Cleansing & sanitising - will this do it?

[Yeastmaster]

A few months ago during bottling I deliberately didn't sanitise one of my bottles as an experiment. I've just cracked that very bottle open after it's been conditioning for 10 weeks. It tastes flawless and has lovely lacing all the way down the glass (wilko stout)!

I'll keep doing this with one bottle every time I bottle for the next year and if things keep going well I'm not going to sanitise a bottle ever again!

 

[BruinTuns]

Thanks DM. I didn't cover them but I think I'll chance it. Want to bottle tonight and just can't be faffed to re-do them. I might if the brew was an expensive two can kit but it's just a JB Traditional Ale that I bought in the Tesco sale.

Yeastmaster, interesting idea. Tbh, I wonder about when brewers get an infected batch. Is it really poor sanitation, or did they do everything right and were just unlucky? In other words, just how much is careful sterilsation responsible for keeping infections away, and could it be the case that if you're going to get one it will happen whatever precautions we take?
I'll be as interested in your results as yourself.

 

[Yeastmaster]

I'll post the results on this thread a year from now. Watch this space.

 

[MyQul]

@Yeastmaster. I'm of the opinion that throrough cleaning of beer equipment, bottles etc goes a long way to killing microbes - dont have any evidence for this and am more than happy to be corrected on it. I think using sanitesing solutions afterwards is a a belt and braces approach. Interesting experiment though

 

[Cwrw666]

A few months ago during bottling I deliberately didn't sanitise one of my bottles as an experiment. I've just cracked that very bottle open after it's been conditioning for 10 weeks. It tastes flawless and has lovely lacing all the way down the glass (wilko stout)!

I'll keep doing this with one bottle every time I bottle for the next year and if things keep going well I'm not going to sanitise a bottle ever again!

Very interesting experiment. I've mentioned before in other threads that I don't use chemicals but `sterilise' everything with boiling water. Well, although that's true of the FV and PBs I use, when it comes to bottles here's what I do. After drinking a bottle I give it three rinse and shakes with warm water to get rid of the yeast and then up-end it on the drainer to dry. When it's time to bottle a batch I boil a kettle of water and slowly fill 3 bottles, then tip this into the next 3, then the next three, then the next three. So by the fourth time the bottles are at best being rinsed out with previously boiled water. After this I boil another kettle and so on...
In the past I've occasionally washed the whole lot in diluted bleach, but it's at least 4 years since the last time I did that.
So I think you'll find your brews will be ok doing what you're planning on doing, and remember, it's only very recently in the history of brewing that all these chemicals were ever used. And don't assume beer in the past was ****. Us older guys remember plenty of **** beer in our youths but mostly because it was produced by the big breweries who didn't give a damn for what they were selling. Thank god for CAMRA, real ale, microbreweries etc. etc.

 

[MyQul]

Was thinking about yeastmasters experiment on my commute yesterday morning.

I think one reason you could put beer in an unsanitised bottle and it not get infected is that beer is actually quite a hostile environment for for microbes to grown in. Firstly alcohol is hard for microbes to grow in as well as the low ph of beer is also hard for them to grow in. Hops have antimicrobial compounds in them so this also is another negative for bacteria growth - what beers are you making for your experiments Yeastmaster? If they're high ABV% hoppy IPA types those bacteria are really going to stuggle to grow.

 

[Yeastmaster]

About 4% on that occasion. Ill give it a try with one of my stuck Wherry kits next time!

 

[BruinTuns]

A quick question for all Star San users: how do you sanitize your fv?
Obviously it's impractical to brim it with the sterilizer so I've been giving the inside of mine a thorough spray with the other bits and pieces in it so they all get coated.
Do you think this is thorough enough?

 

[Bounce]

For my bottling bucket I use 10 litres of Star San and slosh it around the bucket. I then use the tap on the bucket to fill a spray bottle and give everything a good spray. And pump some through the auto-syphon. I keep the full spray bottle for use between brews for a quick sanitising spray in case I have an accident while brewing a batch (dropped spoons, cat etc :lol:)

 

[Brewski]

A quick question for all Star San users: how do you sanitize your fv?
Obviously it's impractical to brim it with the sterilizer so I've been giving the inside of mine a thorough spray with the other bits and pieces in it so they all get coated.
Do you think this is thorough enough?

I just poured my 5L of Starsan solution (5L Ashbeck + 7.5ml/qtr oz Starsan) into my FV, put the lid on the FV and swirled/rolled it around & tipped it upside-down a few times to make sure all surfaces got wet. I then chucked all the other bits (airlock, spoon etc) in the fv and left it for a couple of minutes.

Once done, I emptied the 5L into a clean washing up bowl and put all the bits and bobs in it. I then soaked the FV lid in sanitiser so it was ready when I needed it.

 

[dad_of_jon]

For my bottling bucket I use 10 litres of Star San and slosh it around the bucket. I then use the tap on the bucket to fill a spray bottle and give everything a good spray. And pump some through the auto-syphon. I keep the full spray bottle for use between brews for a quick sanitising spray in case I have an accident while brewing a batch (dropped spoons, cat etc :lol:)

you star san your cat?:???:

 

[Bounce]

you star san your cat?:???:

Should go in the Home Brew Disasters thread but most of my mishaps are cat-related and need Star San

1. Didn't have auto-syphon clip at the time. Turned my back for a second and the syphon jumped out of the FV into the cat's water bowl - Star San saves the day.

2. Syphoning next brew from FV into bottling bucket - cat starts nosing the tap so again Star San

3. Lifting a full 25ltr FV full of Oxy from floor to counter during cleaning. Hand slips and manage to spill most of it on the floor and a good few litres over the curious cat sitting underneath. Cat shoots out of cat flap and spends the next day giving me dirty looks.

So I've not used Star San on the cat per se but it has had a bath in oxy :whistle:

 

[dad_of_jon]

Re Star San:

I used it with tesco value water diluted at 10 ml 5 litres of water. Recommended id 7.5-12.5 so I went straight down the middle.

it turned cloudy but was still at PH3.

tried to get ashbeck but tescos were out of stock.

 

[Bounce]

I belive that cloudy is OK as long as the pH is still low. I make mine up with tap water b ut then our water up here will be nice and soft which I believe is fine.

 

[DoctorMick]

My first batch of star san is still viable and i've lost count of how many months old it is. It went cloudy after a week but PH is still well below the maximum.

 

[mrobinson]

I'm planning to mix my next batch with rainwater, which contains zero dissolved minerals and should have similar properties to distilled.

Has anybody done this?

I'm sure rainwater has sand in it - that's the stuff that makes your car dirty after it rains.

 

[MyQul]

I'm sure rainwater has sand in it - that's the stuff that makes your car dirty after it rains.

And isn't acid rain, rain water with sulphur in it from pollution which creates a weak sulphuric acid?

 

[MyQul]

A quick question for all Star San users: how do you sanitize your fv?
Obviously it's impractical to brim it with the sterilizer so I've been giving the inside of mine a thorough spray with the other bits and pieces in it so they all get coated.
Do you think this is thorough enough?

I use a plant sprayer full of starsan and spray the hell out of the inside of the FV. Then just tip the starsan collected in the bottom of the FV back into the jerrycan I keep it in

 

[Brewski]

I'm going to make my next brew using silage effluent, ferment it in old tramp's shoes and get Ten-bob Tina to suck-start my syphon. :lol:

 

[MyQul]

I'm going to make my next brew using silage effluent, ferment it in old tramp's shoes and get Ten-bob Tina to suck-start my syphon. :lol:

Murphy's law, It'd ferment out clean as a whistle and be the best brew you ever made