Comment

Comment by John Walker on October 23, 2009 at 7:09pm

Jesse is right. If you can taste or smell bleach in the sanitiser, you are way over the amount needed. Lots of people think that if one teaspoon is good, how much better is a big gurgle?

Comment by Brady on October 22, 2009 at 12:33pm

James, I would suggest that you add this as a discussion. You will get far more feedback.

Comment by Jesse Bladyka on October 21, 2009 at 7:22pm

Get some bleach test strips, your health inspector should be able to provide you with some. If you're using the correct amount of bleach (way less than most new hires think), there shouldn't be an issue. We use rags wet with sanitizer, then wrung out well and re-wet every hour or so. I haven't ever detected a chlorine taste in our milk. I think it's a lot to ask that you dunk the rag every time you steam milk. Our health inspector has been very receptive to the unique needs of our coffee shop. For instance, a dry rag touching a food surface (portafilter) is technically a violation. However, we try to let the inspector know that we are using industry standard procedures developed by some of the best coffee shops in the country. We also are meticulous about codes that are easy to comply with. If you've got a clean shop and are doing a great job on keeping to code everywhere you can, your inspector should give you what little slack you need to operate efficiently.