Cleaning and sanitation

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

So I just bought some woolies brand napisan, active ingredient is sodium percarbonate at the same level as napisan.... wondering what the water to powder ratio is needed to get the bottles ready for bottling as my brew is nearing the big day?

I use a teaspoon of Aldi Oxy-San, which sounds like similar stuff,  per longneck.  This is my rate for cleaning though.  Not sanitising.  I sanitise with Starsan or equivalent.

[G00DSY]

On 4/10/2020 at 12:00 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

I use a teaspoon of Aldi Oxy-San, which sounds like similar stuff,  per longneck.  This is my rate for cleaning though.  Not sanitising.  I sanitise with Starsan or equivalent.

I've just got myself some starsan/stellarsan equivalent (MJs version, 30-60% phosphoric acid).  It has warnings all over it re; not getting it on your skin etc. wondering is this still an issue at the diluted rate of 2ml/l ? 

[Goldcoast Crow]

Been listening to the basic beer brewing podcast recently and just picking thru the episodes, seems the sanitising method I have been using is about fine but god damn there is a lot of options and you get the “I just rinse in boiling water” guy to the “I soak clean rinse sanitise and sterilise ”guys..... there are a myriad of options.

[Malter White]

3 hours ago, G00DSY said:

I've just got myself some starsan/stellarsan equivalent (MJs version, 30-60% phosphoric acid).  It has warnings all over it re; not getting it on your skin etc. wondering is this still an issue at the diluted rate of 2ml/l ? 

I can't speak from experience but I've seen a Cellar Dwellers YouTube video of the presenter spraying diluted Starsan on his hands.

[Malter White]

2 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

Been listening to the basic beer brewing podcast recently and just picking thru the episodes, seems the sanitising method I have been using is about fine but god damn there is a lot of options and you get the “I just rinse in boiling water” guy to the “I soak clean rinse sanitise and sterilise ”guys..... there are a myriad of options.

I guess there's no harm in being OTT clean but it can be laborious. You'll work out what works best for you over time.

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, G00DSY said:

I've just got myself some starsan/stellarsan equivalent (MJs version, 30-60% phosphoric acid).  It has warnings all over it re; not getting it on your skin etc. wondering is this still an issue at the diluted rate of 2ml/l ? 

 

5 hours ago, MUZZY said:

I can't speak from experience but I've seen a Cellar Dwellers YouTube video of the presenter spraying diluted Starsan on his hands.

I get the diluted solution on my hands all the time.  As long as it for short periods it is not an issue.  The longest I would be in contact with it is bottling day.  When I sanitise my bottles with my vinator my hands are damp for the whole time.  I wear food handling gloves sometimes, but that is usually if I am also cleaning stuff in sodium percarbonate.  I found I get cracked skin if in contact with too many cleaners/sanitisers for too long.  Just like washing and drying your hands a lot can do.

Get a spray bottle as alluded to above.  They are very handy for coating the insides of fermenters and just about anything that you need to sanitise.

[Malter White]

17 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

 

I get the diluted solution on my hands all the time.  As long as it for short periods it is not an issue.  The longest I would be in contact with it is bottling day.  When I sanitise my bottles with my vinator my hands are damp for the whole time.  I wear food handling gloves sometimes, but that is usually if I am also cleaning stuff in sodium percarbonate.  I found I get cracked skin if in contact with too many cleaners/sanitisers for too long.  Just like washing and drying your hands a lot can do.

This is why I regret buying a large amount of sodium met when I started out. It gives really bad skin irritations but I bought a couple of tubs because it's one of those products you don't find everywhere, so I figured I'll get a fair amount while I can. Looking forward to the day I can use no rinse sanitiser.
And no, turfing the sodium met and moving to no rinse sanitiser now is out of the question. That would go against my waste not/want not ways. 

[UncleStavvy]

I've only started brewing since the pandemic got rolling so as a result have had gloves in the house. A bit of piece of mind handling the equipment on brew day/bottling time and protection against the chemicals as well. I'm just about out of sodium meta and I've got a bottle of Morgan's no rinse sanitiser to carry on with. I'm also thinking to buy more meta as I like the process of steaming the FV with hot water and sulphite fumes. My10cW

[Goldcoast Crow]

I also only started with the covid crap but so far so good with the woollies version napisan, cheap as and the sodium percarbonate levels are very similar, my system has been a mix of others with my twist...... rinse bottles once de centred into a glass, soak in water over night, and about a week out from bottling I get about 25 bottles into my soak tub (old esky) and fill it full of a hot sodium percarbonate mix for till bottling day, around two caps per esky full, then on then morning of bottling I will give a good shake and thorough hot rinse, air dry and bottle, so far so good.

[Goldcoast Crow]

Currently pet bottles only but my first batch of glass will be bottled this weekend....

[Journeyman]

12 hours ago, G00DSY said:

I've just got myself some starsan/stellarsan equivalent (MJs version, 30-60% phosphoric acid).  It has warnings all over it re; not getting it on your skin etc. wondering is this still an issue at the diluted rate of 2ml/l ? 

I have stellarsan on my hands any time I am messing with the brew process. At diluted levels there's no problem. There was a post or 2 (here or on a FB page) about people getting problems from stellarsan but when I queried, they were using it undiluted. Given it dilutes at 1.5 ml per litre, that's the devil's number stronger than then level you are supposed to use. (1L / 1.5ml = 666.666  )

[Thirsty Jim]

I used sodium metabisulphate for years.  Used to get it from the chemist.  I hate the stuff because it literally takes my breath away.  Then I switched to unscented bleach and a hot rinse.  I can't smell it in my beer and no one who has ever drunk it has complained.   It's cheap and effective and I have never had a brew I have had to tip because of infection.   A quarter of a cup to a fermenter full of water, all the gear in the fermenter,  leave soak overnight.   Rinse with hot water (not the PETs though, I use glass) .   I am a bit chlorine sensitive too.  I wont drink the water on the peninsula because of its chloride taste and smell.   If there is any residual smell it is beyond my snoz.

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:31 AM, Journeyman said:

1.5 ml per litre,

Crap! Just realised I mixed up my current spray bottle double strength!

Extra sanitised!