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I was given some old sterilising powder from Freegle as part of a wine making set. Would it be any good? It's probably anywhere in the region of 15 to 20 years old. It was bought at Boots when they used to sell wine making gear.

If it's the sterilising powder that I think it is then it's sodium metabisulphate (or is that sulphide?) , anyway try mixing some up and you should be able to smell the pungent whiff of sodium dioxide which is what it decomposes into. It'll probably still be ok to use but at a guess it may have lost some of its potentancy.


Pete

Thanks Skippy/Pete. Yes it was and it didn't smell of anything so I'm assuming it's lost it's potency. Do you know if it will sterilise at all? I've heard that this stuff is bad anyway and any residue left on equipment can contaminate a brew.

For the price of a new tub, pick-up some VWP. I wouldn't skimp on sterilising.

I've been introduced to Starsan, which I now use instead of VWP unless I really need to nuke something. You just spray it on, no need to rinse so it makes the whole steralizing time much shorter.

I'm not sure I'd risk using old solution like that, I'm with George, for the sake of a few quid it not worth risking an entire brew.

Starsan is great - a little goes a long way - but only works as a sanitation/sterilisation agent. It will not clean like VWP or bleach does.

Does VWP go off? I have an ancient pot of that, which I'm wondering what to do with.