Using bleach, couple Q's

[kryznic]

So I filed up a Igloo cooler with all my bottles and I mixed 8 gallons of water with 8 tbsp of bleach (1 per gallon) and I lit it sit over night

I opened up the cooler today and was taken aback by the fumes, it was almost as strong as my pool chlorinator, that once turned on after sitting a while ejecting this invisible fume cloud that nearly choked me. I guess it wasn't quite that bad but it reminded me of that.

How long should I soak these? Is it ok to soak for 24 hours? I want to get the labels off too. And I noticed lots of bubbles that were kinda fizzing. I guess I am going to have to rinse the hell outta these bottles.

Funny thing is, it was not that strong when I first poured the solution in.

Thanks!

 

[sjlammer]

You can soak them for as long as you want.

A little advice for next time. Oxyclean free works wonders to clean bottles, and the labels slide right off. I soak in Oxy for 24 hours, drain, rinse, and then dip in Iodaphor solution, and boom, they are sanitized.

Oxy clean still needs to be rinsed, but i dont think the rinsing is as "critical" as with bleach.

Give it a shot, you will be amazed how easily the labels slide off.

 

[kryznic]

Thanks a mill! I have been hearing Oxiclean is the way to go. I will try that next, I was getting ready last minute to bottle tonight and bleach was all I had readily available. Hope I don't screw this up.

 

[bknifefight]

I used to solely use bleach to sanitize but got very tired of rinsing very quickly.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

I'm still a bleach user but need to switch, I find that I use twice the water I probably need to be using to make sure all the bleach is off..

 

[kryznic]

I'm still a bleach user but need to switch, I find that I use twice the water I probably need to be using to make sure all the bleach is off..

This will prolly be me, cuz how do you know when it is all rinsed? Probably no definitive way? But won't the same go for OxiClean?

 

[ShadowsDeed]

+1 on Oxy Clean Free

I actually Mixed Oxy CLean with Star San and after about 15 min labels were sliding off in my hands.

one thing to watch out for. it made the bottles very slippery prior to cleaning them off. so just be aware. dont drop any.

 

[abracadabra]

According to John Palmer's "How to Brew"

Bleach
The cheapest and most readily available sanitizing solution is made by adding 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon of water (4 ml per liter). Let the items soak for 20 minutes, and then drain. Rinsing is supposedly not necessary at this concentration, but many brewers, myself included, rinse with some boiled water anyway to be sure of no off-flavors from the chlorine.


here's the web page

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html

 

[Photopilot]

I am pretty sure rinsing is also important with Oxyclean especially if you use star san to sanitize or it may dilute and make impotent the star san.

I used to use bleach as well but have ruined less clothes since switching to Oxclean.