# C-Bright Question



## Barney (May 11, 2007)

I just ordered C-Bright from George and it says that rinsing is not necessary. I have never used this. Do I just submerge the things I want sanitized, then simply let them air-dry? Does this leave any smell or taste?


Thanks.


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## JohnA (May 11, 2007)

Barney I find it does leave an odor. I do not know the effect it has on the wine's taste as I rinsed it well. I found the odor more difficult to rid from plastic (ie my plastic wine thief) than glass such as the carboy.


Personally, I don't like the stuff,




but I'm just a pup with gray hair when it comes to home winemaking.


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## masta (May 11, 2007)

C-Brite was sold as "sanitizer" for years but due to avoiding the expensive and tough EPA standards it is now classified and sold as a "cleanser". 






It is a great cleanerbut at 1 tablespoon per gallon I would rinse and then follow up with sanitizing with K-meta/Na-meta.


I used this product (at a lower concentration of 1 tsp per gallon) for years as my only sanitizer but ran into some issues with a reaction to certain plastics causing a bad odor and ruining some wine. I then switched to Na-meta for sanitizing butstill use it to clean my fermenters, carboys and bottles if needed without any issues.


This post will explain much more about C-Brite and other cleaners/sanitizers in great detail: http://www.finevinewines.com/Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2538*Edited by: masta *


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## Barney (May 11, 2007)

Wow, looks like I reopened a can of worms.


Thanks.


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## PeterZ (May 11, 2007)

The active ingredient in C-Brite is sodium dichloro-_s_-triazinetrione dihydrate (aka triazine), a popular chlorine source for swimming pools and decorative fountains. In C-Brite the active is 6%. The other 94% is listed as inert, but that only means that the 94% does not claim to kill or control any living thing (EPA regs.). There may be some cleaning compounds in there, but if it is the same thing used in pools, the inert is just sodium sulfate. I still have a few packets that came with my equipment kit, and the C-Brite brand is legally a sanitizer, as it meets all of the labelling requirements of the USEPA.

The packet I have is 0.8 oz, and contributes 3.3% available chlorine. Generic bleach (unscented) is 5.5% available chlorine, so 1 TB generic bleach per gallon of water will have about the same sanitizing effect as one packet per gallon. The labelling says, for cleansing, "1-2 packets C-Brite in 2 gallons of warm waterand rinse well with potable water."

For no-rinse sanitization it calls for a 0.8 oz packet per 2 gallons of warm water. "Thoroughly wet all surfaces to be sanitizied. Let stand at least one minute. Drain and air dry."

Personally, for my sanitary regime, I do not let recently sanitized equipment air dry. Once it has sat for a couple of hours, I feel that airborn microorganisms have had time to settle and re-contaminate the surface. My preference is to sanitize with either a packet of C-Brite (until they run out) or a TB of bleach in about 3 quarts of water, followed by a K-meta solution to neutrailze the bleach and deactivate any surviving bugs that might be around.

Equipment that has just come out of service (a primary that has just been racked to a secondary, a secondary that has just been bottled, etc.) get washed in hot water immediately. Before being used again it is Cl sanitized and then rinsed with K-meta, and used immediately.


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