Sanitizers

what sanitizers does everyone like using. i've used the one step sanitizer and i think some unwanted bacterial made its way into giving my beer some off flavors. i went to my local homebrew shop and they recommended the five-star star san. any opinions?

I've used something called "chloro-clean". Kinda of a pink Kool-aid colour. Requires rinsing.

I've also purchased a one step (can't remember the name) "Oxy - something"

I use one step and have had no problems that i can see.

Bleach, don't see the point in wasting money on sanitizers that cost £5 and last a couple of brews when I can use a bottle of Tesco Value Thin Unscented Bleach for 27p, done 2 brews with it and got half (ish) left

I use both bleach and star san and haven't had a problem yet. Bleach for initial cleaning / soaking (primarily for carboys & bottles), star san for final sanitation.

One Step is not a sanitizer. Only a cleaner. Use something like Star San or Iodophor or bleach to sanitize. I use Iodophor. Works great. Sanitizes in 2 minutes and no rinsing needed.

I've never been able to NOT rinse a no-rinse sanitizer. Just seems wrong to me, and I can't bring myself to let it go without a rinse.

That's why I just use Beer Brite. It requires rinsing, but I would have done that anyway.

Oh, and I only use it for a few items anyway. I use bleach for the most part.

-walker

I use Star San. I switched from bleach after several batches came out with some off flavors. Can't say it was the fault of the bleach or something else, but I never did like the idea of bleach. Star San is no-rinse...and I have never rinsed despite the residual sanitizer left behind. It has no affect on the beer and I have had no off flavors since the switch. With its 2 minute contact time and no fear of staining, it can't be beat. Plus, a properly mixed solution can remain for weeks in a bucket...providing sanitizing power for the complete brewing cycle (brew, primary, secondary, keg). I love the stuff!.

If you rinse with a no-rinse santizer, you are losing the point of using it and should have used bleach instead. No-rinse sanitzers are basically just oxygen and the overdose of oxygen kills all the nasties that are trying to live on your equipment.

The problem with bleach and other sanitizers that need a rinsing is that when you rinse, what you rinse with is not sanitized and therefore can re-infect the surfaces you just cleaned if your faucet or whatever has some organisms growing in or on it.

I use no-rinse and make about 3 gallons that I keep in a separate bucket to dunk stuff in and also pour the solution on everything and I've had no problems so far.

I start brew day by boiling 3 gallons of water in the morning and putting it into sanitized jugs. this is used to rinse everything later in the day. My rinse water is definately clean.

-walker

cowain said:

No-rinse sanitzers are basically just oxygen and the overdose of oxygen kills all the nasties that are trying to live on your equipment.

Click to expand...

I thought Iodophor (a no rinse sanitizer) was basically just iodine...you're saying it's oxygen?

I use starsan, since it doesn't take much to make a solution and it doesn't require rinsing. I've made 40 batches of ale and I'm still on my first jar. Bleach is bad for stainless steel and copper. I do use bleach on the fermenters (plastic) if they get stained.

I am using Idophor now and used One Step before. One Step is a sanitizer. And El P Idophor is iodine based. I think what they are refering to with the oxygen is the star san and One Step stuff

I probably overkill. I use bleach water and then rinse with one step. Never had a problem.

I try and touch everything as much as possible, then sneeze into my carboys. I use the syphon tubing as a drinking straw and clean my toilet with the syphon cane. I also like to brew the beer in my laundry bucket.... never had a problem.

El Pistolero said:

I thought Iodophor (a no rinse sanitizer) was basically just iodine...you're saying it's oxygen?

Click to expand...

my bad. I'm not a fan of Iodophor so I left it out of my mind. You are right, it is not oxygen based. The other type of 1 steps are. I like the Oxygen type rather than the chemical type b/c of the lack of off flavors, even when left partially wet. Also, the times involved seem to be less.

trailmix said:

I try and touch everything as much as possible, then sneeze into my carboys. I use the syphon tubing as a drinking straw and clean my toilet with the syphon cane. I also like to brew the beer in my laundry bucket.... never had a problem.

Click to expand...

I once started a siphon from my kettle with my mouth and spit the backwash into the fermenter. Don't tell anybody.

i did the same thing on my 1st brew when siphoning into the bottling bucket. It came out fine, but I don't think I want to play that lottery again.

-walker

I prefer quat. A no rinse sanitizer that I have become comfortable with. Even when my bottles are still wet with quat when I fill them there are no off flavors and the conditioning indicates no lack of viable yeast that my have been deminished from the residual sanitizer.

Got this off the perfect brewing website.

One Step is a unique substance which consists of oxygen entrained with a mineral crystal. When added to water, this crystal dissolves and releases the oxygen in such a way to form hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide does its work and degrades into oxygen and water, leaving only the minerals behind. Those minerals are naturally occuring compounds in the environment and are quite stable-- in fact, you probably have appreciable amounts of them in the tap water you drink.

Click to expand...

Thanks Waldo, that is informative.

It would be nice if we got away from brand names ... they seems to complicate things, are no help to people with different suppliers, and are less relevant than knowing the active compound.

I use a peroxide-based no-rinse. (comes as a white granule). I used to use a chlorinated TSP solution (pink powder/granules), and rinse with boiled water.

From what I can gather "star san" is probably a chlorinated TSP?

Keegan

Five Star Star San is an acid sanitizer; the active ingredients (according to the bottle) are Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid and Phosphoric acid.

I used the stuff the other day, and the trouble with it is that it foams like crazy; I think the foam is supposed to be sanitizing, but it means that the sanitizer doesn't drain out of bottles as completely as I'd like it to, since it's impossible to get all the foam out.

I don't know if the (still relatively small) amount of sanitizer left in the bottles because of the foam is enough to make a difference, but it did seem weird for there to be gobs of sanitizing foam filling the head-space of the bottled beer.

ubermaus said:

I don't know if the (still relatively small) amount of sanitizer left in the bottles because of the foam is enough to make a difference, but it did seem weird for there to be gobs of sanitizing foam filling the head-space of the bottled beer.

Click to expand...

The nice thing about starsan is that the small amount from the bubbles won't hurt a thing. It does seem strange at first, but you get used to it.

I kind of like some bubbles hanging around, especially when I sanitize carboys, as I get a barrier of bubbles in the neck that prevents any nasties in the air from floating in while I'm cleaning other equipment.

Haven't tried some of the other no rinse sanitizers other than starsan. Compared to rinsing with bleach, it's simple. And yes the foam takes some getting used to. I still turn my carboys upsidedown a few times to get as much of the foam out as possible, but there's still going to be some in there. If you transfer to a secondary like a 5 gallon carboy and fill up the head space, the extra foam gets pushed up and out anyways.