One Step
- Thread starter gramps
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foxual
Well-Known Member
I use it as a cleaner, not as a sanitizer.
No it's not storable.. and technically it's not even an fda approved sanitizer
You will find a lot of info on onestep and the recommended 2 sanitizers, starsan and iodophor, and how to get the best use out of those, including podcasts to make up your mind as to which one would work best for you.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizer-question-54932/?highlight=sanitizer+question
You will find a lot of info on onestep and the recommended 2 sanitizers, starsan and iodophor, and how to get the best use out of those, including podcasts to make up your mind as to which one would work best for you.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizer-question-54932/?highlight=sanitizer+question
beerkrump
Well-Known Member
The active ingredient in One Step is sodium percarbonate and breaks down into sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide in an aqueous solution. The H2O2 is what does the work, but it also breaks down into H2O and O2 pretty quickly. This make the solution short lived. The Na2CO3 is the scale that dries on bottles and plastic. It's harmless.
Back to the H2O2. It is an antimicrobial agent and safe for use as such. You hit on part of the issue is that One Step is not FDA approved. Twenty years ago it was widely used as a sanitizer by home brewers with a lot of success. Microbes haven't changed in two decades, but the FDA regulations and definitions have. It is just easier for the manufacturers to market the product as a cleaner/bleach than go through the troubles of reaching sanitizer status.
I still don't buy that...One of the arguments they have used is that they simply don't want to spend the money to seek FDA approval
I call BS on that, they make enough money by having all those exclusive deals with places such as Mr Beer, and several starter kits....they can afford to re-up the approval, if they thought they could pass it....
ANd if they don't care to try, then I don't care to spend my money and risk my beer on it....
and IIRC their kill ratio is far less thant the current FDA requirement like I posted when I did the research in the thread I linked to above..
It really is about the number of colonies of nasties it kills....Onestep's kill ratio is not high enough to qualify for FDA approval to be called a food grade sanitizer....the official definition (Association of Official Analytical Chemists) of sanitizing for food product contact surfaces is a process which reduces the contamination level by 99.999% (5 logs) in 30 sec.
microbes may not have changed, but evidently the FDA requirements to qualify for approval to kill them has.
By the way, microbes can mutate in breweries, listen to this podcast where they discuss the mutation of "HOUSE GERMS" in our breweries...The hosts of the podcast in Australia have 60 years of brewing experience...This is a very good discussion on infection and infection control.
They talk about the "timeframe" of infections, and how it is less likely for a first batch to be infected...it tends to occur around the 10th batch and the 50th...When the equipment gets more used up, and "house germs" start to build up. They used the term "house mouth" in the discussion, how we may not even notice, because we're sort of used to the taste of our beers, it's usually NOT a regular drinker of our beers that notices it.
Even Chris Colby, the editor of BYO magazine, as an aside in a Basic Brewing podcast mentioned switching between starsan AND iodophor in our breweries, since a "house" bug can mutate to become accustomed (like with pennicilin) to your sanitiziation regimen. So switching, at least temporarily will knock it for a loop.
(Sounds like a "change" in microbes to me" but what the hell do I know anyway...
Idophor and Starsan both are FDA approved. They kill just about everything we need to worry about in food handling in less than a minute contact time, depending on the concentration.
So I still maintain that people who are using onestep, beyond the little packet that came with their kit, are using it at their own risks...PLUS it is not storeable for long periods (as opposed to BOTH starsan, and to a lesser extent iodophor, which WAS Gramps original question anyway) which also makes a one-off sanitizer, such as onestep, a waste of money.
Besides, Bleach is also an effective sanitizer, but quite simply in light of the more modern, no-rinse, wet contact, sanitizers that meet fda requirements Why would anyone want to risk it, or deal with the drawbacks?
Oh and sodium percarbonate can stay in my oxyclean (which is STILL CHEAPER pound per pound than one-step as a cleanser) but I don't care if it's in my sanitizer....give me acid or iodine anyday, if it's good enough for the fda, it's good enough for me.
menschmaschine
Well-Known Member
I recall doing a little experiment in college microbiology with H202. It does not kill all microbes. Some survive perfectly fine with it. I don't recall species or gram negative vs. gram positive or anything like that and I'm sure it's fairly effective overall for human pathogens, but beer isn't human... why risk it?
Grinder12000
Well-Known Member
All I know is I've made over 30 batches using it as a sanitizer with zero problems and I think I'll continue.
Where ya been??????
beerkrump
Well-Known Member
Yeah, the microbes haven't changed in two decades is a poor statement. But the change in FDA regulations I'll stick by. A little searching and I found studies in 1999 citing that H2O2 in 1% soln was near the 5 log decrease in microbial population of a disinfectant.
Also, "Hydrogen peroxide is known to be a very powerful oxidizing agent that is in general effective against a wide
spectrum of microorganisms including bacteria, yeasts, molds, viruses and spore-forming organisms." (Cords
and Dychdala, 1993)
Mensch, no sanitizing agent is going to kill 100% or it would be a sterilizing agent.
If I kill 99.99% and not 99.999% of microbes, is that going to make a huge difference if my sanitation practices are sound?
Also, "Hydrogen peroxide is known to be a very powerful oxidizing agent that is in general effective against a wide
spectrum of microorganisms including bacteria, yeasts, molds, viruses and spore-forming organisms." (Cords
and Dychdala, 1993)
Mensch, no sanitizing agent is going to kill 100% or it would be a sterilizing agent.
If I kill 99.99% and not 99.999% of microbes, is that going to make a huge difference if my sanitation practices are sound?
menschmaschine
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I'm well aware of the difference between cleansers, sanitizers, disinfectants and sterilizing. I was simply stating that some species of microbes are not affected by H202 and therefore, to me, it is not worth the risk.
