is clear in the visual range, doesn't mean it is at the UV ranges, In fact I know that clear glass is opaque to most non visual light. That being said. UV would be a cool way to go.

If that's the case, why does everyone say that beer will skunk in clear bottles? Maybe it's visible light that makes it skunk?

Honestly, I'm not sure, The near UV probably gets through clear glass (and other colored glass). Ithink near IR does also. Does Near UV cause damage to hops/beer? does it kill bacteria?

Again, I don't know. I do know at a certian point, it wevelength is no longer able to travel through glass - the glass is opeque