Sterilization Question?

[LuNchBoX1371]

So i was wondering if you have to wash sterilizer off in water or can you just rinse it off in the sanitizer; my process for bottling beer goes: soak all the bottles in sterilizer for 30 min., bring the cooler, with the bottles and sterilizer, over to the table, that has the fermenter on it, and with a bucket of sanitizer next to the fermenter we drain the bottles from the sterilizer and then dump and fill them up with sanitizer, shake them a bit and drain them, then fill them with beer and cap; am i doin anything wrong or do i need to have another bucket filled with water before goin into the sanitizer?

 

[morticaixavier]

So i was wondering if you have to wash sterilizer off in water or can you just rinse it off in the sanitizer; my process for bottling beer goes: soak all the bottles in sterilizer for 30 min., bring the cooler, with the bottles and sterilizer, over to the table, that has the fermenter on it, and with a bucket of sanitizer next to the fermenter we drain the bottles from the sterilizer and then dump and fill them up with sanitizer, shake them a bit and drain them, then fill them with beer and cap; am i doin anything wrong or do i need to have another bucket filled with water before goin into the sanitizer?

what are you calling sterilizer? and what kind of sanitizer are you using? if you are 'sterilizing' in bleach (it's still not really sterile by the way) you really want to rinse that off very very well to avoiv unpleasent reactions with the yeast (plasticy, medicinal off flavors).

If you are using a no-rinse sanitizer like star san or idophor then do NOT rinse after sanitizing. rinseing with plain water after santizing with a no-rinse sanitizer just exposes the bottles to a small but not insignificant chance of infection.

 

[b-boy]

Generally there are 2 steps:

• Clean - Get the gunk off your equipment (PBW, Oxyclean)
• Sanitize - treat with some chemical that will kill most living organisms on your equipment (Star San, Iodophor)

If you have a no-rinse sanitizer you can leave it on. Make sure you rinse whatever you used to clean your equipment off prior to sanitizing. You don't want any nasty chemicals in your beer.

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

Well i am using PBW for my sterilizer and i dont think it is no rinse, but on the other hand if i introduce it to water aren't i just contamenating it again???

 

[brewkinger]

PBW is a cleaner. Not a sterilizer.

Starsan or Iodophor is a sanitizer.

So simplify your process and simply make sure that your bottles are clean and then fill with sanitizer, wait 30
Sec and then drain and fill while it is still wet.
Cap bottle and repeat.
Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[morticaixavier]

Well i am using PBW for my sterilizer and i dont think it is no rinse, but on the other hand if i introduce it to water aren't i just contamenating it again???

PBW is a cleanser not a sterilizer. It is for sure NOT no-rinse. after you have cleaned the bottles with PBW you need to rinse well with potable water and then sanitize right before filling.

I like StarSan as a sanitizer. It's no-rinse, low odor and has very little flavour. Idophor is also good although it smells a bit and some people swear they can taste it if too much ends up in the finished product (I have never experienced that).

Another option I use regularly when bottling is the oven. clean your bottles and rinse them well. put them in the oven the night before bottling day and bake them at 350*f for 20 minutes then turn the oven off and leave it closed. These bottles are now more or less sterile. When you are ready to bottle open the oven and have at. You might lose a bottle or two to breakage this way if there is an air bubble in the glass so pop a couple more than you think you will need in there.

 

[flars]

PBW is a cleaner. It is used to remove dried beer gunk, labels, and label glue.

A sterilizer would be like an autoclave which would heat the bottles to 240° or so.

In brewing we clean and then sanitize. A cleaner like PBW must be well rinsed to remove the softened gunk and the PBW.

The next step is sanitizing. Starsan is an excellent sanitizer. Pour a few ounces of the mixed Starsan solution in a beer bottle shake it up. Pour it back into the bucket holding the Starsan solution. Tip the bottles upside down to drain and fill with beer after all the bottles needed are sanitized. The best sanitation practice with Starsan solution is to fill the bottles while they are still wet.
The Starsan solution foam that remains in the bottle is okay. Most of it will be forced out as your bottling wand fills the bottle. What stays the yeast will eat.