Bleach clean....or not?

[oldstout]

Popped into my LHBS today and during conversation I casually mentioned I bleach all my bottles and FV. I almost had to pick the guy off the floor such was his horror :shock:

Up to now I have had no problems whatsoever, but he said he would NEVER use houshold chemicals such as bleach to sterilise :nono: :nono: My bottles are washed out immediately following drinking, dried and put away gleaming clean, until next bottling. That's when I'll sterilise for an hour or so in a spare FV with a mild bleach solution and rinse VERY VERY thoroughly before bottling. As I say, NO ill effects with either wine or beer so far :pray:

So is he just after a sale with his VWP or Ritchies sanitisers :lol: or should I heed his advice and cease bleaching from now?? :wha: :wha:

Whadyareckon :wha:

 

[Hawks]

I thought bleach solution was fine :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

The active ingredient in bleach is chlorine,

The active ingredient in Ritchies or VWP is chlorine

The cleaning ingredient in bleach is hydroxide

The cleaning ingredient in Ritchies/VWP is bicarbonate/hydroxide.

As you say it is a dilute bleach solution and is rinsed well hypochlorite solutions (aka bleach) are used by professional breweries as disinfectants . . .Ok they don't have fragrance etc added . . . .but then you use an unfragranced bleach don't you?

Some LHBS owners are, perhaps, a tad behind the times as to what we can use for various jobs in the brewery Plus they just don't know this stuff, and can't be bothered to find such stuff out

 

[Essex_Lad]

I have used bleach before when people have given me bottles and they have not been washed out. Never had any issues, just always made sure they are well rinsed before adding brew.

 

[abeyptfc]

i ran out of vwp after kegging my last brew, i washed all the yeast out of the bottom of the fv and gave it a few squirts of domestos and filled up with warm water to steep, aslong as its well rinsed it will be fine

 

[artiums_enteri]

Using bleach is not the best idea because it is a chlorine based cleaner which must be rinsed thoroughly. There are much safer and easier cleaners/sanitizes on the market which are made for brewing. Check out the five star product line. PBW works really well for cleaning. Star-San is an excellent no rinse sanitizer. Whatever you choose id look for something that is a no rinse sanitizer.

 

[harry2208]

i haven't started brewing yet, but i was planning on getting a steamer, i've read that thats quite a clean effective way to do it, i don't know whether bleach is a no no or not tho.

 

[31bb3]

Thin supermarket bleach is fine to use just make sure its well rinsed out afterwards vwp is also chlorine based and also needs thoughly rinsing out i use either then i give it a spray with videne to make sure ive got all the nooks and crannys

 

[Scorrie]

Bleach solution is fine providing you thoroughly rinse.

 

[oldstout]

I learned early on that it kills ALL remaining yeast and found out for myself. I sterilised a FV after washing out with VWP before putting into a black bin bag and into my shed. One week later I got the FV out to brew and it REEKED of yeast...

Never had any bother so far :pray:

:

 

[fisherman]

I find the thin bleach fine . I rinse with water several times then squirt a solution I keep as a freshner 1 camden dissolved in 1 pint of water in a very rinsed and cleaned fairy liquid squirty bottle , The camden solution kills off chlorine. I rinse all bottles as soon as I have emptied them and fill them as soon as I can. I like to think a full bottle is a sterilised bottle :

 

[Runwell-Steve]

I sometimes use bleach in my FV's, especially if I think they need a good clean.

For bottles I find all the bleaching and rinsing takes too long for me.

For bottles and corny kegs I just wash out with cheap Oxy cleaner, then give a rinse with water. Everthing gets a quick spray of Starsan before I use it.

 

[oldstout]

Bleach shall remain good enough for me then

:

 

[adomant]

as fisherman says, if using bleach/vwp then rinse thoroughly and finally spray with thin metabisulphate solution, this will remove the chlorine (big destroyer of brews). to Di this effectively you must add a small amount of citric acid to the metabisulphate (campden) solution

 

[Mark1964]

I've used bleach on several occasions but only the thin stuff. You must leave it for at least 30 mins though to do It's job and rinse very well

 

[Laurin]

I started using bleach and vinegar because its probably the cheapest sanitizer around. The inventor of StarSan tells you about it here starting at 08.50 and how to do it safely. He basically says to mix 1oz of vinegar in 5gallons of water and then add 1oz of bleach (cheapest and simplest possible) to create a 30sec no rinse sanitiser.

-----------------------NEVER EVER MIX BLEACH AND VINEGAR UNDILUTED DIRECTLY WITH EACH OTHER--------------------------

 

[anthonyUK]

as fisherman says, if using bleach/vwp then rinse thoroughly and finally spray with thin metabisulphate solution, this will remove the chlorine

I do this too. A cheap and easy way to ensure you remove all traces of chlorine/chloramine.

Don't use 'thick' bleach though. The cheapest, thinnest one is best in this case.

 

[Mungobiscuit]

So hive mind, I have a swimming pool at work, so I could use sodium hypochlorite solution as its only 14% strength anyway and costs 10 quid for 20l??

 

[Mungobiscuit]

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I use thin bleach at 2.5mg per litre to give my stuff a good soak, I give everything a rinse, allow to dry and then spray with star san, not had a problem since.

That said, im having terrible trouble finding thin bleach at the moment so I've got cheap milton for my next brew.