We use 71% Isopropyl in our spray bottles here at the brewery. One of my guys went to top up a bottle and accidentally mixed in a nitric/phos blend. (Which sits next to the alcohol on the chem. shelf). Five seconds later, the bottle exploded sending a mix of acid and alcohol everywhere! Luckily, no one was hurt. Hopefully this will help prevent others from doing the same thing by accident.
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Careful with your sani bottles!
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Do you mean why people use 70% alcohol in general, or isoprop specifically? I love the former as a small contact sanitiser, the latter I assume is used based on what's commonly available from a regional aspect, but I have wondered that myself too.
And I think the message here is be careful with your chemical drums. I'm a right bastard about it if I see someone go for the wrong chemical. Once upon a time I had someone, thinking they had grabbed general purpose detergent, dump a heap of acid sanitiser in my bucket of hypochlorite solution. Scoured my nasal passages and I was sick for a week. Always read the label. Always!
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Why isopropyl at any strength? It's not food grade, not any better than other options, degrades elastomers, is flammable... I just don't get it. Why not iodophor, ethyl alcohol, peracetic, or any of many other sanitizers? What makes isopropyl a good choice?Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--
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Originally posted by gitchegumeeWhy isopropyl at any strength? It's not food grade, not any better than other options, degrades elastomers, is flammable... I just don't get it. Why not iodophor, ethyl alcohol, peracetic, or any of many other sanitizers? What makes isopropyl a good choice?
Ah, sorry I wasn't clear. I wasn't referring to strength, just choice of alcohol variety.
I've never seen isopropyl alcohol down here, and I've always assumed it's popular in the US because of the more puritanical historical influences (ie it's an alcohol based sanitiser that you can't drink).
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Don't Drink IPA!....unless you want to get very sick or worse.
Around the brewery, we use P.A. solution for sanitising valves and fittings.
IPA 70-80% solution for hands, and 99% for cleaning. (i.e. mechanical seals)
I perfer P.A. solution because it is almost instantanious sanitising, as IPA requires more contact time.
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in conjunction with a flame i don't see any problem with it. That's been the SOP for aseptic sampling in all breweries I've worked for, as well as what has been taught to me in lab training courses. For non-lab work I use star-san in the spray bottle.
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Originally posted by Geoff LoganWe use 71% Isopropyl in our spray bottles here at the brewery. One of my guys went to top up a bottle and accidentally mixed in a nitric/phos blend. (Which sits next to the alcohol on the chem. shelf). Five seconds later, the bottle exploded sending a mix of acid and alcohol everywhere! Luckily, no one was hurt. Hopefully this will help prevent others from doing the same thing by accident.
Why do you use 71% instead of 70%?
I'm not being facetious, I love knowing these things.
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