CPBF woes

[kim]

My counter-pressure bottle filler works great, but there are a couple issues that have cropped up with it recently. I guess it's the older model from B3, not the newer one that's made from 100% stainless steel. I have bottled some brett & sour mix beers with it, and although we're good about sanitation, I'm worried that there might be some bugs in there. So, first question -- any tips on ensuring that it's totally clean of bugs? I've heard of baking them, boiling them... not sure what route to take.

Second, recently it seems that the metal is getting oxidized or something -- it is rubbing off a ton of gray matter on my hands. Is that from StarSan? Or what? Does it mean that some bad stuff is getting into the beer?

I feel like I might be better off just tossing it and getting a new one, but I thought maybe someone might have some insight.

And yes, I did say "rubbing off" and "tossing it".

Cheers, friends!
XOXO Kim

[Petedadink]

beer gun. just sayin

[thatguy314]

If you take apart the compression fittings and remove the o-rings, everything else can be boiled, which should completely sanitize it. If you contact morebeer, they can send you new o-rings. Or you can just pbw and bleach (then carefully rinse off the bleach) then starsan the sucker and put it back together.

Or you can do what was said above, and get a beer gun, which can be boiled in its entirety. I'm going to sell my CPBF and get a beer gun when I get the $

[TastyMcD]

You know what I say:

[Quin]

So, first question -- any tips on ensuring that it's totally clean of bugs?

To be sure, you would have to disassemble the entire thing and cook it in a pressure cooker at 15 psi for 20 minutes. That would be comparable to an autoclave.

[thatguy314]

So, first question -- any tips on ensuring that it's totally clean of bugs?

To be sure, you would have to disassemble the entire thing and cook it in a pressure cooker at 15 psi for 20 minutes. That would be comparable to an autoclave.

If not, boiling for an extended period of time should be sufficient (it won't kill everything known to man, but it will kill the major spoilage organisms). Wrap it in completely in several layers of tin foil before sterilizing it. If you wrap it correctly, it will stay sterile indefinitely (for all intents and purposes) in the wrapping.

Unfortunately, there is one part of the CPBF that isn't autoclavable. It's the o-rings

However, I've taken mine out and they look to be 10mm OD, 6.5mm ID, so I think I'm going to order some O-rings on mcmaster that are silicone 10mmOD 6mmID and see if they will hold a seal in my CPBF, so I can sterilize the whole thing at a time.

[JP]

Why do you think you have contamination issues Ki-Ki?

If you listen to the show where Neva from WL was on, she explains how to get rid of those bacterium - PBW and Star San. Don't buy something new when you already have something that works. Getting anything else is not going to fix the issue you may or may not have. It's not like the CPBF is the only thing that may harbor critters ...