Cleaning and Domestic Drainage

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Midlife
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Cleaning and Domestic Drainage

Post by Midlife » Sat Dec 01, 2018 9:20 am

Hello,

I have just moved home and ready to start a brew again! My new property is not on mains drainage/sewage, we have a kleigester and mini treatment plant. So I was after some advice from a beer brewing perspective what I can and can’t put down the drain. I do 20l batches and sometimes use VWP, although mostly starsan now, also it ok to put the trub or beer dregs down the sink?

Cheers

D

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LeeH
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Cleaning and Domestic Drainage

Post by LeeH » Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:00 am

I put all my dry(ish) waste in the wheelie bin and try and avoid putting any cleaner into the tank.

The cleaning solution onto a hard surface and rinse away. The rinse water goes into the tank.


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Carnot
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Re: Cleaning and Domestic Drainage

Post by Carnot » Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:10 pm

Starsan is phosphoric acid and DDBSA. It will not have much effect on the septic tank system. If anything the phosphorous will act as a nutrient and the DDBSA will biodegrade without any adverse. I would switch the VPW to PBW, since the latter contains sodium percarbonate which will very quickly degrade in the septic tank. It releases active oxygen which will oxidise organic matter, but the quantities that you will use will be minimal with respect the other water streams- toilets, showers etc.which will dilute any Starsan or PBW to very low levels. The other decomposition product from the PBW is sodium carbonate which will neutralise the Starsan. Don't get too hung up. Even if you did a brew per day I doubt is there would be any adverse affect as the average person uses in excess of 110 ltrs of water per day.

RobP
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Re: Cleaning and Domestic Drainage

Post by RobP » Fri Dec 14, 2018 12:26 am

I have a septic tank. I don't put any cleaning fluid into any drains that go to the tank. I use sodium percarbonate for cleaning and keep it for 24 hours before disposal so I'm only putting sodium carbonate into the environment. I heave spent grains over the fence for sheep to eat (shhh - don't tell the crofters).

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IPA
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Re: Cleaning and Domestic Drainage

Post by IPA » Fri Dec 14, 2018 9:06 am

Midlife wrote:
Sat Dec 01, 2018 9:20 am
Hello,

I have just moved home and ready to start a brew again! My new property is not on mains drainage/sewage, we have a kleigester and mini treatment plant. So I was after some advice from a beer brewing perspective what I can and can’t put down the drain. I do 20l batches and sometimes use VWP, although mostly starsan now, also it ok to put the trub or beer dregs down the sink?

Cheers

D
Your system is not like the old septic tank tank system. In the septic tank system only human waste from the toilet went into it. Then it composted until it was full and was then emptied and used for manure. Waste water from the sink went elsewhere, usually the nearest ditch and vegetable waste went on the compost heap or in the dustbin.
The recommendations for your system is that it is emptied regularly by a commercial removal company by pump into a tanker every year or so depending on the occupancy of the house. This waste from the tank is then transported to a sewage treatment plant for disposal. So it ends up in the same system as houses with mains drainage.
Therefore my advice is to use your sink in exactly the same way that you would do if you were connected to mains drainage. After all a few teaspoons of chlorine in several thousand litres of water and human waste will go un-noticed. It may even help.
For the record we have a similar system and that is what we do.
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