UV sterilizer

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beerthirty
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 3:16 pm

UV sterilizer

Post by beerthirty »

I had a thought as I could not sleep last night. What about using UV light to sterilize (sanitize) those hard to reach areas of clear lines, cleaned and stored carboys or anything else that the light could reach. the food industry has been using them for years and I used them while breeding tropical fish in the past. it is a very simple concept. I had a fluorescent tube style bulb that was set in counterflow wort chiller concept. the water passed through a conduit surrounding the light(but not the pin caps) thus exposing the water with any little beasties in it to the UV radiation. the tube protected everything outside from exposure to the light. so here goes the idea solder the wires to the pin caps and insulate with silicone. run one end of the wires up to the other end holding them to the tube with rubber bands. this would allow you to fit the tube into carboys. the wires would of course run to the transformer and switch. you could also mount the light inside a cardboard box and when closed you would have a UV oven exposing everything inside the box to the light. although UV does kill living cells it is easy to protect yourself from with good sunglasses, dust mask and long sleeves. or simply using a good sunscreen. the original setup I had would also be good for sterilizing the rinse water of equipment so no bugs were introduced at that time. Guys tell me what your thoughts are on this. If I remember correctly the bulb was under $12 at a lighting supply store. It seems a cheap and viable solution for a lot of areas in home brew. thanks in advance.
Joe
coder
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:23 am

UV lamp

Post by coder »

Actually, I'm thinking of installing UV lamp in my home brewery. You can buy such lamp for ~$100 on ebay, the kind they use in hospitals. But the use of UV light is limited only to the sufraces that are exposed to it, so it can only play supplementary role to our normal sanitation regimes. I hope it will help me to get rid of airborn bacteria, before racking/siphoning.
beerthirty
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 3:16 pm

UV sterilizer

Post by beerthirty »

the UV oven idea was to store frequently used items while in the brewing proccess. spoons, racking canes,clear hoses, measuring cups, hydrometers, thermometers, etc. so you keep bodily expossure to a minimum. UV radiation will burn your skin like a sunburn, the longer the exposure the worse the burn.
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