Using Ozone to sterilise a fermenter?

[FatBrewer]

I was recently talking to the owner of a local small winery. I asked what he used to clean and then sanitise (disinfect) his stainless fermentation tanks.

He uses regular chemicals for the cleaning, followed by an acid rinse. and then he said had a small device that produces Ozone, this is placed inside his tanks for minimum 12 hours before they are to be used. Apparently, the Ozone kills anything / everything in the tank.

Anyone heard of this technique? If so, does it actually work?

(side note: my research shows that Sierra Nevada uses it for rinse water treatment, but I can't seem to find any info on using it for sterilisation).

Cheers,
FB

[Starcat]

Unadvised

This is Reinventing the wheel, of which there are a lot of attempts going on.
Having worked with Ozone Tek in the past, it has a dark side and to be going to this degree for this purpose comes off as nonsensical.

[TGTimm]

We sterilize in a few minutes (well, 15-20) using PAA or heat (195F rinse).

How does your friend sterilize the tank after opening it to remove the O3 generator?

[gbrower]

We had a rep stop by one time with some info about it. They were selling a O3 generator that diffuses into water and meant to replace ppa. The machine costs about 10K. They eat of electricity like no other. There was also some parts that wear out after awhile that cost about 2-3K to replace. It also looks like ozone is really hard on gaskets, seals, and possibly stainless.

Overall I think this will end up costing a lot more than ppa.

[TGTimm]

" It also looks like ozone is really hard on gaskets, seals, and possibly stainless."

And skin, eyes, lungs....