Homebrew Sterilising??

azzeretti

Right, I have all the gear needed to start my first batch. However, I am a little concerned with the whole sterilisation/cleaning process. Particuarly the rinsing after sterilising. Has anyone every used Milton or similar for this process? Obvioulsy its fine for the baby's bottle and no rinsing required.......Has anyone ever tried it?

rubadub

Milton is simply 3% sodium hypochlorite, i.e. half strength regular bleach. Tesco do a "value" unscented thin bleach really cheap. Just rinse very well after it, or milton.

I never used thick or scented bleach, it would need good cleaning.

azzeretti

Thanks.
I was just concerned about rinsing with tap water after sterilisation. Surely tap water isn't sterile and would introduce some sort of bacteria. I was hoping to just use something that didn't need rinsing!

oblivious

One down side of commercial bleach is that it really need to be at a low pH around 3 to be effective, a simple method is adding 30ml of thin un-scented bleach to 20 liter of water with another 30ml of white vinegar.

this will produce a simple no rinse sterilizer that is effective in 1- 5 minute, but never add the white vinegar to the bleach directly as this will release poisonous chlorine gas and it also not advised to use on stainless steel.

I use this all the time and just let the items drip dry

rubadub

azzeretti wrote: »

Thanks.
I was just concerned about rinsing with tap water after sterilisation. Surely tap water isn't sterile and would introduce some sort of bacteria. I was hoping to just use something that didn't need rinsing!

Nobody really sterilizes in homebrewing, some might but there is no real need. You are really sanitizing. There are contaminants in the air all around you, the moment a sterilie susbstance in a container is exposed to outside air it is contaminated in split seconds. This is why jars of food might be fine on your shelf for decades, but will say use within 4 days of opening. Your tap water is clean enough, it is treated and I never had a problem.

Once in the container you could always drop in a campden tablet, this gets rid of chlorine and chloramine (not sure if they use chloramine in Ireland?) But you must let it settle for a day or so or it will kill or hinder your yeast.

Prenderb

No-rinse is the way to go if you can find it. They say the bleach/vinegar method is non-rinse, but I haven't tried it, has anyone else? I've used bruclean which needs a rinse, but it came with the starter equipment pack I got so I'm going to use it up till it's finished.

Rinsing is a pain, especially with bottles. I'd love to get one of those bottle trees with a push-to-squirt-sanitiser top on them....

oblivious

Prenderb wrote: »

but I haven't tried it, has anyone else? .

yes all the time, Idophore is another no rice sanitizer that available from the home brew company.ie and it can be use on stain less steel.

Prenderb wrote: »

Rinsing is a pain, especially with bottles. I'd love to get one of those bottle trees with a push-to-squirt-sanitiser top on them....

A bottle trees are handy alright, but kegging is much better fun;)

noby

I use the bleach/vinegar method too. As Oblviious says, be careful how you mix it.

azzeretti

rubadub wrote: »

Milton is simply 3% sodium hypochlorite, i.e. half strength regular bleach. Tesco do a "value" unscented thin bleach really cheap. Just rinse very well after it, or milton.

I never used thick or scented bleach, it would need good cleaning.

So, just to get my head around this, do you recommend not using Milton, or using it but rinsing? Its just for everything else Milton says it doesn't need to be rinsed, it even says it will sterilise water!?

azzeretti

Actually I found the answer to this myself but it might be worth it for the rest of ye:

The link below is to the Milton site itself and you can see that they recommend it for Homebrew specifically......no more rinsing!

http://www.milton-tm.com/hygiene-and-antibacterial-products-uses-of-milton.htm

oblivious

azzeretti wrote: »

Actually I found the answer to this myself but it might be worth it for the rest of ye:

The link below is to the Milton site itself and you can see that they recommend it for Homebrew specifically......no more rinsing!

http://www.milton-tm.com/hygiene-and-antibacterial-products-uses-of-milton.htm

Yea but if you also lower the ph with vinegarit works really fast in theory one minute

azzeretti

oblivious wrote: »

Yea but if you also lower the ph with vinegarit works really fast in theory one minute

Silly question time..........Just ordinary White Malt vinegar, will that do?

rubadub

azzeretti wrote: »

The link below is to the Milton site itself and you can see that they recommend it for Homebrew specifically......no more rinsing!

I would definintely rinse, they should be left bone dry IMO otherwise. They did not specifically say no rinsing for homebrew, it would not harm you but I would worry about it imparting a flavour. Milton is simply standard bleach, it or similar compounds are what the stink is in swimming pools, it is similar to water treatment for public supply, many brewers will specifically filter water or leave it stand, aerate or add campden tablets to get rid of the last traces of chlorine.

Also bleach is very powerful and good kill or at least weaken the yeast strength if you are trying to do a secondary fermentation.

oblivious

azzeretti wrote: »

Silly question time..........Just ordinary White Malt vinegar, will that do?

That will do fine

winemaker

rubadub wrote: »

I would definintely rinse, they should be left bone dry IMO otherwise. They did not specifically say no rinsing for homebrew, it would not harm you but I would worry about it imparting a flavour. Milton is simply standard bleach, it or similar compounds are what the stink is in swimming pools, it is similar to water treatment for public supply, many brewers will specifically filter water or leave it stand, aerate or add campden tablets to get rid of the last traces of chlorine.

Also bleach is very powerful and good kill or at least weaken the yeast strength if you are trying to do a secondary fermentation.

I agree that Milton can impart a flavour. We just boil a kettle and rinse everything with the boiled water. Safest option anyway considering the water quality here in the west.

oblivious

winemaker wrote: »

I agree that Milton can impart a flavour. We just boil a kettle and rinse everything with the boiled water. Safest option anyway considering the water quality here in the west.

You need much more bleach it you use it on it own, lowering the ph will make will sterilize 20 liter of water with 30ml of bleach.

another product that is avilable is iodophor quick and easy no rinse sterilizer available from the Irish homebrew company here