Sanitizer

[wombil]

G'day,
I have read here that bleach is a good sanitizer so I have been and got some White King premium bleach.
The mixture given here is 10 mil.cheap,unscented household bleach to 5 litres of water.
The label on the bottle says,"Active Ingredient Sodium hypochlorite42 g/pl (available chlorine 4.0% m/v) at use by date.
Available chlorine 2%m/v. Sodium hydroxide 9g/l."
The weakest solution given for laundry use is 1/4 cup to 5 litres which is much stronger than 10 ml/5 litres.
Question is,"Will the 10mil/5litres still do the job"?
Thanks ,
wombil.

 

[Peteoz77]

I wouldn't use bleach for sanitising my brewing gear if it was free. I use Star Sn and wouldn't ever consider a substitute. I costs $35 for 32 liquid ounces, which makes 640 litres of sanitiser.. This sanitiser keeps for months, and kills everything it touches in 30 seconds. It is NO rinse, and it foams. I have been using the same bottle now for 2 1/2 years and it is maybe 25% used up.. I brew almost every week. Never had an infection. Never had to rinse. Never had a bleach taste in my beer. You can buy it from Craftbrewer.

Oh! Not sure about the bleach mixture mate...

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Use 1.6ml of bleach to 1L of water, then add 1.6ml of vinegar, then you have a no rinse santizer.
I used the white king for this as well. I used this combo for the first 7months of brewing, then bought some starsan.
So much eaiser, works out cheap, prob cheaper than bleach and vinegar.

 

[Silo Ted]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...;showarticle=18

 

[Silo Ted]

I wouldn't use bleach for sanitising my brewing gear if it was free. I use Star Sn and wouldn't ever consider a substitute.

Going to agree with Pete about the bleach vs a commercial alternative. I use Iodofor, and damned if I can see any reason to **** around with bleach and vinegar when the specifically designed stuff is so cheap (about $30 for a litre, and you only need 1m/L for a solution, so it will last me many years, even with the liberal way in which i throw it around)

 

[wombil]

Thanks for the replies fellers.Got the bleach cause today is sunday but will invest in star san in the future.
Silo Ted,that is the same link I followed in the beginning.
Thankyouuuuu All.
OK I'm convinced,getting Starsan or Idofor tomorrow.

 

[barabool]

Unscented bleach is all I use.
Use it with cold water, then rinse with hot.
Dry in the sun to get a bit of UV going and its done.
I started only after running out of the commercial stuff I had and read up that it could be used.
I will prob continue to use as I can not tell, smell, taste any difference and most importantly - haven't lost a brew using it.
Each to their own - maybe I'm just used to the chlorine in the normal tap water here in Brisbane.
Don't use it on my bottles though - Sodium Metabisulphite on those. Thinking about it now don't really know why...

Cheers

 

[Yob]

from what I understand, and I am also a star sanner, and Im not afraid of the foam , that in the long term it's probably best to have both star san and iodopher, and possibly every so often bleach solution as mentioned

using the same one over a long period of time runs the risk of 'something' growing resistance to the one form. Having a varied approach (2 or more types such as mentioned) can ensure that nothing can do this as it gets hit with something new..

I also must admit that it's been a few moons since i have done this and I may just get some Iodopher soon myself, never heard a bad thing about it apart from some experiencing discoloration of the fermenter..er to a beer type colour? I dont think I will get hung up about it..

Cheers

 

[Yob]

Don't use it on my bottles though - Sodium Metabisulphite on those. Thinking about it now don't really know why...

Doesn't Sodium Met require rinsing?

 

[Brad Churchill]

Doesn't Sodium Met require rinsing?

W ith Sodium met I have always believed it depends on the concentration used.
An old method I used to use was fill the botles with water and add 1/4 teaspoon of Sodium Met allowing it to soak for two hours. There was no need to rinse the bottles afterward.

I haven't used that method for years. Now I make a really strong solution swirl it in the bottles and rinse.
Much quicker and uses a lot less water.


Cheers
Brad

 

[hhouken]

W ith Sodium met I have always believed it depends on the concentration used.
An old method I used to use was fill the botles with water and add 1/4 teaspoon of Sodium Met allowing it to soak for two hours. There was no need to rinse the bottles afterward.

I haven't used that method for years. Now I make a really strong solution swirl it in the bottles and rinse.
Much quicker and uses a lot less water.


Cheers
Brad

I understand it is the Sodium Met gas that does the sanitisation. Would be one reason I am considering changing to Star San as more often than not get a blast of potent gas during sanitisation of fermenter. Sodium Met seems most convienient for bottles as only use a little per bottle.

 

[Wolfy]

I have read here that bleach is a good sanitizer so I have been and got some White King premium bleach.
The mixture given here is 10 mil.cheap,unscented household bleach to 5 litres of water.
The label on the bottle says,"Active Ingredient Sodium hypochlorite42 g/pl (available chlorine 4.0% m/v) at use by date.
Available chlorine 2%m/v. Sodium hydroxide 9g/l."
The weakest solution given for laundry use is 1/4 cup to 5 litres which is much stronger than 10 ml/5 litres.
Question is,"Will the 10mil/5litres still do the job"?

It's my understanding that the 10ml/5L recommendation is for 'normal strength' or 3% bleach solutions, I thought the White King premium stuff was 6% so I use half that amount. However the White King stuff has additives which make it foam like crazy, which is why I prefer the cheaper stuff (even if the White King is actually better value).

As others have said, using bleach is not an ideal solution as a sanitizer, you risk either introducing unwanted flavours - if you don't rinse - or introducing infections from the rinse water - if you do rinse.
However, bleach is a very useful disinfectant and can be a good addition to your cleaning and sanitizing regime, add about 2ml/L of vinegar to acidify it to make it more effective, and then rinse in hot water or let the equipment dry and you should not have any problems.

 

[Yob]

Now I make a really strong solution swirl it in the bottles and rinse.

but by no maens a no rinse sanitiser.. thereby negating "sanitising"

though you may never had a problem, the fact you have to rinse with water say it all. By no means are those bottles as 'sanitised' as any bottle rinsed with a 'no rinse sanitiser'

cheers

 

[enoch]

The chlorine as a sanitiser thing had a fairly good run a little while ago.
link
Basic brewing radio has an excellent sanitiser podcast.