Q:

Peracetic acid as a sanitizer?

My friend got Paracetic Acid from his LHM store (they only had that and alcohol 70 there).
Is it a non-rinse sanitizer? How good is it?
Wikipedia says it corrodes metals, so no go for the crown caps?
Does it have any other applications (thinking cleaner).
Anything else he should know?

A:

That's nasty stuff. Handle with gloves! Paracetic Acid comes in several concentrations if you have the 5% Paracetic Acid solution then you should shoot for 1% of the solution in your volume of water. So 1L would need 10ml of parasafe and then scale up or down from there.
Honestly I'd skip it, and make your own sanitizer. In a pinch where I'm out of starsan I use 1oz bleach and 1oz vinegar in 5 gal water. Make sure the vinegar is fully mixed before the bleach is added. Give it a couple minutes contact time but is considered no rinse.
This solution was actually proposed in a podcast by the maker of StarSan, Relevant links: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Homemade_No_Rinse_Sanitizer

