Sodium Met:

[badg3er]

Hey guys, i am a new brewer (onto no. 5 can&kit only), and i am alittle concerned about the instructions on the sodium met..

to states 10g/litre -- i never measure but estimate - but states that you dont rinse your bottles etc after treatment --

well and good as i understand that rinsing with water possibly introduces the bacteria you use the sodium met to get rid of, but wont leaving the sodium met in there taint the final product....

atm, i am rinsing with boiled water -- and my no1 and no2 brews seem to have come out fine

 

[bL@De]

atm, i am rinsing with boiled water -- and my no1 and no2 brews seem to have come out fine

This is all I do, then put them in the tree to drain and finally place them in a cardboard box with a towel over the top until ready to use.

It has worked for me so far.

 

[PMyers]

As an estimate, I use 2 teaspoons of SO2 per litre, and I still rinse all my gear after sterilising. After all, how many people pre-boil the entire 20+ litres of water for their brew. Any bugs in the rinsing water will be bugs in the brew water. You have to be extremely unlucky to get an infection this way. I almost always make a starter culture for my beers to get the yeast happily fermenting before pitching so that the superior numbers of "good" yeast introduced to the wort will easily win over any "bad" yeast that might have entered the fermenter.

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:

 

[RegBadgery]

I've read that sodium met is not an effective sanitiser. (However I used to use it myself and didn't experience a crook brew - maybe my gear was sufficiently clean anyway)

I now use Iodophor - an iodine solution. Not only is it an effective sanitiser - it doesn't need to be rinsed. It also goes a long way. I think it's something like 10ml of iodophor to 10 litres of water.

Alternatively, bleach is an excellent sanitiser and is also very inexpensive. (needs to be rinsed though)

cheers
reg

 

[dane]

A lot of people in the newsgroups have mentioned Iodophor.....and how they don't have to rinse.

Where do you get Iodophor from?

 

[RegBadgery]

I purchase it from ESB (www.esbeer.com). They sell it in 250 ml and 1 litre containers. I mix some up and then keep the solution in a container for reuse. From what I've read, so long as there's still some colour it remains effective, (but I'm happy to be corrected on this.)

Can also purchase iodine/betadine from the chemist - don't know if you can use as is or need to dilute further. Comments anyone?

You might also be interested in a product sold by Grumpys in Sth Australia. I haven't used it myself.

"One Shot
Liquid Ortho-Phosphoric acid Sanitiser. No weird smells, works a treat. Every brewer should be using this.Concentrated so that you use a small amount, One Shot is great value. It can be re-used from drum to drum. Comes in a convenient re-useable squeeze bottle. More effective than Sodium Metabisulphite in that it works!"


cheers
reg