Cleaner vs. Sanitizer

[4x15mph]

Up to now I have been making wine kits. I have used one-step cleaner for my cleaning and sanitizing. I just left a homebrew store and he told me that while the one-step is effective for cleaning, he said that it is not a complete sanitizer. He said that I should be using something like Star-san for sanitizing my wine thief, hydrometer, etc.

Is this true? What should i use to rinse my carboys before I rack wine into them?

Thank you

 

[Deezil]

Cleaning and sanitizing are definitely two different objectives. Cleaning is the act of removing physical debris, fruit particulate and lees, any dust or things of that nature. Sanitizing is the act of reducing the numbers of living/active microbiology - yeasts, spoilage microorganisms, etc.

Star-San will work, but so will K-meta. The homebrew store employee may have been trying to get you to make the purchase, as I bet the price for Star-San is higher than the price of K-meta. I use K-meta, myself.

 

[dralarms]

I clean with one step but always rinse with kmeta.

 

[Jc5066]

I'm a fan of Star-San. It is expensive per bottle but it goes a long way. 1 ounce makes 5 gallons. It really isn't expensive.

 

[cooldood]

StarSan is free,well practically

I brewed probably 60 gallons of beer 20 gallons of wine and might have used half a bottle
I paid $8 for the starsan and made about 900 drinks so far

8 bucks what is that 2 Starbucks?

 

[Deezil]

Just for comparison sake, I spent $11 for a half-pound of K-meta. Using it for sanitizing and using it for keeping my wines safe from spoilage, I still haven't put a dent in it (~60 gallon bulk aging capacity); it'll lose its effectiveness for protecting my wines far before I could ever get through it all, so then it'll be finished off simply by using for sanitizing.

My point wasn't that Star-San would break the bank, but if the homebrew store owner can get you to buy Star-San and K-Meta, then he's making more money. It's not really a necessity, but it works for those that use it.

 

[4x15mph]

Does anyone use one-step for both cleaning and sanitizing? Otherwise, I have star-san now that I bought it so do I now use that and then also have to rinse with K-Meta?

 

[DoctorCAD]

Sanitizing is a regulated process, and products that are not regulated cannot state that they sanitize (at least here in the USA).

One Step does clean and sanitize, but not to the regulated amount. I use it to clean all of my wine stuff.

However, I do sanitize with k-meta because its easy and cheap insurance.

 

[Floandgary]

Pondering for a moment,,,,, the only time I've had to "clean" anything has been carboys and bottles which weren't rinsed when emptied. And then only with hot water and a brush. My theory is that cleaning products generally fall into the "soap" category, designed to break down/emulsify petroleum components of dirt/stains/debris. Since I use no petrol containing materials in any of my equipment, Hot-Hot water will suffice. Sanitizer (I use K-meta 2TBSP/gal distilled water) does the rest. At the very least, rinse bottles/containers as soon as they are empty, and rinse equipment before anything has a chance to dry (or more likely before I forget!). JMHO

 

[Norske]

I use PBW for cleaning, starsan and/or saniclean for sanitizing.

 

[wineforfun]

Is there a chart or recommended amount of kmeta to water for sanitizing? Tap water ok or does it need to be distilled? How long is the solution good for?

I currently use StarSan but kmeta makes sense.

 

[dralarms]

Reg water is fine, it's still good as long as it burns the nose hairs.

And 1 tablespoon per gal is plenty.