# 70% Methytlated Spirits As A Disenfectant



## sparhawk72 (10/6/06)

this is something i use 

70 % Methylated spirits and 30% boiled water as the disenfectant

-keeps indefinitely 

-leaves no residue 

-fairly cheap 

-can be sprayed on and left to dry in the air

-the 2% methanol in the mix is not dangerous in the minute amounts that might be in the finished brew

- i havent had any ill effects on my equitment from this solution 

salt in the airlock 

-stops it freezing above negative 4 degrees c

-has an anti bacterial effect and dosent taint the beer if the airlock liquid gets sucked into the beer

-only problem is that if the airlock liquid evaporates the salt can crystalise and clog the airlock than boom


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## normell (10/6/06)

sparhawk72 said:


> this is something i use
> 
> 
> 
> ...



With the coldest yeast working in the +8-12*C range, why would you want to try to ferment at -4*C :blink:


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## MHB (10/6/06)

Alcohol is a great contact disinfectant; however I have my concerns about what you are proposing.

I think you will find that Metho hasnt contained Methanol for a couple of decades; it is now referred to as denatured alcohol.
The manufactures stoped adding Methanol as it is toxic, it was getting harder and harder to deliberately add a toxin to something that people keep around the house and that children might drink, and remain in compliance with Australian law.

The denaturing is the addition of fowl tasting substances, to discourage people from drinking the stuff without paying excise.

There ars about a dozen permitted denaturing substances, some of them do evaporate readily, some leave a residue, that is frankly awful.

For what little it costs to put 1 or 2 caps of one of a peroxide based sterilisers into a spray bottle, I wont take the punt.

MHB


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## Kai (10/6/06)

I keep a spray bottle of alcohol around the brewery for contact sanitation. It usually has methylated spirits in it unless I have happened to source some alternative spirits. It's excepptn for sanitation of bits and pieces but for most of my sanitation I use phosphoric acid with surfactant or boiling water.

The only concern I would have with metho is ensuring surfaces were thoroughly rinsed in case those skanky bitter compounds contaminated my beer.


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## bindi (10/6/06)

Kai said:


> I keep a spray bottle of alcohol around the brewery for contact sanitation. It usually has methylated spirits in it unless I have happened to source some alternative spirits. It's excepptn for sanitation of bits and pieces but for most of my sanitation I use phosphoric acid with surfactant or boiling water.
> 
> The only concern I would have with metho is ensuring surfaces were thoroughly rinsed in case those skanky bitter compounds contaminated my beer.



Ditto on all points,always have some spirits and phos on hand.


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## Goat (11/6/06)

The West Coast Brewers did a tour of a few breweries in the Swan Valley a month or so ago. One of the Brewers was asked what he used for spray bottle type use. He said that he used a 4:1 mix of meths and water (or something like that) 'cos its a lot cheaper and to quote him " nothing will live in that"


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## sosman (11/6/06)

I have been known to use isopropanol at a pinch but a phos acid solution (+surfactant) serves wells, costs buggerall and as long as you go easy on the surfactant can actually be beneficial to beer.


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## MHB (11/6/06)

I am finding this thread a bit of an eye opener.
I will admit to being a big fan of the various peroxide sanitisers and think they are remarkably good value for money.

i.e. One of the shield type products lets call it $5.00.
Dilution is, on the one I am looking at calls for 30 mL/L
Or 15 mL /500Ml,
250 mL bottle / 60 gives 16 refills of a 500 mL spray bottle, or 30 Cents.
One 500 mL spray bottle is more than enough to get through a brew day and its hardly a bank breaker.

Other advantages:-
No residue
No rinsing
Non-corrosive
Non toxic
Guaranteed sterility

I would question whether Metho, Phosphoric Acid and/or a Surfactant is even cheaper (far from my first concern) and whether I would want any of these in my brew.
Particularly any surfactant, I know there are thousands of different surfactants but by their nature I think they would all be head killers.

MHB


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## sparhawk72 (13/7/06)

normell said:


> sparhawk72 said:
> 
> 
> > this is something i use
> ...



In answer to the frozen airlock question by normell a room in our house stays at 10 degress most of the time in winter one morning the temp gage tapped to the fermenter said 10 but the airlock had frozen solid and cracked and i do admit to only trying the salt airlock once so i may have posted rubbish


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## sparhawk72 (13/7/06)

MHB said:


> Alcohol is a great contact disinfectant; however I have my concerns about what you are proposing.
> 
> I think you will find that Metho hasnt contained Methanol for a couple of decades; it is now referred to as denatured alcohol.
> The manufactures stoped adding Methanol as it is toxic, it was getting harder and harder to deliberately add a toxin to something that people keep around the house and that children might drink, and remain in compliance with Australian law.
> ...




