sterilising worries

[far9410]

Hi all

a couple of brews ago I had to ditch the lot and am now very worried about sterilising,one thing that concerns me most is, after sterilising if I rinse using tap water, how do I know the tap water is clean. I know this must have been asked before but I've read past comments on this subject and hope someone has a better answer to this

cheers

[GrowlingDogBeer]

To avoid any need to worry get yourself some Starsan, which is a no rinse sanitiser.

Wash and clean all your equipment as normal then spray it with a solution of starsan.

[far9410]

thanks steve, I've heard of this butI dont know much about it, how long does it need on contact to work, does it not leave a taste ?

cheers

[GrowlingDogBeer]

To be honest I don't know the answer as I haven't used it yet, it's on my shopping list though for a future purchase.

There are plenty of Starsan users on this forum though, hopefully someone will be along soon to answer the question.

[Kev888]

EDIT: before I get enthused by starsan, I should say that its possible but unlikely to be the tap water. Most kit brews are made with the stuff and no boiling and come out okay. Unless there's an issue with your pipework, or unless its coming from a local well or other bespoke source, its more likely to be something like a fly getting in or something that isn't being cleaned/sanitised effectively - a crevice in a tap or an overlooked hydrometer etc. So now thats added:

I find Starsan great, and actually I'm more likely to sanitise stuff more throughly than I used to just becaose its so convenient to use. It works very quickly - you can spray it on things in one of those spray bottle things, or swish it around inside buckets etc. It sanitises in a few moments, usually before its drained off - I think theres an official figure (of one or two minutes or something) but the general view is thats for legal reasons and that it actually works much more quickly. So you only need to use a little of it each time, plus if you collect it its re-useable for quite a while. I got two bottles when I bought mine, after several months I've only started one and still got most of that left because it goes a lot further than I'd anticipated. It doesn't leave a taste that I can detect (or that I've heard of) - in fact i heard that in FVs the yeast is able to eat it.

On the negative side, you do need to make up the solution with a fairly neutral PH water though, many people's tap water isn't, including mine. The give away that its not suitable is if it goes cloudy when mixed. Some bottled waters work and I use water taken from a dehumidifier or deionised/distilled water (£1 per 2.5L at asda for example). Its also really just a sanitiser, it can clean a little but its not very effective at that. And its only no-rinse in its diluted form, undiluited starsan is apparantly not so pleasant and some care is needed when handling/mixing, but then I guess thats the case with many things.

Cheers
Kev

[floydmeddler]

Starsan works very quickly - you can spray it on things in one of those spray bottle things, or swish it around inside buckets etc. It sanitises in a few moments, usually before its drained off - I think theres an official figure (of one or two minutes or something) but the general view is thats for legal reasons and that it actually works much more quickly. So you only need to use a little of it each time, plus if you collect it its re-useable for quite a while. I got two bottles when I bought mine, after several months I've only started one and still got most of that left because it goes a lot further than I'd anticipated. It doesn't leave a taste that I can detect (or that I've heard of) - in fact i heard that in FVs the yeast is able to eat it.

On the negative side, you do need to make up the solution with a neutral PH water though, many people's tap water isn't, including mine. The give away that its not suitable is if it goes cloudy when mixed. Some bottled waters work and I use water taken from a dehumidifier or deionised/distilled water (£1 per 2.5L at asda for example). Its also really just a sanitiser, it can clean a little but its not very effective at that. And its only no-rinse in its diluted form, undiluited starsan is apparantly not so pleasant so some care is needed, but then I guess thats the case with many things.

Cheers
Kev

Tesco Ashbeck water works perfectly too.

[vacant]

how do I know the tap water is clean.

The tap water is likely to be fine right up to the tap. Mold can grow on the end of a tap (we get a bit of black stuff sometimes in the bathroom) so have a go with a toothbrush or cotton bud and see what comes out. Don't forget to clean taps on boilers/FVs.

[maxashton]

Make sure your fermentation vessel is clean and free of scratches. Clean with soda crystals and a microfibre cloth. Rinse well with tap water, following suggestions above for checking your taps are clean.

I'd suggest buying starsan, and using aforementioned bottled waters (or distilled/RO if you can get it) to mix up the solution.

Officially, the contact time for starsan is 30 seconds, but that's because the FDA testing for no-rinse sanitizers in the dairy and meat industries ONLY test 30 second contact times. The chemist that invented the stuff has in the past stated it is effective on contact, and needs no set contact time.

If you continue to have a problem with infection, consider your sanitation procedure. Everything that touches wort before fermentation and after boil has to be sanitized. Spoons, taps, hoses, siphons, hydrometers etc.

Don't touch the wort with your hands!

If you still have problems, replace your fermentation vessel. Doesn't matter how many times it's been used, if you get a scratch or something, it's probably not worth trying to mend it for the sake of a few quid on a bucket.

Try switching to a glass carboy if you continue to have problems. They're a bit of a pain for kits, due to the nature of the concentrate, but I know people who have much better luck that way.

[far9410]

thanks guys, some great info there, I will look into all of this before brewing again

[pdc]

I too used to have problems with off tasting beer probably over zealous on the cleaning with bleach based products. I now use a weak bleach solution (wilko's own) to clean everything. I then rinse with cold tap water, followed by a rinse with a sodium metabisulphate (campden tablets) solution to nutralise any bleach residue. Not had a bad beer since.

[Kev888]

I'm a first time brewer and was wondering how long should I sanitize my fermenter and carboy for. I'm using a sanitiser called sani-brew.
thanks

I'm afraid that I'm not very familiar with this product myself, but I seem to remember it being a combined cleaner and sanitiser? If so then usually cleaners need to be left for longer than sanitisers to do their cleaning work. Hopefully it would be designed accordingly, but I wouldn't want to suggest a duration in my ignorance of the product.

Cheers
Kev