This thing looks cool!

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/GERM_ELIMINATOR_LAMP_P1733.cfm

 

[tockeyhockey]

sanitize wort? wouldn't you worry that it could kill off the yeast too?

otherwise, it might be a nice thing to have. dry sanitatizing would save a lot of time and effort.

 

[Dude]

Interesting.

 

[the_bird]

Anybody ever seen something like this?

That's a lot of promise for what looks like a $25 blacklight.

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

sanitize wort? wouldn't you worry that it could kill off the yeast too?

otherwise, it might be a nice thing to have. dry sanitatizing would save a lot of time and effort.

I think you'd do it before pitching.

I'd probably go ahead and use a solution, but I guess they're saying you don't need to. Either way it'd be a nice method if you just wanted to make sure something was clean but didn't want to get solution on it.

 

[david_42]

I doubt it could do much with 5 gallons of wort (I mean 4 AA batteries?), but could be a good thing for small stuff. Might even be able to sterilize the inside of clear tubing and plastic spigots.

 

[G. Cretin]

I think a good application would be for pasturizing with out boiling, like in a 1/4" tube on its way to keg.

 

[D*Bo]

Salt water aquariums use something similar.
Haven't priced them out, but they are a flow thru design, so that might work better. Use it as you are siphoning.

 

[Beer Snob]

I have something like this I put my hearing aids in at night. Its a box about..... 14 x 12 x 8. It has a light (much smaller) like this that kills all germs and dehumidifies the hearing aids as well. Mine was $220 though!

 

[sause]

What type of light does it use? If it's UV then running your wort by it will skunk the beer. Normal light proably won't kill very many things. And how are we suppose to be sure that the wort stays within the width of the light .5 seconds. I would need to talk to somebody before I do anything with it.

 

[EdWort]

I doubt it could do much with 5 gallons of wort (I mean 4 AA batteries?)

yeah, but I think you are supposed to put it in a ziplock back and dunk it up and down. :cross:

 

[Axegod]

Re: using for wort:

It looks cool..but if it ain't broke don't (spend $ to) fix it.

 

[Spyk'd]

er...how would you keep your wort within 1/2 inch of the light for the 10 second contact time?

Start your siphon then stop it in the tube, shine the light on each section of tube that would measure the length of the light for 10 seconds, release the amount in the tube, trap some more wort in the tube, then re-shine the newly trapped amount as above for the whole 5 gallons?



Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't your wort sterilized after boiling it for an hour or more?

 

[chillHayze]

Seen them in fishtank setups. I don't think I would trust it as the SOLE sanitization method for my equipment. Not to mention the wort would be difficult as Spyk'd said.

 

[runhard]

This is a simple UV bulb transmitting in the 256 nanometer or 365 namometer range. I work in the diagnositic/biotechnology field and we use larger version to sterilize rooms where we work with all different kinds of cells. We also have small versions like this one but I get the bulbs for about 1/3 the price from a local light bulb shop. The only utility I can see in this is if your propogating your yeast or farming yeast. This will allow you to quickly sterilize your work surface and some of your utensils. ****BE CAREFUL, in graduate school I knew 2 people who burned their retinas by UV lights similar to these and it wasn't pretty for a couple of weeks.****

 

[tockeyhockey]

What type of light does it use? If it's UV then running your wort by it will skunk the beer. Normal light proably won't kill very many things. And how are we suppose to be sure that the wort stays within the width of the light .5 seconds. I would need to talk to somebody before I do anything with it.

i'm with you dude. i would need to see some scientific reports on its efficacy.

word of the day!

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

yeah, probably not a great way to sterilize wort, but I still think it might be nice if you ever get paranoid about part of your equipment being sterile.

 

[casebrew]

Radiation works on the inverse square law. At 1", it would take 40 seconds, at 2 inches, it would take 3 minutes. Not to wonder also, how far into dirt or wort does UV light shine?

 

[Bocage]

Check out this device ,http://www.goulds.com/product.asp?ID=298&MASTERID=3 , it is installed in the home water system. List price for the 4 GPM unit is 485.00. I suppose your could run your wort into it to be steralized.