You probably know that sanitizing all of your homebrew equipment is critical for your beer to turn out well. But if for whatever reason you don’t have your Starsan don’t think that all hope is lost to sanitize all of your homebrew gear.
There are a few brewing sanitizer substitutes you can use, and you probably already have some of these items lying around your house already. So let’s get right into it.
1. Household Bleach (Unscented)
Next up will be household bleach as a good brewing sanitizer substitute. One of the important aspects about using bleach as a substitute is that you want to make sure that it’s unscented. Scented bleaches can lead to strange smells remaining on your equipment which would also impact the taste of your beer.
Bleach is very common to find in grocery, drug, and big box stores. And chances are you have some bleach at home you can use.
How to use Bleach as as Sanitizing Substitute
The rule of thumb here is that you’ll want to use a cap full of bleach for every gallon of water that you have. If you want a measurement that would be about one tablespoon. Mix your ratio of bleach to water together and soak all of your equipment for 20 minutes.
When you’re done you definitely want to thoroughly rinse all of your equipment off. Even though the bleach is “unscented”, bleach still has a very harsh small that you’ll want rinsed off of your equipment. You might be thinking “Well, if bleach is still scented and I need to wash it anyway that who cares if it’s scented or not?” Scented bleach has additional chemicals to give the scent which make it tougher to eliminate from from brewing equipment.
2. OxiClean (Unscented)
OxiClean was actually patented as a cleaner, sanitizer, disinfectant, fungicide, sporicide, and chemical sterilizer. And it is actually a bleach. The difference between OxiClean and the regular household bleach we think of is OxiClean is an oxygen based bleach whereas the bleach we think of is a chlorine based bleach.
Since OxiClean is oxygen based and not chemical based it does a great job of sterilizing while not being as harsh on your equipment. You’ll probably also have an easier time rinsing your equipment off.
How to use OxiClean as a Sanitizing Substitute
Sanitizing your brewing equipment with OxiClean will be a lot like household bleach. Mix one tablespoon of OxiClean with one gallon of water and mix together. Soak your equipment in this solution for 20 minutes. Scrub any remaining dirt or residue away to make sure your gear is clean.
When you’re done you want to make sure that you rinse all of your equipment to get any Oxiclean residue off. Like bleach, you want to make sure that you do this so you don’t affect the taste of the beer.
3. Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen Peroxide can also be used as a brewing sanitizer substitute. But you’ll want to make sure that it’s above 3% or it might not be strong enough to sanitize all of your equipment. Like iodine, hydrogen peroxide can be found in Walmart, Target, and many other grocery and drug stores.
How to Use Hydrogen Peroxide as a Brewing Sanitizer Substitute
Using hydrogen peroxide is pretty straight forward to use. There’s no mixing with water or anything else you need to do. You just need to make sure you have enough on hand to thoroughly soak and sanitize all of your equipment.
Although it can be used like a no-rinse cleaner it wouldn’t hurt to give all of your equipment a quick rinse just to make sure that there’s no peroxide left on any of your gear.
4. Povidone-Iodine
Out of all the sanitizer substitutes that are out there Iodine may be your best bet. If you don’t have it at your house you might want to run out to your local Walmart, Target, or drug store to pick some up and use it.
Iodine is used a lot in the medical field to clean wounds to prevent infections, and it is really good at sterilizing what it comes into contact with. It’ll be a very good substitute for cleaning all of your metal brewing equipment, but you might want to avoid using it on plastics as it is likely to permanently stain the plastic. However, that is only a cosmetic problem and does not actually damage the plasticIt can also stain your skin so you’ll want to use gloves around iodine.
How to Use Iodine as a Brewing Sanitizer Substitute
You don’t need a lot of iodine to sterilize your brewing equipment. You’ll want a container that can hold enough water to soak the equipment you need to sterilize. It can even be your brew kettle. You’ll want to use a teaspoon of iodine for every half gallon of water.
The water should kind of look like a copper penny in color. If the iodine and water mixture starts losing color that means you don’t have enough iodine in there to sterilize your equipment. And also, pouring in a ton of iodine into the water doesn’t make the sterilization process quicker or work better.
| Amount of Povidone-Iodine | Amount of Water |
|---|---|
| 1 Teaspoon | 0.5 Gallon |
| 2 Teaspoons | 1 Gallon |
| 1 Tablespoon | 1.5 Gallons |
| 1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon or 4 Teaspoons | 2 Gallons |
| 1 Tablespoon + 2 Teaspoons or 5 Teaspoons | 2.5 Gallons |
| 2 Tablepoons | 3 Gallons |
| 2 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon or 7 Teaspoons | 3.5 Gallons |
| 2 Tablespoon + 2 Teaspoon or 8 Teaspoons | 4 Gallons |
| 3 Tablespoons | 4.5 Gallons |
| 3 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon or 10 Teaspoons | 5 Gallons |
5. Dishwasher
Out of all the homebrewing sanitizer substitutes this is probably my least favorite, but it can still get the job done. You can run a full wash cycle and a heated dry cycle on without detergent or a rinse agent. Not adding detergent is easy, but it can be a chore to figure out how to remove a rinse agent. You’ll also need to make sure that all of your equipment is clean before you put it in the dishwasher.
Dishwashers will sanitize your equipment, but there are some drawbacks. One would be for any bottles or tubes with narrow openings. Where our other methods call for your equipment to be submerged a dishwasher will only use the spray arms. This means that water may not get thoroughly cleaned in all of the nooks and cranny’s.
Not all of you equipment will be dishwasher friendly because of the heat cycle. This means that you still need to find an additional way to sanitize the equipment that can’t go in the dishwasher. So a dishwasher is a difficult route to go, but is doable.
Summary
The goal is to provide brewing sanitizer substitutes for homebrewing equipment when Starsan is not available. Using household bleach (unscented), OxiClean (unscented), hydrogen peroxide, povidone-iodine, or the dishwasher are good alternitives to sanitize equipment.
Household bleach should be unscented, with one cap full per gallon of water. Soak the equipment for 20 minutes and rinse thoroughly.
OxiClean (unscented) can be mixed with one tablespoon per gallon of water. Soak the equipment for 20 minutes, scrub away residue, and rinse well.
Hydrogen peroxide above 3% concentration can be used without mixing with water. Soak the equipment thoroughly and consider rinsing afterward.
Povidone-iodine is effective for metal equipment but can stain plastics. Use a teaspoon of iodine per half gallon of water, soak the equipment, and ensure a copper penny color in the water.
The dishwasher can be used by running a full wash cycle and heated dry cycle without detergent or rinse agent. However, narrow openings may not be thoroughly cleaned.
Following the recommended instructions and rinsing properly will help ensure effective sanitization without negatively impacting the taste of the beer.
If you want to read some more information on sterilizing using iodine or hydrogen peroxide the CDC has some good information on that.