Is Easy Clean No Rinse Cleaner a Sanitizer Also

Thread Status:

Not open for further replies.

1. Hi, I recently received a Brooklyn Brewshop one gallon starter kit as a gift and I'm ready to give it a whirl. The kit comes with sanitizer, but after reading how much simpler it is to use the no rinse variety, I picked some up. I read that using the no rinse does not require soaking. My (probably rather stupid) question is this: what's the best way to sanitize using the no rinse kind? Is coating the surface of (thoroughly cleaned) equipment with solution from a spray bottle sufficient? Should it be applied with a clean/new sponge or towel? Thanks for any and all advise, and for tolerating such a basic question as I prepare to navigate the world of homebrewing.

2. Depends on what no-rinse sanitizer you're talking about. Iodophor doesn't have to be rinsed, but it does need to soak for a few minutes. On brew day, I just fill my fermenter with water and add the iodophor. I also have a plastic bucket that holds my funnel and airlock.

   Are you using Star-San?

3. 

   Naugled Savant (940) Sep 25, 2007 New York

   Society

   Nothing to add except that I like the heaven and hell ref's of your avatars

4. When I inquired at the local homebrew supply store, I was handed a non-descript apparently store-packaged ziplock bag with "easy clean no rinse sanitizer" printed on it. Other the quantity, there is nothing else to indicate what brand it is. I will phone to the store to see if I can get more info.

   Incidentally, the carboy is a small glass one gallon fermenter. Do you recommend picking up a 5 gallon plastic bucket or something similar to soak items, assuming that soaking is necessary? Also, if it turns out that my sanitizer truly is "no rinse", is spray bottle application sufficient?

   Thanks for the help, btw. Much appreciated.

5. Haha. Just noticed that. Clearly from my initial post, I'm a little slow on the uptake.

6. 

   Blanco Zealot (597) Oct 11, 2008 Pennsylvania

   Are you sure it says "no rinse sanitizer" and not "no rinse cleaner?" I got a small container of that with my homebrew kit. My local homebrew shop said it was fine as a sanitizer, but online resources said it was not a sufficient sanitizer, it was only a cleaner so I just went and bought starsan to be safe.

7. I took another look. It does indeed read "cleaner". Thanks.

   So, with Starsan I can just dilute with water and use in a spray bottle?

8. 

   VikeMan Poo-Bah (2,027) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania

   Society

   Yes, dilute at a ratio one ounce starsan to 5 gallons water. Spray bottle is good for sanitizing misc parts, but for bigger things (like buckets,carboys), I'd pour the solution in and make sure it makes good contact with every surface for a couple of minutes. That doesn't mean you have to fill the bucket. Sloshing/rolling works.

9. Thanks for the advice. Just trying to establish some good practices to ensure that I'm doing what I need to do in order to keep the operation clean.

10. 

    dpjosuns Initiate (0) Dec 8, 2009 Illinois

    Yeah- my rule of thumb: Cleaner in a bucket (or tray or whatever you like to use), sanitizer in a spray bottle if possible. I also put sanitizer in a bucket (or shallow tray) to just leave stuff in or dip in before use.

    Just be sure if you pick up the starsan/spray bottle method, don't let the starsan dry or its not as effective. Spray, then use immediately.

11. 

    Blanco Zealot (597) Oct 11, 2008 Pennsylvania

    I usually don't make a whole 5 gallon batch. The starsan container has a little reservoir that fills when you squeeze it to specific increments.

    I try and make about a gallon (using distilled water) at a time and fill to just below the 1/4 of an ounce mark. Usually gets me through a brew day and the bottling a few weeks later. From what I hear it's good until it goes cloudy. If you use tap water it might go cloudy immediately as the starsan is an acid base cleaner and the minerals can neutralize it. Distilled water appears the way to go but has its own cost. So that's why I do it a gallon at a time. I put some in a bucket to dunk things in as well as a spray bottle (which works great for sanitizing bottles).

    edit: if you slosh/shake it around it will get foamy, but that's not a bad thing and is completely safe. You don't need to rinse it. It's hard to get used to but the foam is definitely ok and I feel helps track whether everything has made contact.

13. Yeah, I have a feeling that I'm going to need to fight my inclination to wash off the sanitizer after I clean/spray equipment.

14. Easy Clean technically cannot be sold as a sanitizer.... will work if you don't have anything else. Funny how it usually comes included in kits as a cleaner/sanitizer though.

15. Thanks. Can I use it just as I would a no rinse sanitizer like Starsan? Just spray and go, so to speak?

16. I would have no fear using it until I purchased a sanitizer...spray would be okay...but up the contact time and maybe spray twice.

17. Turns out another store had the StarSan.I'm using the Easy Clean for soaking and whatnot with the StarSan for spot spraying.

18. 

    Blanco Zealot (597) Oct 11, 2008 Pennsylvania

    That's probably not a bad plan. Even those who say the Easy clean is OK recommend a long contact time whereas starsan and Iodophor are the only ones I've heard of that have a no-rinse contact time as low as 30 secs.

19. For this, the label on the Star San bottle might help: it directs you to spray from 6-8 inches away, with enough solution so that it stays soaked for an entire minute and allow to air dry. If you use your equipments immediately after you spray it, you may be cutting short the sanitizing power of Star San.

20. San-star is effective as long as it is below a PH of 3 (I believe its 3, may be 3,5 or something) So once you put your Wort, or anything in it and the PH raises above 3 it no longer works, that's why you don't have to rinse it, becuase there is so much Wort (or whatever) going into it it may kill off a little bit of the good stuff in the beer, but it is quickly stopped by the raised PH.

    My method is using my bucket fill it with water and san-star, and take things out as I need them. it makes an easy way to sanitize the worth chiller, the big mixing spoon, airlock, and everything else, Plus throw the cover on the bucket and slosh it around to make sure the lid is sanitized too. Then when I am cooling the Wort with my wort chiller dump the bucket out and let it "dry" a little while the wort is cooling off. the spray bottle is good for lids and bigger items.

Thread Status:

Not open for further replies.

mckinneythatimmorsit.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/effectively-using-no-rinse-sanitizer.9150/

Share this post