I called the local (70 miles away) brew store and asked a bunch of newbie
questions. One I forgot to ask was about the beer bottles and other
containers used in the process.

What is necessary to clean old bottles, fermenting jugs, etc? To they have
to be boiled like canning jars? I heard that cleanliness is very important
in brewing. Can the bottles be washed in the sink with a bottle brush?

"Derric" <derric1961@removethis.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:slrnbrn5ak.fst.derric1961@bhm29.hiwaay.net...[color=blue][color=green]
> > What is necessary to clean old bottles, fermenting jugs, etc? To they[/color][/color]
have[color=blue][color=green]
> > to be boiled like canning jars? I heard that cleanliness is very[/color][/color]
important[color=blue][color=green]
> > in brewing. Can the bottles be washed in the sink with a bottle brush?[/color]
>
> First, go check out [url]http://www.howtobrew.com/[/url] - it will address everything
> in plenty of detail.
>
> Bottom line, clean everything completely with regular soap and water and
> rinse. You'll then need to "sanitize" anything that will contact the
> beer after your boil. You can mix up a sanitizing solution from bleach
> or you can buy other substances made just for that purpose. You then
> soak your bottles, fermenting bucket, etc., in the sanitizing solution
> for as long as is appropriate (5, 10, 20 minutes, etc). Some solutions
> are no-rinse and others need to be rinsed (bleach-water usually needs
> to be rinsed). Rinsing with normal tapwater is usually OK assuming
> that your tapwater is normal, treated city type water.
>
> (BTW, I use (plain, unscented) bleach and I mix a "couple glugs" into
> about 4 gallons of water in my fermenting bucket and let things sit
> about 10+ minutes).
>
> Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew! (RDWHAHB) Have fun!
>[/color]

Thanks, I will check out the link. When I googled brewing all I could find
were sites that wanted to sell me stuff.

"The moderator" <sparky@nospam.engineer.com> wrote in message news:<vrn4lfkm6l5bb9@corp.supernews.com>...[color=blue]
> I called the local (70 miles away) brew store and asked a bunch of newbie
> questions. One I forgot to ask was about the beer bottles and other
> containers used in the process.
>
> What is necessary to clean old bottles, fermenting jugs, etc? To they have
> to be boiled like canning jars? I heard that cleanliness is very important
> in brewing. Can the bottles be washed in the sink with a bottle brush?[/color]

You need two steps

firstly, bottles etc need to be clean so wash them with a bottle brush
to get rid of any gunk and stains that are in there.

Secondly you need to sanitise. The easiest way is to soak them for
30-60 minutes in a solution of 1 cupful of bleach to 25 litres of
water. I fill up my fermenter and put all my bottles, bottle caps etc
in there to soak.

If anything is badly stained then a 24 hour soak will breakdown any
organic matter etc.

I

"The moderator" <sparky@nospam.engineer.com> wrote in message
news:vrn5qsf9ma88d7@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
>[/color]
[snip][color=blue][color=green]
> >
> > Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew! (RDWHAHB) Have fun!
> >[/color]
>
> Thanks, I will check out the link. When I googled brewing all I could[/color]
find[color=blue]
> were sites that wanted to sell me stuff.
>[/color]

If you want to check the brewing archives, hit the Groups tab on the Google
home page. From there, go to the group you want to search and type in your
key words. You'll find lots of posts that way.

BTW, you may also want to check out rec.crafts.brewing (the most active
brewing newsgroup I know of) and alt.homebrewing [I just searched the r.c.b
archives for "Bottle Sterilizing" and got about 550 hits.]

"Yagottawundah" <cogitate@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:vrtqm5kjohmm66@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> Oh get out!!! it's not that friggin complicated... you've got three basic
> choices:
>
> 1. Iodophor ("no rinse" and 'easiest')
> 2. Chlorine based cleaners (including good ol' bleach)-- a bit more work
> and requires rinsing
> 3. boiling/kilning/autoclaving -- OVERKILL[/color]

So you don't reckon sodium metabisulphate, sodium percarbonate or phosphoric
acid based sanitizers are any good? I have only used the first two and so
far haven't had any infected beer.

sozman wrote:
[color=blue]
> So you don't reckon sodium metabisulphate, sodium percarbonate or phosphoric
> acid based sanitizers are any good? I have only used the first two and so
> far haven't had any infected beer.[/color]

You've been lucky. None of those are effective sanitizers for beer.

--------->Denny
--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

Reply to denny_dot_g_dot_conn_at_ci_dot_eugene_dot_or_dot_us

"Denny Conn" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:3FBF9BBA.5FE57817@privacy.net...[color=blue]
> sozman wrote:
>[color=green]
> > So you don't reckon sodium metabisulphate, sodium percarbonate or[/color][/color]
phosphoric[color=blue][color=green]
> > acid based sanitizers are any good? I have only used the first two and[/color][/color]
so[color=blue][color=green]
> > far haven't had any infected beer.[/color]
>
> You've been lucky. None of those are effective sanitizers for beer.[/color]

That's quite possible, I have only brewed three batches. Then again I just
use water out of the garden hose to bring my wort up to the desired volume
for fermentation. The scary thing is that these (in particular the sodium
m.) is pretty much what the LHBS promote as sanitisers.

