Thread: clippercide/barbercide Vs. rubbing alcohol?

Again, I'll share some of my brewing knowledge where it applies here.

For brewing you obviously have to be pretty anal about keeping things clean and sanitary. You can't truly sterilize easily without an autoclave, as previously mentioned, and the only things I worry about getting truly sterile in an autoclave (I use a regular pressure cooker) are my yeast propagation tools and equipment (pipettes, nalgene bottles, test tubes, dishes, innoculation loops, etc). For all other uses you will really only sanitize.

For sanitation there are tons of choices. The choice I use in my home brewery is called "starsan", a food grade phosphoric acid based chemical solution available from just about any homebrew shop as well as mail order. As with any other sanitizer solution, mixing it in the proper ratio is critical. Starsan gives something like a log 5 kill rate on contact, although regulations require them to list a 30 second minimum contact time. I keep a spray bottle full of starsan mixed with RO or distilled water and I use it to spray down all my various utensils as I'm brewing (as well as soaking the bigger items). I've taken to using it to spray down my razors, too. This stuff is fairly cheap, I always have it on hand and if I mix it using RO or distilled water it will stay good for effectively forever.

I use a lot of stainless steel in brewing and starsan is completely safe to use for it. I've left it sitting for a week in a stainless keg and not had any issues. It will discolor vinyl plastic tubing though if you forget and leave it sit for a week or two (as I learned the hard way heh). I have no problems spraying down my entire razor scales and all and then wiping it clean.

If you rinse your razor after sanitizing it you are most likely putting FAR more germs back on it. The aerator screen in your faucet harbors a tremendous amount of bacteria and in point of fact your normal drinking water (that you rinse your face with and shower with) has far more bacteria in it than you'd ever realize. In fact, in a lot of cases where I've helped brewers troubleshoot infectoin problems (bacterial or wild yeast contaminations in their beer) I've been able to trace it directly back to them using tap water to rinse something post boil or topping up their post boil wort with unboiled tap water.

For my airlocks to keep them sanitized I use cheap vodka. You actually need a bit of water mixed with the alcohol to make it a more effective sanitizer so you wouldn't want 100% isopropyl (or ethyl either) alcohol. Even alcohol sanitizes on contact, it doesn't truly sterilize without long term soaking.

For 99.9% of normal needs, you really shouldn't obsess about sterilizing/sanitizing a razor unless it's (a) new to you (from the mfgr, another person or eBay), (b) been potentially contaminated environmentally (dropped in the toilet, for example) or you're loaning it out to your friends. Doesn't hurt to give it a spritz of a sanitizer whenever you want, of course, but it's not worth obsessing about especially if you're rinsing that blade with tap water.

-- Gary F.

str8razor,

Hydrogen Peroxide is a corrosive and it can harm metal. It is a mild one though at the strength you are using it. As with all corrosives, the longer it is in contact with the metal , the more damage it could potentially do. It would also depend on the type of metal. Softer metals would be more prone to damage then a harder one.
For your basic disinfecting like you are doing, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Chuck