Sanitizer question

[jojabri]

As a wine maker, I use a citric acid/potassium metabisulfate mix as a sanitizer. Can my husband use this as a sanitizer for his brewing or do I need to get another sanitizer?

He's really excited to start his first batch, and we were planning to go buy what he needs today.

 

[masscarriers]

This should work very well as a sanitizer, although I wouldn't take chances and rince it well with boiled water to avoid leaving sulfites behind.

 

[TheBrewingBear]

I would stick with one of the usual sanitizers for homebrew since he's so excited about it. Try Starsan, Iodophor, or bleach/vinegar solution (please read up on the dos and don'ts if using bleach).

You may not want to take a chance on his first batch.

Someone more experienced than me might chime in with the why or why not kmeta.

 

[flars]

Pick up Starsan. It is very effective sanitizer with less than a two minute contact time. No rinsing. Left over foam in fermentors or bottles will have no effect on beer. The Starsan solution can be reused until the pH rises above 3.2.

 

[garcia]

starsan is very nice.

 

[BigEd]

As a wine maker, I use a citric acid/potassium metabisulfate mix as a sanitizer. Can my husband use this as a sanitizer for his brewing or do I need to get another sanitizer?

He's really excited to start his first batch, and we were planning to go buy what he needs today.

Because wine has a much lower pH and higher alcohol percentages than beer you can get away with sufites. However, they are not sufficient for beer.

Please take TheBrewingBear's advice and buy a sanitizer designed for brewing.

 

[TexasWine]

I'm a wine maker that has recently gotten into beer. I have used kmeta in my beer making just like I would for making wine and I haven't had any problems. I've also done the same thing for various ciders. And I'm not hearing a very compelling reason from any of the above responses to not continue using it.

So my vote, use the kmeta!

 

[jojabri]

Well, we went today and got all his "goodies" to start up his first batch. We got him a 6.5 gal Ale Pail, the No Boil Munton's Bock kit (I read it was a good starter kit), a capper and some caps, and a bottle of the Iodine based sanitizer. He even picked up a nice stogie to enjoy as his "victory Dance" when he pops his first cap. (This plus dinner out made it a nice Early Father's Day gift.)

I also picked up a new 5 gal glass carboy, a new carboy brush, some yeast nutrient, and a few of my staple yeast. Hahaha, I got goodies too!

It was so cool, how he kept asking me If I had pieces of equipment that he would need. I guess I'm going to have to cork everything now, as it looks like he will be pirating my EZ-Caps.