Small Batch of Sanitizer?

[BigJefe]

Last night I needed to take a gravity reading and had to sanitize my beer theif (read: auto siphon outer tube). I'm currently using BTF Idophor which I mix at 1/2 tsp per 3/4 Gal. I really didn't need 3/4 of a gallon of sanitizer, and I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to measure out an amount for a smaller batch of sanitizer (eye dropper, etc?)

I realize I'm not breaking the bank with sanitizer, but it seems wasteful.

Also is there another sanitizer out there that is easily made into smaller amounts?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Yooper]

Well, I have some very small medicine cups that I used to use to give my kids medicine. That would work for very small amounts.

however, it's just easier to mix up a gallon of star-san, and keep it in a jug and/or a spray bottle. It'll keep a very long time, so you can just mix it up and pull it out when you need it.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

You're on the right track. I use an eye dropper and drop in a few drops at a time till I get the amount I need. Remember, you only need to get surfaces wet. You don't need to soak them or submerge them. Even on brew day I usually only make a cup or two worth of solution and use a spray bottle to sanitize.

 

[BigJefe]

You're on the right track. I use an eye dropper and drop in a few drops at a time till I get the amount I need. Remember, you only need to get surfaces wet. You don't need to soak them or submerge them. Even on brew day I usually only make a cup or two worth of solution and use a spray bottle to sanitize.

Do you continue to add drops until the color is accurate? Or do you have an "x" number of drops per cup?

 

[BigJefe]

Ok so I looked this up just now...

BTF says 1tsp per 1.5 gallons of water... There are 1152 tsp in 1.5 gallons of water. I looked up "drops per tsp" and got a couple different answers between 60 and 100. For the sake of this I'm going to go with 80 drops per teaspoon.

Keeping with the 1152:1 (water:BTF) ratio, using one drop of BTF would require 1152/80 teaspoons of water, or 14.4 teaspoons equal to 2.4 fl oz. We can use this to find that 12fl oz. works out to a nice even 5 drops of BTF.

I'm pretty sure it is a better idea to work with larger volumes since effectiveness is impacted by messing up the mixture in either direction, but hey at least I've got some idea now.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I go by color personally. And I could be mistaken, but I believe some chemist from BTF even said not to waste the solution by making big batches. That's where I got the idea to make smaller and just make sure everything is whet. Their recommendation.

 

[tarponteaser]

You can get some small syringes (needleless) from the pharmacy. I have used 6 ml ones for mixing small baches of epoxy, and found they work well for small vols of iodophor.