sterilisation by steam

[Dyer]

We have one of the steam cleaner things and I was wondering if it would good enough to use to sterilise my bottles ,by giving them a good squirt of steam for say 20 seconds .Any one tried this ?
Duncan

[Dyer]

Thanks for that ,seems like I shall have to stick to the chore of sterilising .ah well
Duncan

[Andris]

There should be available 5% iodine solution in alcohol (for disinfection and clearing wounds/etc) in your drug store - cheap stuff. You need about 5ml per 10l of water to sterilize it - about 15-20min should do it.
Smells WAY better than chlorine and does not need heavy rinsing - one rinse and its out. Some of my friends dont even rinse it. Superb for bottles.

[mickhew]

Duncan, invest in some StarSan. I use it, and my sanitising process is a doddle. I can sanitise 40 bottles in 5-10 minutes, using a garden sprayer. 5 sprays in each bottle, leave for 30 seconds, then empty, no need to rinse. Can be used for all the brewing equipment too, fv's etc.

[Dyer]

Cheers for the answers chaps .Will have a look at starsan sounds good
Duncan

[Beer O'Clock]

Whenever I empty a bottle (by drinking the contents), I rinse then I spray with Starsan and seal with a plastic stopper. Realistically, I will only have to clean bottles once............ever

[mickhew]

I wash bottles with Fairy after a session (this bit takes a little time), then store in the garage. When it's bottling day, I have a box of clean bottles, then 5 sprays of Starsan mix into each bottle, whilst holding up and rotating, leave for 1 minute, then empty the excess.. sanitised.
2ml Starsan per litre Tesco Ashbeck mineral water, into a garden sprayer, so easy. the Starsan costs a little to buy, but lasts forever.

[Dyer]

I notice that a few of you mention using starsan in a garden sprayer,would that be the 5 ltr sort used for weedkiller ,or would a 1 ltr hand spray do?
Duncan

[Wolfy]

I notice that a few of you mention using starsan in a garden sprayer,would that be the 5 ltr sort used for weedkiller ,or would a 1 ltr hand spray do?
Duncan

You'd want a big brewery to use a 5L garden sprayer of StarSan.
I usually mix up 2-3L batches, fill a 500ml spray bottle and use the rest to sanitize bottles/fermenters, and the spray bottle will last until the next batch of bottles/fermenters I need to do.

[Dyer]

Cheers for that .I have ordered the star san and will pick up a 500ml sprayer at the weekend .I have a brew up for bottling next week and am really looking forward to not having to sanitise and then rinse 40 bottles .
I shall have to up my brewing considerably then to justify getting a 5 ltr sprayer .( my girlfriend already thinks I brew to much )
Cheers for all the replies
Duncan