Steralisation

[cosmondo]

Hi, I'm wondering if I can get some help please.

I'm off mains water, it comes directly from the hills without any treatment whatsoever. For this reason, I don't think I will continue down the bleach route I'm on atm - due to the amount of rinsing, I don't want to use too much water & I'm not entirely convinced that I'm not undoing the work the bleach has done - by rinsing my sterile stuff with untreated hill water.

I've read about "no-rinse" treatments & I think this will be my best bet.

Is someone able to point out a good cheap source, I'm on a budget & this is one reason I liked the bleach (5L for 70p in Lidl).

Any help is most appreciated, also any pointers on if my untreated hill water is suitable for making beer/wine & how to go about testing it.

I've got a greengauge wine fermenting & a St. Peter's Ruby Red kit fermenting too - these are my 1st attempts.

Thanks.

[potatoes]

Just an idea but what about boiling the water you use to rinse the bottles? You could put it in a spare FV (if you have one) and rinse using the tap on the fv?

[Wolfy]

A dedicated no rinse sanitizer like StarSan is a very cheap per-application sanitizer, you may be surprised how cheap it works out for the small amounts you'll use each time.
If you must use bleach, use the correct dosage (about 2ml/L of 3% bleach) and let it drip/drain and dry, that way there will be minimal residue from the bleach and you should not need to rinse it at all.

If you can drink your water it's suitable for brewing.
The big question is what types of beer is it most suitable for and what treatment does it need in terms of salt additions/removal - but that really depends on exactly what is in the water.

[cosmondo]

A dedicated no rinse sanitizer like StarSan is a very cheap per-application sanitizer, you may be surprised how cheap it works out for the small amounts you'll use each time.
If you must use bleach, use the correct dosage (about 2ml/L of 3% bleach) and let it drip/drain and dry, that way there will be minimal residue from the bleach and you should not need to rinse it at all.

If you can drink your water it's suitable for brewing.
The big question is what types of beer is it most suitable for and what treatment does it need in terms of salt additions/removal - but that really depends on exactly what is in the water.

Have you actually tried this?

It's certainly a promising idea to me - thanks.

[cosmondo]

If you must use bleach, use the correct dosage (about 2ml/L of 3% bleach) and let it drip/drain and dry, that way there will be minimal residue from the bleach and you should not need to rinse it at all.

Have you actually tried this?

It's certainly a promising idea to me - thanks.

Take it that's a no then

Any other takers?

Drinking "Minimal bleach residue" - any takers?

[Wolfy]

Have you actually tried this?

It's certainly a promising idea to me - thanks.

Yes, after an acidified bleach wash, I let all my bottles/fermenters drain (unrinsed) if I'm not going to use them immediately, however they also get a rinse of StarSan immediately before use.
I use 2ml/L of 3% bleach and the same of white vinegar for the acidified bleach wash.
However, I don't recall where the information/suggestion originally came from, and for the moment all I found is JP in How to Brew suggesting that "(at 4 milliliters per liter) Rinsing is supposedly not necessary at this concentration".

Take it that's a no then

Take it as a living in a different time zone and not on these forums all day/every day.

Try it.
Wash a fermenter with acidified bleach using the concentrations above (it will smell like bleach), store it for a week or two, upside down on a towel to drain (most likely it will not smell like bleach). Add a couple of L of water and do a taste test.

Obviously rinsing with hot-boiling water and/or using a no-rinse sanitizer is better, however if you can't or won't do either of those, drained bleach at those concentrations is an acceptable option.

[mentaldental]

Bleach is effective and cheap. Starsan is also pretty cheap per application as already mentioned. The only problem is it doesn't hard or alkaline water. What is your hill water like?

I tend to clean everything well and disinfect with Starsan before use, letting it drip dry.

If something needs nuking I will use Antiformin S or bleach and then rinse with Starsan.

Other strategies will work .

[cosmondo]

Thanks Wolfy (& others) very helpful, I'll look out for this starsan - it seems not to be held by most online homebrew outlets.