Have got my longnecks soaking in a Coopers Sanitiser mixture & have just bought some Brewcraft Brewshield Sanitiser to use on the bottles. When I bought the gear I assumed it was a 'No Rinse' sanitiser but it says nothing on the label about being No Rinse. Thinking maybe I've bought the wrong stuff. Also got some Dextrose to whack in the bottles,but don't know how much per longneck.Sanitising before bottling.
Sanitising before bottling.
Have got my longnecks soaking in a Coopers Sanitiser mixture & have just bought some Brewcraft Brewshield Sanitiser to use on the bottles. When I bought the gear I assumed it was a 'No Rinse' sanitiser but it says nothing on the label about being No Rinse. Thinking maybe I've bought the wrong stuff. Also got some Dextrose to whack in the bottles,but don't know how much per longneck.Re: Sanitising before bottling.
Brewshield is no-rinse.
A beer in the hand is worth two in George Bush...
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
Re: Sanitising before bottling.
Brewshield is a no rinse sanitizer similar to Idophor which has iodine added to it. The difference between sanitizing and serilizing from what I can make out is that sterilizing destroys harmful bacteria and micro-organisms where as sanitizers such as hydrogen peroxide or sodium percarbonate are more of a cleaning and mild anti-bacterial agent as found in laundry powders.
Bottle washing and keg cleaning if in a bad state probably need sanitizing first then sterilizing in that order. Idophor has the cleaning agent of hydrogen peroxide as well as the powerful antiseptic properties of iodine all in the one package which obviously makes it popular with HB'ers. Whether the small plastic measure bought at homebrew shops used for sugar in stubbies and longnecks will give you the correct amount of dextrose you would need to get bottles up to the right sort of carbonation I don't know, I never used it in my bottling days but someone on this forum will know the answer.
Cheers and happy brewing.
Bottle washing and keg cleaning if in a bad state probably need sanitizing first then sterilizing in that order. Idophor has the cleaning agent of hydrogen peroxide as well as the powerful antiseptic properties of iodine all in the one package which obviously makes it popular with HB'ers. Whether the small plastic measure bought at homebrew shops used for sugar in stubbies and longnecks will give you the correct amount of dextrose you would need to get bottles up to the right sort of carbonation I don't know, I never used it in my bottling days but someone on this forum will know the answer.
Cheers and happy brewing.
Re: Sanitising before bottling.
For my first several brews I used the bottle priming measure that came with my kit. I tended to get inconsistent carbonation, and it was very fiddly. I still use bottles (I *like* bottles, so I doubt I'll ever switch to kegs), but now I bulk prime. That means I have a spare tub (I got a 25L plastic carboy from bunnings for not very many $), into which I put some dex (having mixed it with a little water and boiled it to discourage microbial enemies). Then I rack the beer from the fermenter into this tub, and bottle from there.
One of the good things about bulk priming is that it is easy to very the carbonation according to the style of beer. See for example http://hbd.org/brewery/library/YPrimerMH.html . There are other pages some of which contain calculators so you can put in the size of your batch, the temperature and the phase of the moon in order to have it tell you how much dex to put in.
Pros:
* Consistent carbonation across the batch.
* Doesn't matter what size bottles, so you can easily do some longies and some stubbies.
* Somewhat easier to do the last few bottles without stirring up sediment, since you leave the sediment behind when you rack.
* Easy to very the level of carbonation for different beers.
Cons:
* Risk of infection (very small if you're careful about sanitation)
* Need an extra tub/fermenter/etc
Also, some people swear by carbonation drops which are effectively sugar cubes which are just the right amount of dex for a bottle (of some particular size). I've never used them, so I can't really comment.
One of the good things about bulk priming is that it is easy to very the carbonation according to the style of beer. See for example http://hbd.org/brewery/library/YPrimerMH.html . There are other pages some of which contain calculators so you can put in the size of your batch, the temperature and the phase of the moon in order to have it tell you how much dex to put in.
Pros:
* Consistent carbonation across the batch.
* Doesn't matter what size bottles, so you can easily do some longies and some stubbies.
* Somewhat easier to do the last few bottles without stirring up sediment, since you leave the sediment behind when you rack.
* Easy to very the level of carbonation for different beers.
Cons:
* Risk of infection (very small if you're careful about sanitation)
* Need an extra tub/fermenter/etc
Also, some people swear by carbonation drops which are effectively sugar cubes which are just the right amount of dex for a bottle (of some particular size). I've never used them, so I can't really comment.
Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?
-- The Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
-- The Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
Re: Sanitising before bottling.
Biernut,
generally speaking, you will never sterilise equipment. The major difference between san vs ster is simply the degree to which you remove microorganisms and their spores. Total removal = sterilisation, and this is a quite difficult result to achieve, and generally unnecessary for brewing purposes.
It isn't anything to do which which cleaning agent you use.
Idophor doesn't contain H2O2, it contains iodine and phosphoric acid. It is purely a sanitiser, not a cleaner.
The best cleaners in my experience are chlorine and napisan. These can also be used to sanitise gear, but that's when I switch to idophor.
generally speaking, you will never sterilise equipment. The major difference between san vs ster is simply the degree to which you remove microorganisms and their spores. Total removal = sterilisation, and this is a quite difficult result to achieve, and generally unnecessary for brewing purposes.
It isn't anything to do which which cleaning agent you use.
Idophor doesn't contain H2O2, it contains iodine and phosphoric acid. It is purely a sanitiser, not a cleaner.
The best cleaners in my experience are chlorine and napisan. These can also be used to sanitise gear, but that's when I switch to idophor.
A beer in the hand is worth two in George Bush...
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
Re: Sanitising before bottling.
Chris
Read my post carefully, it was a generalization. You are stating the obvious while I was just keeping it simple.
Read my post carefully, it was a generalization. You are stating the obvious while I was just keeping it simple.
Re: Sanitising before bottling.
Read and re-read.
A beer in the hand is worth two in George Bush...
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
Re: Sanitising before bottling.
Sorry Biernut, but you're on the wrong track with this line.
Sterilisation is virtually impossible to achieve in a home kitchen, whatever chemicals you use. Unless you've got yourself an Autoclave.
If they're in a bad state, they need *washing* to remove any solid matter stuck to them, then sanitising - well, to sanitise them.Biernut wrote:Bottle washing and keg cleaning if in a bad state probably need sanitizing first then sterilizing in that order.
Sterilisation is virtually impossible to achieve in a home kitchen, whatever chemicals you use. Unless you've got yourself an Autoclave.
Re: Sanitising before bottling.
...and there isn't any H2O2 in idophor...
A beer in the hand is worth two in George Bush...
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick