Do you fill your fermenter completely with sanitiser?

[JFergz]

I've never used any sanitizer or soap/bleach on my fermenter or bottles. After I bottle a brew I take my fermenter outside and hose it down while using a soft sponge to get any of the thick stuff off, I don't use a scourer as to avoid any scratches that may become areas at risk of infection.
After it's spotless I pour in about 2-3 litres of boiling water, fit the lid and give it a good shake, being sure not to spray myself with water that may come through the airlock hole. The steam and boiling water will kill any and all bacteria in the fermenter. I can't comment on others vessels but the high temps have not damaged my plastic fermenter, which was my only concern when trying this method.

Jim.

How many brews have you done using only this method? Just out of curiosity mate, I just would have thought that the water wouldn't have stayed at a hot enough temp for sanitising once being shaken around..

 

[BeerDogJim]

How many brews have you done using only this method? Just out of curiosity mate, I just would have thought that the water wouldn't have stayed at a hot enough temp for sanitising once being shaken around..

5 batches or approximately 300 375ml bottles, without incident. In all honesty I don't think the temperature would drop much if at all as it's being shaken, the shaking action itself causes a lot of steam to rise out the top of the vessell and makes a hell of a noise as it leaves the airlock hole. I've even experimented using only a dishwasher on a high heat to sanitize my bottles, which has also worked without a hitch and a bloke at work does the same.

 

[Grott]

5 batches or approximately 300 375ml bottles, without incident. In all honesty I don't think the temperature would drop much if at all as it's being shaken, the shaking action itself causes a lot of steam to rise out the top of the vessell and makes a hell of a noise as it leaves the airlock hole. I've even experimented using only a dishwasher on a high heat to sanitize my bottles, which has also worked without a hitch and a bloke at work does the same.

Non rinse sanitisers such as starsan are just so cheap and versatile. I don't quite understand why you want to experiment with a dishwasher for bottles and just boiled water for your fermenter. How do you sanitise other equipment/components, eg. Mixing spoon, bottle tops, airlock etc.
It's only my opinion but it's a big risk you take plus a lot of extra work.
Cheers

 

[BeerDogJim]

Non rinse sanitisers such as starsan are just so cheap and versatile. I don't quite understand why you want to experiment with a dishwasher for bottles and just boiled water for your fermenter. How do you sanitise other equipment/components, eg. Mixing spoon, bottle tops, airlock etc.
It's only my opinion but it's a big risk you take plus a lot of extra work.
Cheers

I gather the bottles from work, 375ml Carlton Draught bottles, I rinse them clean, peel the labels off and then put them through the dish washer twice and then they're ready to be filled, it really is absolute minimal effort, I just place all 60 bottles inverted onto the rack and push go, as long as the bottles are clean inside the heat from the dishwasher will sanitize them, provided the dishwasher supports such temperatures. My other equipment is minimal, mixing spoon is also put into boiling water as is the airlock, neither of which have suffered. I use a new bag of caps per batch as not to risk infection by using a previously opened and exposed bag.
I had the intention of purchasing sanitizing products and my afore mentioned method was to be only temporary, however since I've had no drama's I've stuck with it.

 

[kelbygreen]

This may work short time or you may get lucky and works for a long time, I dunno but I dont think it is a great system to have in place running your dishwasher on 2 cycles I am sure would cost alot more then 2ml of starsan in some water.

I do use the boiling water trick but I also sanitise it with bleach first even though they say 10ml of bleach and 10ml of vinegar in 5lts of water is no rinse but I still rinse then put boiling water into the fermenter and cover all areas. This is only temporary till I get some more starsan but seems to work well.