Best Sanitizing Method

[Dale]

Hi,

I've been using Sodium Metabisulphite for all my sanitizing of my fermenter + my S/S Keg. Have heard that this is not that good and should be using Iodophor or something like that.

What does everyone recommend that will work well for plastic and stainless.

Thanks

[MrC]

I rinse with boiling or boiled and then cooled water.

[denimglen]

As Studio said, 'don't fear the foam'. Because the sanitising-ness of Starsan is due to it's low pH, once it's diluted with wort, beer or whatever, the pH raises too much for it to be effective as a sanitiser anymore, in small doses it actually acts as a yeast nutrient. If you're worried about the foam you can usually let it sit for 10 minutes or so and most of the foam will go, I usually just invert the flask/fermenter/container onto something sanitary. Sometimes you can kinda 'flick' it out by shaking your fermenter. Wouldn't do that with a glass carboy or flask though haha. You'll also find the foam doesn't dissolve that well, and as you pour something into it the foam is usually pushed up and out of the container like in Martin's photo here:

[JoKing]

I had a friends beer that had a liter of Starsan sollution in it... don't worry about how it got in there. I can't say I even noticed it in there... it might have been slightly tart - but that was all.

I don't think a little bit of foam will make any difference.

[Mike Neilson]

Trust me Starsan makes fine beer I should know I had about a litre in a brew!! Trust me crash cooling, blow off tube and fluid dont go together well!! I actualy thought the Bong theroy would of applied to it? but it has been along time between bongs.

[MrC]

Bong theory? That subject wasn't available at my school.

[Mike Neilson]

It was a weekend class, But they stop that class 1 month before school exams!!

[Stu McKinlay]

did you do a side-project on bong water tea? I had a flatmmate who was obsessed with it. He's since abandoned the theory but his mates (incl. me) have not let it abandon him.