Sanitizing bottles and brewing pot question?

[logan3825]

regardless of your cleaning and sanitizing routine, your equipment will never be truly, completely sterile.

Of course not. That is why it is called sanitizing not sterilizing.

 

[F250]

Of course not. That is why it is called sanitizing not sterilizing.

Point?

Rick

 

[masterfool101]

I am assuming well water is a whole different ball game though... Probably okay in the boil, but wouldn't want to top off with it.

Well water probably won't be an issue either, though it likely depends on the chemistry/biology of your particular well. You can buy common test kits relatively cheap that will tell you what's in your water. Also, while I can't speak specifically for the UK, getting well water tests done professionally here in the US is relatively inexpensive - and they can usually tell you what the mineral content is, as well as any biological entities that may be in there.

As for using distilled/spring/bottled water for mashing, steeping, topping off, etc: Keep in mind that many kinds of beer were developed to take advantage of the specific qualities (ie mineral content) of water from specific regions. Palmer goes into this slightly in "How to Brew" . . . and he's releasing a more specific book this year that deals with water chemistry and brewing (There was a preview in a recent issue of Zymurgy - I just forget the date).

What this means is that if you START with distilled water (or even spring water), you may end up having to ADD minerals to get the alkilinity/mineral content/hardness you want/need to brew a specific beer. Generally, you can get the same results from tap water, if treated properly. Fortunately for me, here in San Francisco we are blessed with an incredibly pristine water source, so I start with a pretty blank slate . . . but others do not have that advantage. Palmer suggests (and I agree) that the best place to start is by going to your local water district and obtaining a report on what, exactly, is in your tapwater . . . and base your decisions off of that.

In the end . . . it's all beer

 

[unionrdr]

I'll be interested to see what kind of difference spring water made in this 2nd pm vs the distilled last time. It worked a tad better than tap water in my extract beers.

 

[BansheeRider]

Well water probably won't be an issue either, though it likely depends on the chemistry/biology of your particular well. You can buy common test kits relatively cheap that will tell you what's in your water. Also, while I can't speak specifically for the UK, getting well water tests done professionally here in the US is relatively inexpensive - and they can usually tell you what the mineral content is, as well as any biological entities that may be in there.

As for using distilled/spring/bottled water for mashing, steeping, topping off, etc: Keep in mind that many kinds of beer were developed to take advantage of the specific qualities (ie mineral content) of water from specific regions. Palmer goes into this slightly in "How to Brew" . . . and he's releasing a more specific book this year that deals with water chemistry and brewing (There was a preview in a recent issue of Zymurgy - I just forget the date).

What this means is that if you START with distilled water (or even spring water), you may end up having to ADD minerals to get the alkilinity/mineral content/hardness you want/need to brew a specific beer. Generally, you can get the same results from tap water, if treated properly. Fortunately for me, here in San Francisco we are blessed with an incredibly pristine water source, so I start with a pretty blank slate . . . but others do not have that advantage. Palmer suggests (and I agree) that the best place to start is by going to your local water district and obtaining a report on what, exactly, is in your tapwater . . . and base your decisions off of that.

In the end . . . it's all beer

I live 30 min north of SF. I wonder if we use the same water source.

 

[unionrdr]

That could very well be. I live some 3.5 miles from the shore of Lake erie,where our water comes from. But the water plant is farther away than that. Our water is piped in from Avon Lake,& by the time it gets here,it could stand some filtering to clean particulates out of it. But otherwise,it's been great for extract ales from light pales to dark ones. So you may likely be in the same sort of situation.

 

[Brew-Jay]

Just to add my 2 cents for the sake of the OP... Don't forget to thoroughly clean the bottles before trying to sanitize them. That may sound obvious, but I've found that it takes a little more than just rinsing to get all the sediment out of it. I'll soak several bottles at a time (overnight) in a 5 gal bucket of water and Oxiclean. It does a good job of cleaning the inside and takes off most labels really well too. Finally, on bottling day I soak every bottle in a star San bucket for a minute or so. I'm not worried even if there's a little Starsan solution still in the bottle when I fill it.

 

[BansheeRider]

Just to add my 2 cents for the sake of the OP... Don't forget to thoroughly clean the bottles before trying to sanitize them. That may sound obvious, but I've found that it takes a little more than just rinsing to get all the sediment out of it. I'll soak several bottles at a time (overnight) in a 5 gal bucket of water and Oxiclean. It does a good job of cleaning the inside and takes off most labels really well too. Finally, on bottling day I soak every bottle in a star San bucket for a minute or so. I'm not worried even if there's a little Starsan solution still in the bottle when I fill it.

Thanks for the advice. I have some B-Bright cleaner that I have been using. It seems to do a good job. Next time I will get some Oxiclean because you get a little more bang for your buck.

 

[masterfool101]

I live 30 min north of SF. I wonder if we use the same water source.

You're up in Marin? We are not on the same source. SF and Hayward pipe in water from Hetchhetchi, up near Yosemite. Everyone else in the east bay comes out of the delta. Marin comes out of reservoirs up north, or out of the Russian River, depending on where you are.

 

[BansheeRider]

You're up in Marin? We are not on the same source. SF and Hayward pipe in water from Hetchhetchi, up near Yosemite. Everyone else in the east bay comes out of the delta. Marin comes out of reservoirs up north, or out of the Russian River, depending on where you are.

I am in Sonoma County in Petaluma.