How relatively harsh are all the different sanitising solutions? I'm not too hot on my chemistry but I know bleach isn't too great to be putting down the drain all the time but what are the other chemicals like? (Sodium met etc)
Is steam cleaning a viable option?
'Eco' sanitisation
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mysterio
If you want to produce something that requires little in the way of energy consumption i'd stick with cider and country wines.
(I was trying to use the vomit smiley but it doesnt work 
)Daab's right though, boiling the wort is like leaving the kettle on for an hour. If you are worried about that, I think energy companies have a scheme whereby you can pay a premium to have your energy sourced from renewable sources.
Fermentation also produces CO2 but this is effectively offset by the barley fields.
Other than that, if you are worried about the environment I would suggest that this is a good hobby for you.
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carpet
I have a bad feeling I'm coming across as a bit of an eco-nazi!
I just want to make sure I've looked into all the options and weighed them all up against each other - all the relative strengths of solutions is very useful DaaB, so thanks for them.
It is mainly to appease my girlfriend as she is very hot on the kind of cleaners and things we use in the house but when it comes to sanitising your brew equipment I know you've got to use stuff that does the job properly. (After all it was an inspired christmas present from her that has got me homebrewing in the first place so she doesn't want it all to go to waste through ruined beer!)
I just want to make sure I've looked into all the options and weighed them all up against each other - all the relative strengths of solutions is very useful DaaB, so thanks for them.
It is mainly to appease my girlfriend as she is very hot on the kind of cleaners and things we use in the house but when it comes to sanitising your brew equipment I know you've got to use stuff that does the job properly. (After all it was an inspired christmas present from her that has got me homebrewing in the first place so she doesn't want it all to go to waste through ruined beer!)
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Graham
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delboy
None of the sanitising chemicals are recalcitrant, they will all rapidly break down to their constituent parts in the environment.
As others have said the real culprit from an environmental angle would be the energy consumption of boiling the wort etc. But thats just the way it is if you want to make beer, if you want to make an omlette you've got to break a few eggs as they say.
As others have said the real culprit from an environmental angle would be the energy consumption of boiling the wort etc. But thats just the way it is if you want to make beer, if you want to make an omlette you've got to break a few eggs as they say.
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carpet
Too true - better a 3kw boiler than a 50kw car engine! And let's not forget that commercial beer is often transported long distance to the warehouse and then to the shop.you aren't making multiple trips to the off licence or bottle bank then that off sets the energy used when boiling the wort to a certain extent. Then of course all the time you are brewing you aren't driving your car to yet another garden centre or diy store on your days off so that off sets any energy used even further
I think we can sup with a clear conscience.
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Graham
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Graham
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SteveD
Oh I don't know, the reason phosphates are in fertiliser is that plants need them, and the reason they need them is they've evolved to need them, getting them from the soil, so all were doing by using star san is renewing the soil's supply of minerals that may have been depleted by plants. Very eco-aware and soil conscious I do believe. 
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delboy
Phosphates are usually the bottle neck in ecological terms, bacteria and fungi etc usually use carbon nitrogen and phosphorous in the ratios of roughly 100 :5:1 IIRC.SteveD wrote:Oh I don't know, the reason phosphates are in fertiliser is that plants need them, and the reason they need them is they've evolved to need them, getting them from the soil, so all were doing by using star san is renewing the soil's supply of minerals that may have been depleted by plants. Very eco-aware and soil conscious I do believe.
There is almost always enough Carbon and nitrogen in a given niche but often not enough phosphorous (required for cell walls DNA/RNA etc). Sometimes the addition of some phosphorous alleviates the bottle neck and allows the bugs to fully degrade nasty compounds (a good thing).
Obviously a lot of phosphates getting into the water courses is not what we want though otherwise you end up with bacterial/algal blooms which reduce the oxygen availale to the higher organisms which in turn snuff it.
If you are really worried about it you could dilute it down (so as not to damage the plants) and thrown it around the garden the microbes etc in the soil will make very short work off it.
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Ditch
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'Must say, this has all made very pleasing reading.I live in a completely remote cottage in the middle of nothing but fields for miles around. Nothing, that is, but the network of ditches which carry the rain water down into a natural basin where a once lake is now slowly reeding up and solidifying into a pond.
Point is though; What goes down my sink simply drains straight into the surrounding countryside.
I'm still spending hours in here, browsing the older Threads and picking up answers to questions I haven't even thought of yet. This has sorted out a niggle which I was slowly working towards full recognition of.
Nice to feel assured now then that, as long as I don't go completely overboard, what little I end up pouring down my sink or outside drain hole will, basicly, just be absorbed and neutralised naturally underneath my ground.
Cool!
