Cleaning/Sanitization (WAS: Re: [CH] Reusing hot sauce bottles?)
Jim Graham (spooky130@cox.net)
Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:25:42 -0600
On Sun, Feb 17, 2008 at 01:05:51PM -0600, Jim Graham wrote:
> I am tempted here to type up some info on cleaning and sanitizing
> that I never seem to see mentioned here.... I'd base this on knowledge
> I've gained as an advanced brewer [...and so on]
Ok, seems like there is some interest, so here's what I've been typing
up (I basically expected that there would be some interest in this).
I apologize for the length, but there really is a lot to cover, and to
be honest, even this is just scratching the surface. My sources for
this information include professional brewers, a chemist, years of
experience as an advanced all-grain brewer, LOTS of hours spent in the
brewery with professional brewers---sometimes just talking/learning,
other times brewing as a "beer slave" (brewing for free beer, free
food, and free brewing education), "A Textbook of Brewing" by Jean De
Clerck, and "Chemical Principles of Cleaning and Sanitization", from
the April 1998 issue of Brewpub Magazine. At least, those are the
major sources...there are countless others that have blended in over
the years....
So, here's what I typed up over the last hour or so:
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In brewing (all-grain brewing---you get away with a lot with extract
that you will NOT get away with when starting from grain), standards
for cleaning and sanitizing are necessarily very high for all post-boil
operations, and critically high when handling yeast cultures and
starters. An understanding of the principles and methods involved is,
therefore, an absolute essential.
Chile-heads (and anyone else likely to do home bottling/canning, etc.,
face many of the same issues.
I'm working on a paper on the subject of cleaning and sanitizing that
expands on one a professional brewer friend gave me years ago, from the
1998 issue of Brewpub Magazine, called "Chemical Principles of Cleaning
and Sanitization".
This is a (relatively---there's still a lot of info to cover, and I
tend to get wordy, particularly when I'm trying to cover a lot of stuff
in a condensed form) short version of my (unfinished) brewing-specific
version.
First Concepts---Sanitizing vs Sterilizing
The first important thing to remember is that sanitizing and sterilizing
are NOT the same thing, and the word "sterilize" is used far too often
in cases where the objects in question have only been sanitized. The
distinction may seem minor (a few thousandths of a percent of organisms
surviving), but those few survivors are just that...survivors. They are
still alive and eager to spoil your latest batch of hot sauce. For
example, in brewing, you boil the wort (unfermented beer) for (typically)
90 minutes. Even then, some bacteria lives on to attempt to turn your
latest brew into infected trash.
To sterilize by boiling (there are other methods that apply more to
brewing and yeast starters from agar slants, but that's another topic),
you need to boil at 240 deg. F for 20 minutes. This requires an
autoclave or pressure cooker.
Levels of "Clean"
There are four basic levels of cleanliness:
1) "Physically clean" (also known as "Visibly Clean") - simply put,
the item appears clean to the naked eye. Not good for much beyond
the floor, outside of the fridge, oven door, etc.....
2) "Chemically clean" - cleaned with chemicals such as caustic and
rinsed/drained. There are two types of caustic that we'll cover
in a minute: potassium hydroxide (KOH), a milder caustic, and
sodium hydroxide (NaOH or chlorinated NaOH).
3) "Microbiologically clean" - sanitized with a chemical sanitizer
(after being chemically cleaned). For example, iodophor yields
around 99.9995% kill. There are a number of sanitizers, but
we'll limit this discussion to three: iodophor, bleach, and
alcohol (ethyl, i.e., grain alcohol). We'll cover these later.
4) "Sterile" - 100% of microbiological contaminants have been
destroyed.
Finally, cleaners clean, sanitizers sanitize. The necessary chemical
properties of each are generally at odds with each other, and products
that claim to do both tend not to do either (or at least, not as well
as other products).
