sterilising products

[Clint]

Hello all I've been looking at sterilising products and comparing prices. .
I use the starsan equivalent from malt miller under the Richies label 500 ml for £12 which equates to 646g against their starsan 454g price of £13.20. So you (I ) would think it is in theory a good price.. However looking at homebrew online they have starsan 964 ml for around £23 so is on par with the mm/Richies cheaper product but you get starsan.
Now. ...look on Wilko website...they sell 1 litre of Milton steriliser for £2.60....one cap full makes 5 litres,no rinse,lasts 24 hours...
I know cheap bleach is infinitely cheaper but it's not no rinse which is what I'm looking at..
Anyone use Milton...or something similar?

Cheers

Clint

Just had another look around...pound land. .Dr Johnson sterilising fluids. .1 litre..you guessed.. £1
Reading up...the cheaper products are non chlorine based and take around 15 minutes to sterilise..the starsan type are acid based and take a couple of minutes at most.I wonder if the cheaper products just need a good swill and remain wet or total submersion?

 

[Clint]

...check out peraguard. ..for use in breweries..can't find a price yet.

 

[Dutto]

This makes 250 litres of no-rinse sanitising liquid ...

http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/chemipro-oxi-1kg

At 3.6p per litre it works out as less than 20p to make up the 5 litres I need to sanitise and rinse out the syphon tube, bottling bucket, bottling wand and 46 x 500ml bottles and caps I need for a 23 litre brew.

The one disadvantage I have found with it is that it leaves behind a grey film. The grey film washes off bottles and the clear bottling wand but not the plastic syphoning tube. Weird!

 

[Pawlo7671]

I dont think it gets any cheaper than starsan as you can re use it until the PH level goes some where. I bought the 473ml last year and the bottle is still full, at this rate it will last 10 years plus. I keep checking the ph level and make a new batch every 2 months.

 

[Leon103]

Hello all I've been looking at sterilising products and comparing prices. .
I use the starsan equivalent from malt miller under the Richies label 500 ml for £12 which equates to 646g against their starsan 454g price of £13.20. So you (I ) would think it is in theory a good price.. However looking at homebrew online they have starsan 964 ml for around £23 so is on par with the mm/Richies cheaper product but you get starsan.
Now. ...look on Wilko website...they sell 1 litre of Milton steriliser for £2.60....one cap full makes 5 litres,no rinse,lasts 24 hours...
I know cheap bleach is infinitely cheaper but it's not no rinse which is what I'm looking at..
Anyone use Milton...or something similar?

Cheers

Clint

Just had another look around...pound land. .Dr Johnson sterilising fluids. .1 litre..you guessed.. £1
Reading up...the cheaper products are non chlorine based and take around 15 minutes to sterilise..the starsan type are acid based and take a couple of minutes at most.I wonder if the cheaper products just need a good swill and remain wet or total submersion?

Remember these products are sanatisers and not sterilisers.

 

[Clint]

Milton and the Johnson one are labelled as sterilisers. .killing 99.9% ....

 

[foxbat]

Milton and the Johnson one are labelled as sterilisers. .killing 99.9% ....

That's because Milton contains Chlorine at a concentration of 0.012% - about 100ppm. Given that chlorine + yeast = chlorophenols that can be tasted at a concentration of 0.0001ppm I would say that if you use this stuff then rinse thoroughly preferably with water treated with a campden tablet. Basically treat it the same as if it were VWP or bleach.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Following a very quick search, not exhaustive by any means, the cheapest I've seen Star San is on ebay at ��£25.95 for 946ml, that's roughly 22p for a 5 litre batch of made-up solution.
Bleach and white vinegar, using Tesco cheapo products, works out at just over 1p for 5 litres.
Granted, the Star San is reusable as long as the pH is good, but the reason that I like the bleach and vinegar sanitiser is that it is so cheap, I can throw away any surplus and make a fresh batch every time I need it.
EDIT
Both Star San and bleach/vinegar require only 30 seconds of application to sanitise equipment.

 

[Bigcol49]

Milton contains Chlorine at a concentration of 0.012% - about 100ppm.

Hi!
Is that before dilution?

 

[Fil]

a local (no extra pnp) group buy of 5l of PAA the no rinse sanitiser used in the dairy industry works out @ about £4 a litre
its shelf life as a concentrate is limited as it does degrade with time hence the split 5 ways suggestion

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-LITRE-P...883080?hash=item2ef0689bc8:g:ZAUAAOSw9N1VqA-O

 

[foxbat]

Perecetic acid can be seriously nasty stuff. Are you sure it's no rinse?

 

[ScouseBrew]

Hi!
Following a very quick search, not exhaustive by any means, the cheapest I've seen Star San is on ebay at ��£25.95 for 946ml, that's roughly 22p for a 5 litre batch of made-up solution.
Bleach and white vinegar, using Tesco cheapo products, works out at just over 1p for 5 litres.
Granted, the Star San is reusable as long as the pH is good, but the reason that I like the bleach and vinegar sanitiser is that it is so cheap, I can throw away any surplus and make a fresh batch every time I need it.
EDIT
Both Star San and bleach/vinegar require only 30 seconds of application to sanitise equipment.

How do you use/mix this bleach and vinegar solution please Bigcol, sounds interesting.

 

[Bigcol49]

How do you use/mix this bleach and vinegar solution please Bigcol, sounds interesting.

Hi!
This is something suggested by Charlie Talley, inventor of Star San. I've adjusted his recipe to allow for the fact that UK bleach is weaker than US bleach.

To 5 litres water add 40ml cheap unscented bleach (I use Tesco's Value bleach) and mix well.
Once mixed, add 8ml distilled vinegar (also Tesco's cheap on) and mix again.
This is the warning: never mix bleach and vinegar with each other directly.It will produce a gas that will kill you.
The solution takes 30 seconds to sanitise and does not need to be rinsed, since the concentration of bleach is so low.
It doesn't keep well, so I mix up a new batch every time I brew.

 

[Fil]

Perecetic acid can be seriously nasty stuff. Are you sure it's no rinse?

Yes, no-rinse, i did have the recommended ppm metric bookmarked at one point however if atomising a face mask and eye protection is advisable. It was touted as a kill more alternative to starsan when the yeast friendly nature of starsan was being discussed and fear over wild yeast invasions gaining a foothold when pitching was delayed.

I went cold on the idea of transferring from starsan after discovering a bottle has a 12month shelf life, or it starts to deteriorate rapidly after 12 months or so??? Also its known to give off a strong vinegar odour and i HATE the smell of vinegar!! the thought of my brewkit ponging of that stuff turns my stomach..

 

[ScouseBrew]

Thank you, that's my next brew day/bottling session sorted!

 

[Robin54]

Perecetic acid can be seriously nasty stuff. Are you sure it's no rinse?

I used to sell a commercial sterilising device that used per acetic acid. It smells like vinegar (which it sort of is) since it has a free oxygen molecule which switches between PA and Vinegar. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that its bloody nasty dangerous stuff and highly corrosive. Strangely its safe to chuck down the drain. As an experiment, get a rusty bolt and put it in vinegar for a week and it will come out gleaming. PA will corrode any metal surface that isn't perfect.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

@Clint Have a look at this thread - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53700

 

[Clint]

Thanks chippy tea and everyone else for their informative response. ..everything you could need to know about sterilising your equipment.

Cheers

Clint