Being a newbie at homebrewing means I need to sift through the **** loads of
(often contradictory) information on the web and elsewhere and make up my
own mind. The info I have seen has been pretty favorable towards things
like StarSan (phosphoric acid based) and "oxygen powered" (which I assume is
largely sodium percarbonate).

I guess it is like PC backup software, you don't know how effective it is
until you lose a hard disk.

cheers

I would say that you're not lucky but a miracle worker... first of all
there's typically enough chlroine in unboiled city water to fry yeast
fermentation and secondarily chlorine doesn't kill all the nasties that can
put off the flavor of beer.

Are you measuring your final gravity to see what kind of attenuation you're
getting?

I hear you about contradictory information but that's the philosophical side
of beer-- you've got to do what works for you!!!! Live and learn. This is
also the important aspect of keeping good records of what you've done that
works or doesn't work..

Anyway... I guess I'm sold on iodophor. Barring that, household bleach does
as much as as any of the fancy stuff as long as you're anal about rinsing
(again, chlorine can be your friend and your enemy).

I'd also strongly suggest you get to full 5 gallon boils as this does a lot
towards sanitizing everything anyway...
"sozman" <pauls> wrote in message
news:3fbfd9da$0$20482$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...[color=blue]
> "Denny Conn" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:3FBF9BBA.5FE57817@privacy.net...[color=green]
> > sozman wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> > > So you don't reckon sodium metabisulphate, sodium percarbonate or[/color][/color]
> phosphoric[color=green][color=darkred]
> > > acid based sanitizers are any good? I have only used the first two[/color][/color][/color]
and[color=blue]
> so[color=green][color=darkred]
> > > far haven't had any infected beer.[/color]
> >
> > You've been lucky. None of those are effective sanitizers for beer.[/color]
>
> That's quite possible, I have only brewed three batches. Then again I[/color]
just[color=blue]
> use water out of the garden hose to bring my wort up to the desired volume
> for fermentation. The scary thing is that these (in particular the sodium
> m.) is pretty much what the LHBS promote as sanitisers.
>
> Being a newbie at homebrewing means I need to sift through the **** loads[/color]
of[color=blue]
> (often contradictory) information on the web and elsewhere and make up my
> own mind. The info I have seen has been pretty favorable towards things
> like StarSan (phosphoric acid based) and "oxygen powered" (which I assume[/color]
is[color=blue]
> largely sodium percarbonate).
>
> I guess it is like PC backup software, you don't know how effective it is
> until you lose a hard disk.
>
> cheers
>
>[/color]

"Yagottawundah" <cogitate@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:vrvn0jka17t876@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> I would say that you're not lucky but a miracle worker...[/color]

At the end of the day even Homer Simpson could probably brew beer
successfully.
[color=blue]
> there's typically enough chlroine in unboiled city water to fry yeast
> fermentation and secondarily chlorine doesn't kill all the nasties that[/color]
can[color=blue]
> put off the flavor of beer.[/color]

Maybe chlorine levels vary from place to place. Melbourne has a reputation
for very clean water. I have a water filter in my kitchen and there is not
a great difference between what comes out it and what comes out unfiltered.
[color=blue]
> Are you measuring your final gravity to see what kind of attenuation[/color]
you're[color=blue]
> getting?[/color]

Yes. It has varied but about 1012 (say for an APA from a kit).
[color=blue]
> I hear you about contradictory information but that's the philosophical[/color]
side[color=blue]
> of beer-- you've got to do what works for you!!!! Live and learn. This[/color]
is[color=blue]
> also the important aspect of keeping good records of what you've done that
> works or doesn't work..[/color]

Exactly. Unfortunately newbies like me have to start somewhere and in my
case it was a combination of research and what was on the shelf at the LHBS.
[color=blue]
> Anyway... I guess I'm sold on iodophor. Barring that, household bleach[/color]
does[color=blue]
> as much as as any of the fancy stuff as long as you're anal about rinsing
> (again, chlorine can be your friend and your enemy).[/color]
[color=blue]
> I'd also strongly suggest you get to full 5 gallon boils as this does a[/color]
lot[color=blue]
> towards sanitizing everything anyway...[/color]

As soon as I can convert that old twin tub washing machine :-)

Yagottawundah wrote:[color=blue]
> Anyway... I guess I'm sold on iodophor. Barring that, household bleach does
> as much as as any of the fancy stuff as long as you're anal about rinsing
> (again, chlorine can be your friend and your enemy).[/color]

I use Chlorine and have had good results. But yes, the cost is alot of
cleaning, and a bleach-smelling kitchen and face/hair until you take a
shower.
[color=blue]
> I'd also strongly suggest you get to full 5 gallon boils as this does a lot
> towards sanitizing everything anyway...[/color]

Not a bad idea, but for the smaller investment, I've had good luck using
bottled water for those last two gallons. Depending on where you shop,
I get mine at $0.87/gallon. Worth it to me. As for the other 3
gallons, I use Brita. The drinking water also adds some minerals to the
mineral-sketchy Brita-filtered tap water.

Steve