Sanitation is a three step process whether you make beer or wine: clean, rinse, sanitize. Cleaning is essential because you just can’t sanitize dirt. You must remove the soil from the surface of equipment in order for the sanitizer to do its job completely. At Great Fermentations we use PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash) to clean equipment. PBW is an alkali cleaner that was originally developed for Coors. Our cleaning procedure entails soaking equipment for at least 20 minutes in a solution of one tablespoon of PBW in 5 gallons of 122 F water. We then use a little strong arm action and a brush on non-plastic surfaces. Because PBW is an alkaline cleaner we rinse with warm tap water so that residual cleaner doesn’t buffer the sanitizer.

BTF Iodophor and Star San are our preferred sanitizers with beer and can also be used with wine. BTF is an iodine-based sanitizer that is used at a rate of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons which is a concentration of 12.5 ppm. The only drawback to using BTF is that it does discolor plastic but that is only a cosmetic problem. Star San is an acid-based broad spectrum sanitizer that is a blend of phosphoric acid and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid. Star San has an acid  surfactant that creates quite a bit of foam. Please, DON’T FEAR THE FOAM! The foam has as much sanitizing strength as the liquid and when dry they leave the surface in a sanitized acid condition. The foam also breaks the surface tension of the water to get in the nooks and crannies of the vessel being sanitized.

These are both no rinse sanitizers meaning that once you use them to sanitize you should not rinse the equipment with non-sterile tap water.  Rinsing with tap water just serves to re-contaminate the equipment with whatever is in the water. In order for BTF or Star San to sanitize, they must be in contact with the surface for at least 2 minutes. That means soaking the surface, not just sloshing the sanitizer over the surface. Using more than the recommended dosage of sanitizer  is not a good thing. Not only do you waste product but at higher levels of usage a flavor or aroma of the sanitizer may be apparent in your finished beer. You can find all three of these products on our website, http://www.greatfermentations.com/Sanitizing-and-Cleaning/products/1032/

The traditional sanitizer for wine is a sulfite solution made of water, potassium or sodium metabisulfite and citric acid. To make the solution,

The answer to the question of whether it is legal is really a two parts. During prohibition federal law prohibited making beer and wine at home. The penalty if you were caught was a year in prison or a $1000 fine. Once prohibition ended the Federal Alcohol Administration Act of 1935 made home wine making legal but not beer making. Finally in 1978 Jimmy Carter legalized home brewing by signing into federal law, Senate Amendment 3534. Part two of whether it is legal to make beer and wine at home has to do with state law. Each state has their own alcohol laws and some states still outlaw making beer and wine at home. Thankfully in Indiana it is legal to make beer and wine at home. Just don’t sell it—that would make you a bootlegger.

With the legality question answered we have the question of whether homemade beer and wine tastes good. The answer is a resounding YES, if you are clean and sanitary about it. Even if you use an award-winning recipe with the very highest quality malt, hops, yeast, grapes or fruit your fermented beverage may not be so tasty if you are lax about sanitation.

What happens when the process isn’t sanitary? You may have some off-flavors in your beer or wine. Off-flavors in beer can range from plastic, band-aid-like, sour, butter or butterscotch, green apples,  cooked corn or a mélange of cooked vegetables, solventy (think acetone or paint thinner) and finally clove and banana (although these last two are OK in wheat beers).

Off-flavors in wine result in sourness such as vinegar, “corky” or moldy, rotten-egg like, mousy, buttery, Chloroseptic or  barnyard/horse blanket/wet dog/hamster pee-pee.  Off flavors sound delicious, don’t they?! Usually these off-flavors are perceptible but not overwhelming making the beer or wine almost drinkable on a Sunday when you can’t buy alcohol in Indiana.

Let me set you straight right here and now on home made beer and wine: nothing that can survive in beer or wine is going to kill you or even make you sick. NOTHING. So let’s just concentrate on making sure we are sanitary so we have tasty beer and wine. More on sanitation in my next blog.

A bill sponsors by Senator Ron Alting of Lafayette passed the full Senate with less thean 10 senators objecting. The bill will  allow Indiana breweries with production under 20,000 barrels to sell carry out of their own beer on Sundays. Purchases would be limited to growlers (half gallons) and 1/6^th barrels. This bill steers clear of the larger question of allowing Sunday sales of alcohol for off-premise consumption. The bill is now in the House Public Policy  committee chaired by Representative Trent Van Haasten (House Bill 1027) and will be voted on in the next 2 weeks.

We home brewers should support our commercial brethren on this bill by contacting our local representatives as well as the Chair of the House Public Policy Committe, Rep. Trent Van Haaften post haste and let them know you support this bill.

Read articles about this bill in the Bloomington HeraldTimes and at Indy.com.

Contact your local representative:  http://district.iga.in.gov/DistrictLookup/