Cleaners and Cleaning
NOTE: This document does not cover acid-based cleaners used, for example,
for cleaning beer scale from brite tanks, and so on, nor does it cover
cleaners like quaternary ammonia (aka "quat"), which are used for
cleaning the outside of tanks, floors, walls, etc..... Here, we're only
interested in the alkaline cleaners used for cleaning organic
contaminants: specifically, caustic.
As mentioned earlier, there are two primary types of caustic: potassium
hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Caustics based on NaOH
require more strict precautions for handling (all of them that I know
about are hazmat), as well as higher temperatures (minimum 165 deg. F)
so we'll limit this to cleaning with a KOH-based product, BLC (Beer Line
Cleaner), which is great for more average cleaning, and works at lower
temperatures (about 130--135 deg. F).
Btw, you can get BLC from Rapids Wholesale (if anyone finds a cheaper
price on it, let me know, because I never have) for about $8 (US$) per
33 oz bottle (it's been a while since I ordered, and I normally order
by the case, so that price may be off a bit).
WARNING: Rapids also has another KOH-based cleaner called Penetrate.
Unlike BLC, Penetrate is hazmat, and will require a $25 hazmat shipping
fee. It's also well into the nastier category (like NaOH) as far as
handling it, so stick with BLC unless you really know what you're doing.
Even with a much milder caustic like BLC, you should still at least
wear rubber gloves (e.g., the long kitchen gloves that go almost to
your elbows).
Cleaning Your Hot Sauce Bottles
First, it's always a good practice to rinse the bottles out when you
empty them---this saves you a lot of headaches later. If necessary,
fill them with hot water and let them soak, but get them visibly clean
as soon as you can.
When you're ready to clean a bunch of bottles for use, make about 3.5
gallons of hot water---roughly 135 deg. F and pour it into a 5 gallon
bucket.
Add some BLC (for 4 gallons of hot water, use about a cup) to the hot
water. Put all of the bottles, caps, etc., into the caustic and allow
to soak for at least 20 minutes (more if they're really nasty).
Another side-note regarding plastic bits: unlike glass, plastic is
easily scratched. These scratches provide a place that's more difficult
for cleaners and sanitizers to get to, and an ideal "hiding" place for
bacteria, wild yeasts, etc..... I've never had a problem re-using
plastic lids for hot sauce bottles, but be aware of the problem. I
can tell you that in brewing, plastic fermenters are a sure path to
infected beer.
Ok, you've soaked your bottles in caustic...that's still not enough.
You need to put your gloves back on, take out a bottle/tubing brush
(check with your local homebrew shop and get one that's the right size
to stick into a hot sauce bottle and scrub the inside of each of the
bottles you've just finished soaking---bend the brush to the most
useful shape to get the job done).
As you finish brushing the inside of each bottle (make sure the
outside is nice and clean, too), drain it, rinse it in hot water
(not cold) to get the caustic out, and set it aside to drain.
The bottles, etc., are now chemically clean.
Sanitizers
Briefly, there are a number of different sanitizers, and a number of
different TYPES of sanitizers. Bleach is a sanitizer, but is not used
as such very often due to the fact that it must be rinsed (thus adding
back the contamination and defeating the purpose). Alcohol is another
sanitizer. For food-grade use, you must, of course, use grain alcohol
(e.g., Everclear). The ideal concentration is between 73 and 75 percent
alcohol. Anything higher or lower reduces its kill ratio. I use an
off-brand equivalent of Everclear (153 proof...perfect) in the brewery
(in a spray bottle), particularly for my hands, work areas, an extra nuke
for any bacteria still around, etc., especially when handling yeast
cultures.
Iodophor is an iodine-based sanitizer, and is very popular not only in
the brewing world, but also in foodservice and other applications. It
works at very low concentrations (12.5 to 25 ppm). It is a no-rinse
sanitizer (when mixed within the above levels---any lower and you don't
have a sanitizer; higher, and it will leave a residue behind that will
have a negative impact on flavor).
