Cheap Sanitiser, Is It Safe?

[Enerjex]

Hi all, have been using brewshield but as many of you know at around $7 for 250ml it's quite expensive. I found this stuff at safeway in the bandaid section for around $3.50 for 200ml today and was wondering if it's suitable.

The ingredients listed in brewshield are:

Hydrogen Peroxide 3%
Silver Ions
Distilled Water

The ingredients in this product are:
Hydrogen Peroxide 3%
"A stabilizing agent"

I might ring them for more details on this on monday. It's described on the jar as being used on cuts etc.

 

[BOG]

There should be a phone number of the bottle for a 24 hour poisions information line.

Suspect that it will be fine when diluted.




BOG

 

[deegee]

Enerjex, I'm sure it would be safe, but whether it is as effective as Brewshield, I dont know. I used the Fauldings brand once when I was brewing on a Sunday. I was out of sanitizer and my local HBS was closed, but the supermarket was open, so I bought some, and used it by diluting it at the same rate as for Brewshield.
The batch turned out well, so it seems that it did the job OK.

The Fauldings stuff is the same concentration as Brewshield or Sanitize, but it doesn't have the silver ions. They both have a stabiliser, though they dont say what it is.

A web search turned up a lot of hits - some brands with and some without the siver ions .
The manufacturers who add silver ions to their peroxide solution claim that this makes their product "much more efficient" than the basic product.
One claimed that their version was 10 times better, and another said that theirs was "20 times more effective" than plain old H2O2.
I don't think any of them said just how much silver ions were in their product, or exactly why it was so much better.

And after all of this, I have no idea how true any this is, and how much is just advertising hype.

Cheers, Deegee.

 

[Thunderlips]

Hi all, have been using brewshield but as many of you know at around $7 for 250ml it's quite expensive.

Enerjex, if you want cheap then have a look at Iodophor.
I just checked Grain&Grape and it's $5.95 for 250ml.
Not bad considering you only need 1ml per 1litre.
I've used it a number of times myself, along with OneShot (which needs 1teaspoon per litre) and have never had a problem. I think it may also be reusable but I'm not entirely sure.

 

[mika]

Diluted Iodophor has a limited shelf life of a couple of hours (the stuff in the bottle I believe lasts a while as long as it's kept out of the light). It's cheap enough, mix up a new batch for the next sanitising job.
Even if the sanitiser cost you a $1 a go is it worth risking losing $30 worth of ingredients to an infected batch ?

 

[brettprevans]

enerjex for what its worth I use the fauldings hydrogen peroxide for destaining a mouthguard of mine. its perfectly safe and i considered using it for sanitizer. I asked a similar question here . Ive ended up going with Starsan from Ross

Star San. 1L bottle about $50. Mix it at 1ml per litre, contact time of 2 mins, no rinse. using 20ml every month means your $50 investment will last you 1000/20/12 = 4.16 years.

I love the stuff.

 

[Enerjex]

i've looked at the starsan citymorgue, when it says it foams is the solution soapy?

 

[Ross]

i've looked at the starsan citymorgue, when it says it foams is the solution soapy?

Not soapy as in soap, but yes it foams up - the beauty of this, is that you need very little to get everything coated & the foam sterilises everything it clings to. It's totally non-rinse as well, so don't be put off by the foam, it's all good

Cheers Ross

 

[Enerjex]

hrmmm certainly food for thought. i didn't think you'd want to sell me anything again after last week ross!

 

[MHB]

Digging into the memory but I think the stabiliser is Sodium Thiosulphate.

MHB

 

[kook]

Star San. 1L bottle about $50. Mix it at 1ml per litre, contact time of 2 mins, no rinse. using 20ml every month means your $50 investment will last you 1000/20/12 = 4.16 years.

Isn't the concentration supposed to be 1.5ml / litre ? (Technically about 1.56ml/litre)

I use 15ml per 10 litres of water.

 

[Enerjex]

i read the info on craftbrewer kook and it appears to be 1.5ml/l, sounds pretty good to me

 

[brettprevans]

i read the info on craftbrewer kook and it appears to be 1.5ml/l, sounds pretty good to me

1 or 1,5ml is pretty close. Im going to stick with 1 ml as it makes enough foam/solution/bubbles/whatever. 1ml seems to be heaps IMO. great stuff. Im so glad i got it.

 

[kook]

1 or 1,5ml is pretty close. Im going to stick with 1 ml as it makes enough foam/solution/bubbles/whatever. 1ml seems to be heaps IMO. great stuff. Im so glad i got it.

It might not seem like much, but that is a 50% difference once you've mixed up the solution!

Yes, i'm sure it still bubbles fine but does it still buffer the pH lower than 3?

I'd test it to make sure, as you may not be getting the full benefit. I'm sure theres still more than enough surfacant to produce a good foam, but unless it is still a low pH solution you may not be sanitising as effectively as you could.

It's worth listening to the interview on the brewing network with Charlie Tally from 5 star chemical company (producers of StarSan). He talks about concentration, storage and effectiveness of StarSan in reasonable detail.

 

[Sammus]

re starsan, how do you measure out 1ml of that thick syrup? because its so thick and hard to measure small concentrations of, i end up making 10L of it every go...

 

[Thunderlips]

re starsan, how do you measure out 1ml of that thick syrup? because its so thick and hard to measure small concentrations of, i end up making 10L of it every go...

Couldn't you just use a syringe?
That's what I use to measure 1ml of Iodophor.

 

[brettprevans]

thats what I use. Ive just coloured one of the baby panadol syringes bright red and written poison on it. baby medicine syringes are usuall about 5ml and have quater ml measurements on it. so its easy.

re mix ratio, i was just going on the advice on another HB on the thread I listed. The measuresments on the starsan bottle are in imperial onces and gallons etc. I can be stuffed working that out. But if 1.5ml is the going rate, i'll up mine to 1.5ml. either way its still dman good value for money,

 

[Sammus]

1oz/5gal is 1.5625mL per L

edit: google has a very useful conversion function. Try typing in '1oz/5gal in mL/L'