Just how much sanitation?

How much should I santize the things used in brewing? Should I boil all the equipment I use (tubes, caps, bottles, etc)?

Also, when boiling my bottles, how long should they stay in the boiling water?

Reply to
kiwi
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Sanitization is very important, and yes, you should sanitize everything, but there are other ways to sanitize things besides boiling. Boiling for about

5 to 10 minutes works very well for little things such as bottle caps. But for tubing, boiling will break down the plastic and cause it to fail prematurely, and for bottles, boiling is not the best option simply due to the great volume that would need to be boiled. For things such as tubing and bottles, as well as your thermometer, hydrometer, and anything else you may be putting in contact with your beer, it is best to soak these items in a solution of One-Step brand sanitizer, or iodophor... these chemicals will sanitize your bottles and do not require rinsing... you can simply shake off the liquid and let air dry. I usually fill up a large tub sink with warm water, add a couple tablespoons of One-Step, put all my bottles and things in, let it soak for about 15 minutes, then drain. The bottles are ready to be filled with no rinsing required. As an alternative, you can instead use a solution of ordinary household chlorine bleach and water... again you only need to add a tablespoon or two to several gallons of water, but with bleach you must rinse all components very well after sanitizing, which is somewhat of a hassle, but it sanitizes just as well.

Hope this helps.

Reply to
David M. Taylor

great, thanks... the kit that I got did come with an iodine solution... but i wasn't sure if it would be enough to just soak the bottles in a big bucket full of a iodine/water mix. The first batch that I made, I boiled the bottles, which took a long time, heh.

Reply to
kiwi

GRAVE DANGER: Just to make certain that you haven't been misinformed.... iodine is NOT the same thing as iodophor, at least I don't believe so.... if they did, in fact, give you some kind of reddish liquid, I believe it is iodine, which is POISON!!!! I am not personally familiar with iodophor, only One-Step, but I've heard iodophor is a rinse-free sanitizer. If, on the other hand, you've got straight iodine, you'll certainly want to rinse it all off, or it might kill you, or at least ruin your beer!! Does anybody else have any more information about iodophor? What does it look like? It's not the same thing as iodine, is it???

Reply to
David M. Taylor

Hmm, well I doubt that it's straight iodine... I don't remember exactly what it's called (I'm not at home), but on it it says that it's a kitchen sanitizer. It doesn't say on the bottle that it has to be rinced (but for the things I've used it on so far, I have rinced)

Reply to
kiwi

If you'll go here, you'll find all you need to know about Iodophor.

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Reply to
msclvr

never really believe all the HYPE of sterilizing. some things are very helpfull.

walked into a friends place, and used his bathroom and noticed black mold on the bathtub grouting. He wanted to make beer. I told him he couldn't make beer. Actually i told him to move.

So he made 5 gallons of vinegar. The way it is, is anything that is the air is in your beer. So a perfectly sterilized bottle sitting beside a dead gopher is NOT helpfull.

start off is good air flow through your place. sterilizing agaent, powder is available, just remember the agent gotta go. ?rinse is really important. sunshine is a grand killer of bacteria, etc.

does that give you a hint?

Reply to
dug88

iodine? whoe boys iodine is added to salt. humans need it. actually is a law here in canada. overdo it, and ya got problems, like hyperthyroidism. mamas got carried away with iodine on every boo boo their kid got so they had to pull it. iodine compounds are not Good. i use a dishwasher with a good soap and a good vinegar rinse. BUTT, considering what i save in a month on beer from the beer store, i could probably buy a dishawasher every month of the year. Bettter living through chemistry is not preferable to be a total lazy slob. like me.

Reply to
dug88

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