The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/all/20050203025045/http://leeners.com:80/sanitizers.html
 
SANITIZING CHEMICALS
Cleaners, sanitisers and preservatives are not the same thing.  Cleaners may leave your equipment bright and clean but not sanitary enough to use for home brewing.  Some sanitizers work as preservatives but some preservatives don't sanitize.  As an aside, there is a difference between sanitizing and sterilizing.  What most home brewers have to aim for is sanitation: keeping the population of spoilage organisms as low as possible.  Sterilization, on the other hand, is tough to achieve.  A good rule of thumb is this: if you can keep your equipment looking, smelling, and feeling clean at all times you'll have fewer problems keeping everything sanitized.  Rinse out bottles and carboys as soon as they are empty.  Store beer equipment with a little chlorine solution in it and wine making equipment with a little sulfite solution.  But don't mix the two solutions; dangerous gases can be produced.  If you get tired of scrubbing and sanitizing, just remember 90% of all failures in home beer and wine making can be attributed to lapses in sanitation. 

STRAIGHT- A CLEANSER
1 lb. $3.95-
5 lb. $19.95-
Cleans with oxygen and does not contain any chlorine, bisulphites, organic compounds or phosphates. Superior wetting power penetrates and lifts soils. Removes labels, dissolves acidic soils. Use 1 tablespoon per gallon of warm water. Caution: keep out of reach of children.

EASY CLEAN SANITIZER
1.5 lb. $3.95-
5 lb. $14.95-
Sanitizes on contact  with only 1 tablespoon per gallon of warm water.  No rinsing necessary. Caution: keep out of reach of children.

B-T-F IODOPHOR 4 oz. $2.95- 1 liter $12.95-
Iodine detergent, sanitizer and germicide. Prepare solution by mixing one ml of Iodophor per litre of cold water. Use a syringe for accurate measurement. Rinse clean equipment with solution (or use trigger-type spray bottle) and allow to drip dry. Do not rinse. Excellent for use with stainless steel which chlorine will corrode. Hazardous to those with iodine allergies. Concentrated solution will stain skin, fabric. Good sanitiser, but not good for cleaning dirty or stained equipment.
 

SODIUM METABISULFITE
2 oz. $1.20-
1 lb $1.90-
To make a 25% cleaning solution, dissolve 8 teaspoons into 1 gallon of cold water. Hazard classification is Irritant and will provoke allergic reaction in hypersensitive individuals. Individuals with asthma or emphysema should not breathe the dust or gas from the prepared solution. This sodium source of metabisulfite is not recommended for use as a stablizer in wine because of possible flavor changes in wine. The US government currently bans the use of sodium metabisulfite in all wines made in or imported into the country due to health concerns over sodium. Potassium Metabisulfite should be used as a sulfite stablizer.
copyright 2004 J.R.Leverentz
winemaking homebrewing cheesemaking