best sanitation method?

This sounds good, except when I used bleach, I rinsed with hot water a few times and then let dry. The theory being that the hot water will dissipate the chlorine better, beside it dries faster.

These should also be rinsed out,a couple times, again I would use hot water.

I have both PBW, for cleaning, and a one step, no rinse (that I actually rinse out), "Oxyclean" type sanitizer. (B-Brite I think) I used to use bleach, but had a batch go bad, so I stopped. Besides I can use the PBW on my stainless and not worry about ruining it. Cheers,

I recently used Iodophor for the first time after 20 years of brewing. With its ease of use and lack of off flavors imparted to the beer if not drained completely, I kept thinking "where have you been my entire life?" :-)

Trouble with bleach is its designed to cling to your u-bend...... Much better to use one made for the job that rinses easier.

The real trouble with using bleach is that it needs to be rinsed. Unless you are using freshly boiled water to rinse with, you are basically negating the point of using the bleach in the first place.

Rinsing isn't really a problem for most homebrewers. I've used bleach for years and rinsed with municiple water with no problems, ever (many different locales thus far).

Most people's tap water is treated and has practically no "beer-harmful" microbes in it. Well water users are a different matter.

Anyway, sanitization just stacks the deck in favor of your yeast against any competitiors. NOTHING we use removes all beasties (unless you autoclave/pressure cook).

So, unless you have proven that your tap water is high in beer spoiling microbes, I recommend that you rinse and don't worry (RDWHAHB).

Derric

This debate has been ongoing for years and isn't going to end with you and I. I don't rinse, but then again I don't use bleach. I've NEVER used bleach. I've used iodophor since I started brewing. I love the fact that it sanitizes much quicker and does not have to be rinsed.

Agreed... I didn't want to start/continue the debate ... I just wanted to let the original poster know that tap water rinses are used by a lot of people and don't pose any undue infection risk in most locations.

I've used bleach for 18 years with absolutely no problems. HOWEVER, I do agree that there are drawbacks to bleach that other sanitizers don't have (but bleach has advantages too... cheap, widely available, probably already at your house, etc.). I recently got a bottle of StarSan and I definitely like it for the short contact time and the no rinse - both pretty big time savers over bleach.

Derric

Joe,

I have aleways used bleach as a sanitiser & in concentrations much stronger than you describe. I always thoroughly rinse everything that has been in contact with bleach solution in either hot water (we have low cost hot water thanks to a highly efficient solar water heater) or in filtered cold water which has passed through our underbench system (0.5 micron particle filter then over activated charcoal). The free flowing hot water suits me best because the flow rate is higher. However I do not normally bother to use the bleach sanitiser method on my bottles, perhaps an occasional bottle which I think looks dirty or where I can see a hint of a ringmark mark inside the top. My bottles are thoroughly washed within 12 hours of use in the hot water & allowed to dry upside down in my bottle rack which is normally left outside in the sun for anything up to 3 or 4 days. My theory is that the Queensland sun is strong enough to sanitise anything. This works & I have never had any individual bottle taste off. I used to occasionally get off flavours in my beer , but that was many years ago, & whilst I never positively found the cause I believe it developed during the brewing phase. My techniques are tighter & somewhat different these days - no problems ever. Except I am still chasing that elusive Heinecken taste & frankly I am still miles away.

Pete

Not to highjack this thread, but ... I tried and tried to reproduce the taste of Pilsner Urquell. I made very good pilsners, but it was never "quite the same."

Then one day, due to odd circumstances, I ended up leaving a bottle of my latest attempt in the basement sink and forgot about it. That sink gets a slight amount of morning sun only. A few days later I thought I'd try the beer, so put it in the fridge. Not so surprisingly, it had that elusive taste of PU.

So, at least in the US, part of the standard taste of most imported lagers is "light skunk." I don't know how imports there are treated, but it is difficult to get unskunked imported beer since most use green or clear bottles and most get exposed to sunlight or florescent light.

You may want to take a bottle of your best attempt and put it in the sun for a while. If the bottle is brown, I understand that skunking happens FAST, so pour it up into a clear glass and let it sit in the sun.

BTW, I liked the unskunked version best after all! I imagine that it is more like what PU would taste locally.

Derric

Not if you purchase carefully...around here, it's easy to get PU or other imp[orts in pristine condition.

Actually, brown filters out the part of the UV spectrum responsible for the skunk. Green and clear are the worst.

---------->Denny

-- Life begins at 60...1.060, that is.

It may be related to the ph of the water. For the best results, bleach should be used in water with a ph of 8.0. If you get too far away from that, it won't be as effective.

Charlie Talley (founder of Star San) recommends a bleach solution of 80,000 ppm. That's about one ounce per five gallons (maybe two tablespoons). He also recommends adding an equal amount of vinegar (though not together!), At that level, he says it doesn't even need rinsing.

Charlie talks with James Spencer on the March 29 episode of Basic Brewing Radio

. It's a great episode explaining how to use bleach effectively as a sanitizer.

John.