Sanitizer

[OldHooky]

I was in Atlas Restaurant Supply yesterday, and I found a commercial glass sanitizer for $14.00/gallon. Apparently, 1 tablespoon makes 4 gallons. Does anyone have any experience with this or a similiar product?

[chris1kanobi]

Whatever it is make sure it is food grade. Often resturant sanitizers are used with an industrial dish washer, with high heat and rince cycles. Sanitizers found in the dairy industry would be similar to those used in homebrewing. Personally I stick with StarSan, it has been tested and proven in the brewing environment, and it can be reused many times without loss of killing power. :D

[axis714]

I found a wine supply store nearby that sells sulphite crystals for cleaning grapes....also they say it can be used to sanitize equiptment....i was curious if anyone had ever used this....and if it is a safe sanitiser for beer I bought a few ponds of it and i suppose if its used in winemaking its food grade but im just unsure about using sulfites in beer....the package gives directions for sanitising so.....is this potassium meta bisulphate? sulfites ,sulfides, UNSURE

[chris1kanobi]

Sulfites are used in wine to prevent oxydization. It is used in very small amounts in dried fruit and packaged vegitables. It is a preservitive, not a sanitizer. If ou want cheap and effective, go with bleach or Idaphor. StarSan is a commercial strength, reusable acid sanitizer with foaming action. In my opinion, sanitiation is one of the key elements in making good quality beer, cutting corners will only lead to frustration down the road. :p

[S.F.B.]

I started with B-T-F Iodaphor and have been using it since. Never a problem and a pint lasts about a year.

[fretlessman71]

Anyone here ever hear of using Oxi-Clean as a sanitizer? I thought I had seen it somewhere. I was cleaning out the laundry room and found a tub of the stuff. Might be a little old, but so are the bars of soap I found underneath my bathroom sink and THEY still work... I don't know if this stuff would be considered food grade, but maybe there's something I can do with it that's beer related. Thoughts?

[chris1kanobi]

Oxy-Clean makes a good cleanser, but not sanitizer.

[toneyc]

My only problem with Iodophor is that I'm not the most graceful fella in the world and those purple stains are hard to clean up off of Wifey's clean white counter tops and the white plastic utensils and my shirt and...

So I went to StarSan. Sticker shock got me, but I like the little squeeze measuring thingie built into the bottle. It makes it easy to get exactly how much I need without having to pour multiple capfulls/teaspoonfulls, etc. Plus, it keeps longer than Iodophor.

:)
Toney.

[S.F.B.]

Is Star San a no-rinse sanitizer?

[chris1kanobi]

Yes. Here is all the info: http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/homebrew/index.html