I can get free pure lab grade ethanol which is what i use i hope havent ruined somebodys brew with a bittering agent from methylayed spirits. sorry


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## Ducatiboy stu (13/7/06)

I work with electronics and stuff like that, and metho is a terible cleaner cause it leaves a white film that is a PITA.

Isopropal Alc is the best to use in this regard.

Peroxide is probably the cheapest and best as it is residue free and is non rinse


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## pint of lager (14/7/06)

Here is a test for the metho users.

Wash and rinse a fermenter out thoroughly. Spray the inside with your metho sanitiser. Allow to air dry. Fill with water. Pour out a glass and compare that to a glass of water from the same source. 

For the peroxide users, don't keep a made up solution in a spray bottle and keep using it for months on end. The hydrogen peroxide breaks down to water and oxygen fairly readily.


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## Ash in Perth (14/7/06)

If you can get pure ethanol this is the way to go, even if you dilute it a bit. I know at least a couple of the large cale breweries use this for their smaller stuff like when taking samples to sterilize the needles/valves.

On a larger scale, CIP is used which is hot NaOH solution which destroys everything living.


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## pint of lager (14/7/06)

Ethanol is great. Don't use pure ethanol, use 70% ethanol and 30% distilled water for your sanitising purposes.

See if you have a friend that has one of those special water purifiers and swap some beer for their output.


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## Airgead (14/7/06)

Guys

I use neat metho (or isopropyl if I don't have any metho) for sanitising my hands, tube tops and workbench when culturing yeast. It works great there as there is no chance of flavour contamination. Wouldn't use it in anythig that touches my beer though. You never know which bittering agent yuor bottle of metho contains. Even if one was OK the next with the same label may contain something diferent.

For regular sanitation I use iodophor. Cheaper than the peroxide based sanitisers and no rinse. 

Cheers
Dave


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## blackbock (16/8/06)

pint of lager said:


> Ethanol is great. Don't use pure ethanol, use 70% ethanol and 30% distilled water for your sanitising purposes.
> 
> See if you have a friend that has one of those special water purifiers and swap some beer for their output.



My 2c worth:

Ethanol @ 70% it's way more effective than at say 95%. Sometime to do with the bugs getting dehydrated faster. That is, unless you flame it afterwards 

It's unlikely that any opened container of ethanol is 100% pure anyway, especially if it's been exposed to air. Most home-based "water purifiers" would be hard-pressed to achieve even 90% - despite what their owners might claim, it's impossible with simple distillation techniques to go over about 95%!


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## Inge (12/6/07)

First post here. :beerbang: 

I work in a pathology laboratory and also have access to standard laboratory grade absolute (99%) ethanol. Note that this is not denatured; there are no bittering agents added, and it is pure for the majority of laboratory duties. Our standard clean up procedure for biological agents goes as follows.

*1. Wipe clean / soak in 1% Sodium Hypochlorite.*

(This is the active ingredient in bleach, however, we use pool chlorine, as it contains no detergents or other soaping agents which may be present in household bleaches.)
*
2. Wipe clean / soak in detergent.*

(This may not be appropriate for corboys, fermenter buckets and yeast starter bottles due to the detergent possibly causing problems with head retention, but for things like spoons, bucket lids, and other peripherals. I'll elaborate on this later.) 

*3. Wipe clean / soak in 70 percent ethanol.*

(As stated above, the ability of ethanol to dissolve microbial proteins + fats [the cell membrane is made primarily from fats] is greatest at 70 percent dilution. If I remember correctly, pure ethanol tends to dehydrate microbes, which may render them viable once more on hydration. Can't remember for sure!)

Doing these three things can effectively and almost completely disinfect most surfaces.

I try to avoid the use of any soaps or detergents in my carboys and buckets for fear of affecting the beer. In order to disinfect these things. I have been using a spray or soak of hydrogen peroxide. I use OxyPlus, which is available at most hydroponics stores (but not all, be sure to phone before going!). Oxyplus comes in a black bottle and is at 50% concentration hydrogen peroxide; needless to say, I've yet to find any peroxide based steriliser that comes close in terms of cost efficiency. Be careful handling it but, it can seriously damage your skin and eyes, and always dilute it before use. After thoroughly douching the buckets with peroxide, I spray it down with 70 percent ethanol and leave it to evaporate.

Nothing can survive this.

Perhaps this is overkill, but when it comes to sanitation you can never be too careful  




Oxyplus bottle. This is what you want.

Cheers guys.


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## Murray (12/6/07)

blackbock said:


> Ethanol @ 70% it's way more effective than at say 95%. Sometime to do with the bugs getting dehydrated faster. That is, unless you flame it afterwards



Correct, which is why the industry standard is 70%-80%.

I used to use 70% methylated spirits for spot sanitation back in my dim dark k&k days based on my pharma experience. I have never really bothered over the last few years though due to the inexpensive phospho/iodophor solutions available.


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