bleach

[Carpking]

I think i'll give all my kit a good soak in something after its worked so hard all through 2009. I usually just give it a scrub with steriliser powder, rinse and use Videne and it seems fine but i better do a proper job before i get any nasties in my brews.
So i'm thinking of getting some 'thin unscented bleach and giving it a good ovenight soak. Could someone let me know how much to add per gallon for a good clean. I guess it just needs a good rinse afterwards and its back in service.
Thanks for any advice.

[trucker5774]

Normal sanitising is only about 1 to 2% I often use 5% for a deep clean. Just be sure to rinse well. I soak again in fresh water then rinse some more. You can also use campden in your final rinse if you are worried

[Carpking]

Great. Thanks. I will give my tackle a good clean then!

[Graham]

If you are going to leave overnight, then even moderate amounts of bleach will be effective - it will have plenty of time to work.

It is not the hard surfaces of bins and buckets, paddles, and stuff like that, that needs the attention. If it is really clean there is no food and nowhere for bugs to lurk, so bacteria counts should be pretty low. It is the hidden places, like the innards of taps, syphon tubing, cask caps and so on that need attention.

Videne is worse than useless at hard-surface disinfection, and at 12.5ppm you would be better off shouting at the bugs and telling them to go away; it would be far more effective. So a good bleach blitz from time to time is not a bad idea for Videne advocates.

[Carpking]

Thanks Graham.
Its really all the taps, lids and tubes that are getting cleaned. While i am a lazy Videne user, everything gets a good soak and rinse on brewday using steriliser powder. I dont think you can be too clean on brewday.

Would you recommend something else in place of Videne for giving things a ''quick clean as you go''?

Next up is your White Shield form the book

Cheers.

[Graham]

Would you recommend something else in place of Videne for giving things a ''quick clean as you go''?

No, not really. If you want to use iodophor, when your Videne runs out - buy the Brupaks Iodophor. It's twice the price but is twice as strong, so it works out the same.

Antiseptic solutions, like Videne, are meant for long-term skin contact and application to wounds, and are very 'mild' to say the least. They do not contain the proper surfactants for wetting of hard surfaces nor do they contain the strong mineral acids necessary to boost bug-killing power and maintain the proper pH. A proper iodophor should be many times more effective than an antiseptic one at the same concentration due to the acids.

As Brupaks Iodophor is advertised as being suitable for hard surfaces, I assume that it has the proper formulation to work.

I an not convinced that 12.5ppm is strong enough for anything other than water purification, but as our hard, smooth surfaces cannot harbour much bacteria if clean, I will concede that it is must have some effect and is better than nothing.

[Carpking]

Noted. Cheers Graham.

[jason123]

Great. Thanks. I will give my tackle a good clean then!

Don't put bleach on your tackle, just keep it for the brewing gear.

It'll probably sting and might keep the mrs away, though if she's like mine that wouldn't be a bad thing.

[L2wis]

haha brilliant reply! I've just picked myself up 2lt's of thin unsented bleach from sainburys this lunch for 28p! Hopefully it will work a treat on a barrel i've just purchased from ebay. I got some soda crystals too but im not entirely sure what to do with them.

Good link to this sorta stuff here: http://18000feet.mesb.co.uk/cleaning_and_sanitising.htm

It was from another thread on here

[pantsmachine]

Soda crystal are really cheap. I use about 1/2 a bag(500G) in a warm water(only so i don't freeze my hands) and fill/dunk anything i want to clean i in it. My 1/2 a bag measure is for 5 gallon and i scale down from there. I think i'm ott at that volume but at the price of crystal it doesn't matter I have never investigated any other cleaners or sterilising agents apart from soda crytals and thin bleach as i get such good results with them. it was good enough for my granny and she got to 90 so its good enough for me.

When i was brewing with a clear 5 gallon glass fermenter with a 2" neck on it cleaning should have been awkward. Using the crystals i could watch them blitzing through the fermentation line in the FV within seconds. 5 minutes and it was clean. Can you tell i'm a soda crytals fan?

Edit-in fact after writing the above i clicked on the link you have posted and that's exactly where i got the info from. If i am going to brew i will usually have been in the supermarket the day before and bought 2 bags of crytals and 2 of 2 litre of thin bleach. Think its costs me about £2 odds for the lot. NEVER had an off brew(cheers Chris).

[L2wis]

Awesome post there hehe I've also become quite the fan of bleach, I'm still yet to use soda crystals but I'm sure I'll become a fan haha. I've got before and after pics of the inside of my 2inch barrel. I filled it with 600ml of the thin bleach and then topped up to 12 litres of cold water.

It looked like new inside it in the morning!