Sanitizer of choice?

[lexuschris]

Greets all!

I was curious as to which sanitizer you prefer or recommend?

For many years, I used 1/2 tsp of chlorine bleach per gallon without any troubles. However, I had a batch taste like band-aids about 2 years ago, and read that it could have been too much bleach residue in the bottles or fermenter. So I switched to One-Step, and have had good batches since.

But now, I realize that there are cleaners AND sanitizers. I've been lucky, in that the band-aid batch was the only one I lost. So, what are your preferences for sanitizing? and or cleaning?

Also, I saw a picture on this site of someone flipping the bird while bottle washing, but he was using a cool contraption on the top of his bottle tree... squirting sanitizer from a basin upward, by pressing the bottle down over the tip.

Does that work well? That would be a hell a lot easier than my currently, submerge bottles in 3 gallons of sanitizing solution and use a bottle brush to route around in there.

Again, feedback is greatly appreciated!
--LexusChris

[dhempy]

I have one of those devices sitting on top of my bottle tree. When I bottle (mostly competitions), I use iodophor ... never an issue. My bottles are generally clean to start with and after a quick rinse with H20, they only need 3-4 pumps of iodophor, and then sit on the rack to dry. Because I use a beer-gun, I usually lay a sanitized cap on top and then place them in the fridge (to reduce foaming), but for bottling a full batch, air dry on the tree works well.

Dan

[Rezzin]

I use both iodophor and Starsan. I mostly use iodophor when sanitizing a lot of bottles or kegs and Starsan for everything because I like the foam.

[lars]

I use starsan for sanitizing everything, and pbw or oxyclean 'free' for cleaning.

[kevinham]

I use StarSan as well for sanitizing, and regular dish soap or oxiclean for cleaning. Oxiclean will eat through the stubborn krausen rings and hard to clean stuff.

[JonGoku]

I use StarSan as well for sanitizing, and regular dish soap or oxiclean for cleaning. Oxiclean will eat through the stubborn krausen rings and hard to clean stuff.

+1
I also use Oxiclean 'free' to remove labels from bottles.

[brahn]

I also use Starsan for sanitizing everything, though I can see how iodophor might be nice for bottles. I use PBW for my cleaning needs. I've used oxyclean free too in the past.

[brew captain]

Used Iodophor almost exclusively for sanitizing until this year. Now I am a Star San convert not only because it does not stain everything in comes into contact with but also because when it breaks down the by-products are yeast positive once the PH rises above 3.5 (which it does almost immediately upon contact with the wort). Iodophor (if you don't drip dry your equipment) can actually kill a small portion of your yeast until it's sanitizing capacity is degraded sufficiently. That makes this almost a no brainer. I will admit that I still use Iodophor in my blow off vessel because it doesn't foam up, but remember that yeast health is unimportant in there. I do have some low-foam Star San coming and hope that I can use that product for all of my sanitizing applications. You need to use slightly more of the product (one ounce per three gallons instead of five), but that is no big deal...

Cheers!

[JonGoku]

Used Iodophor almost exclusively for sanitizing until this year. Now I am a Star San convert not only because it does not stain everything in comes into contact with but also because when it breaks down the by-products are yeast positive once the PH rises above 3.5 (which it does almost immediately upon contact with the wort). Iodophor (if you don't drip dry your equipment) can actually kill a small portion of your yeast until it's sanitizing capacity is degraded sufficiently. That makes this almost a no brainer. I will admit that I still use Iodophor in my blow off vessel because it doesn't foam up, but remember that yeast health is unimportant in there. I do have some low-foam Star San coming and hope that I can use that product for all of my sanitizing applications. You need to use slightly more of the product (one ounce per three gallons instead of five), but that is no big deal...

Cheers!

Great info! Thanks Cap'n, I didn't realize or think about how a sanitizer could potentially harm the yeast.

[BrewMasterBrad]

Bleach is not a good sanitizer since it is sticks around and is hard to rinse away completely. I use Star San for most everything. I use Iodophor for bottles.