One important thing about iodophor, however, is the fact that there
are two types. The first includes food-grade phosphoric acid, the
second does not. These two types have one VERY important difference
(this comes directly from the lead chemist from one of the companies
that produces iodophor): the type with phosphoric acid doesn't care
what the pH of your water is...the type without phosphoric acid doesn't
either, as long as it's below about 8.0 (I think it was 8, might have
been 9...it's been a while). Above that, however, not only does it
stop working as a sanitizer, it becomes a BREEDING GROUND for bacteria.
The iodophor that you normally find in homebrew shops is the type
without phosphoric acid, so if you use it, make *SURE* your water's pH
is below 8.0. If not, you'll need to add some food-grade phosphoric
acid to bring it down. Or better still, check with your local brewer,
dairy company, etc., or search online, and get a gallon of the good
iodophor (I bought a whole case of it from a pro-brewer friend, Todd,
years ago---it'll probably last the rest of my life), that has the
phosphoric acid in it. Either way, you must know which type you're
working with. If the list of ingredients does not specifically list
phosphoric acid, you've got the cheap stuff and must be very aware of
your tap water's pH.
Oh, and there's no need for gloves or anything like that with iodophor.
It's perfectly safe to dip your bare hands right into it...but if you
get the undiluted iodophor on your hands, you might have an iodine stain
on your skin for a while.
Sanitizing with Iodophor
Add cold (*NOT* hot) tap water to a different 5 gallon bucket (I prefer
not to use the same bucket---just an extra precaution) and bring it up
to about 4 gallons. Add a SMALL amount of iodophor (no more than about
1/2 ounce at a time), mix it up, and either check with iodophor test
strips (the right way) if you have them or check the color---it should
be, depending on how you want to describe it, a reddish/orange/coppery
or amber color. If it goes anywhere near purple, you've made it *WAY*
too strong. Remember, you only want between 12.5 and 25 parts per
million...that isn't much...but you must see that color change to
amber/whatever you want to call it.
Now take everything you've just cleaned and dump it into the bucket of
sanitizer. Ignore docs that say 2 minutes is adequate...give it at
least 20 minutes contact time for maximum kill. (Btw, plastic bits may
be stained a bit, particularly if you mixed the iodophor too strong).
If, after sanitizing, you see ANY purple residue left behind, it means
you mixed the iodophor too strong. Dilute it, then rinse everything in
the diluted iodophor to clean out the residue.
Assuming you're ready to put hot sauce in the bottles the same day, you
can leave everything in the iodophor until you're ready for it. Then,
one at a time, take out a bottle, drain it (do NOT rinse), fill it, and
cap it.
If you're not ready to use the bottles, etc., that day, drain each and
cap it. If you want to be extra careful, repeat the sanitizing process,
or simply hold off on sanitizing until the day you are ready to use
everything. If you clean but don't sanitize, just cap off all of the
bottles so no bacteria can hitch a ride on a bit of dust floating in the
air into the inside of the bottle.
Of course, none of this will help at all if the hot sauce itself is
bacterial soup..... For that part, you're on your own. :-)
One final note...again, experience from the brewing side. In brewing,
when working with yeast cultures, where sanitization (and, at some
points, sterilization) is absolutely critical, you absolutely cannot
have any air movement (moving air moves dust, which carries bacteria
around and possibly into your nice, clean work area, where you
absolutely do not want it). So...if you really want to be careful,
while you're filling bottles, turn off the air conditioner, heater,
and any other fans that may be in the area you're working in. Oh,
and don't breathe. No, I'm not kidding. When I'm starting up
yeast from one or two cells from an agar slant (where even one or two
cells of bacteria is a massive infection), and either the slant or the
sterile starter is open, breathing is an absolute no-no...the same
applies later, as well, when any container of yeast is open.
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Comments?
Later,
--jim
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