Sanitization/Cleaning products

[ADHD Curmudgeon]

That's my next step. I'm thinking of just making a bucket filter with those screw-in filter cartridges. (Considering my fermenter is around 80l, it might be the best attack plan.)

[haggmaster]

um, i don t use anything except clean hot water.
after i bottle my brew i scrub my plastic barrel clean with hot tap water,
then i refill it with hot water again and leave it for a couple of hours and rince again with hot water and leave it upsidedown to drain dry.
a couple of weeks later when i do another brew i rince it out with cold water.
have never had any trouble at all.
BUT i will say that after a year i ve noticed a slight yellowing of the plastic, so i might give it the once over with some bleach when i give it the after rince
soak.
and the same goes for all my bottles ,glass and plastic.
i just rince after use and again before bottling.
so far so good
cheers

[Eureka]

I was chatting to one of my wife's friends the other day, who does alot of jam making. She suggested the best way to sterilise bottles is clean them, rinse them in hot water and then stick 'em in the oven at 120 degrees celcius for 20 minutes. This is what the jam makers do so I can't see why this would work for beer bottles.

[mark68]

I've been using generic brand nappy san for ages,and have never had an infection yet.I always rinse at least twice to make sure there is no residue left after soaking.I also use this to sanitise my bottles.Sodium percarbonate is apparently a great bactericide,which suits homebrew.

[Aussie Claret]

Mark,
Napisan is an excellent cleaner but it isn't a sanitiser. I would recommend that you use a good non-rinse sanitiser after your wash and rinse with napisan.
AC

[501]

hey I beg to differ on the efficacy of sodium percarbonate for antimicrobial action.

when disolved in water sodium percarbonate degrades quickly into
H2O2 (peroxide) and soda ash.

peroxide is a very effective sanitiser,
most napisan style products conatain ~ 30% h2o2 in solution.

Coopers have now changed their 'sanitiser' to the above compound,
and the dairy / aquaculture / etc industries regard this compound as
important as well.

think I read somewhere that the 99% kill ratio is reached after 25 minutes
at 25 degrees celsius, though sodium percarbonate is stable / active above these temperatures unlike some of the more nasty chemicals we use.

Regards
501

[atropine]

I like sodium percarbonate but dont' buy it from home brew shops for $1.50 a 25gram satchel, that's a huge bloody rip off. Buy a kg of the stuff for a few dollars.

I don't like the slimness of it though. I dropped a bottle because your hands get so slippery.

PS interesting thing I found out. The sodium percarbonate & water mixture isn't actually slippery or slimey, it just feels that way because it eats away the fat in your hands and converts the fat into soap.

IT'S EATING YOUR HANDS AWAY!!! so make sure you wash them well before you go to the toilet, you dont' want it eating your john thomas away as well.

[501]

hehe good comment on the hands lol