Frustrating homebrew!!

[mr.nitro]

I use 2% ba and 20% bb on everything. You can criticize these numbers all you want, but there is a method to my madness. First I'll address the BA, sure you can go higher with it and I'm sure it will be enough to keep most brews in solution, but I'm only using it for antiseptic purposes, in that case 2% is plenty. Why don't I go higher? Because it's painful, I can't imagine pinning with 5% ba.

So why do I use so much bb? Well the ba I'm using isn't always enough to hold the solution, and I like how the bb thins the oil slightly. It makes a smoother injection overall.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, that's my philosophy. I've use this method for over a decade and I can't see changing it.

 

[mr.nitro]

And anyone who claims they can filter their gear to make it "sterile" has no idea what sterile really means. What we are really striving for is a "high level disinfection"

Cleaning: "The first and most important step in removing the microbial burden from an endoscope. Retained debris may inactivate or interfere with the capability of the chemical solution to effectively kill and/or inactivate microorganisms." — Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates, Inc. (SGNA)
Disinfection: "A process that results in the killing of all vegetative bacteria, viruses, fungi, and mycobacteria, but not necessarily all bacterial spores. The Spaulding Classification identifies HLD [high-level disinfection] as the standard for medical devices that touch mucous membranes, such as endoscopes." — Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
Sterilization: "A process that results in the complete elimination or destruction or all forms of microbial life. The Spaulding Classification identifies sterilization as the standard? for medical devices that enter the vascular system or sterile tissue, such as biopsy forceps." — Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)

 

[mr.nitro]

http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/images/stories/mdb/2012/FEATURES/40429-163._fig2.PNG

 

[Big_paul]

I use 2% ba and 20% bb on everything. You can criticize these numbers all you want, but there is a method to my madness. First I'll address the BA, sure you can go higher with it and I'm sure it will be enough to keep most brews in solution, but I'm only using it for antiseptic purposes, in that case 2% is plenty. Why don't I go higher? Because it's painful, I can't imagine pinning with 5% ba.

So why do I use so much bb? Well the ba I'm using isn't always enough to hold the solution, and I like how the bb thins the oil slightly. It makes a smoother injection overall.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, that's my philosophy. I've use this method for over a decade and I can't see changing it.

I agree. hey if you want to use ba only for a solvent at 5% have at it. I never go more than 2% ba to preserve the gear after it has been filtered and heat sterilized.. The main solvent should be bb. So instead of using 5% ba I would use 2 or 1% ba and 3-4% bb in the case we were discussing. bb is a more effective solvent than ba and it doesn't cause the kind of pip you will have using such a high benzyl alcohol concentration in your gear.
Suggesting that ba should be higher than 2% is absurd.