I have been using a carb stone and it has been working well for me. Is there any kind of negative stuff I should be on the lookout for?
Here’s some info: https://www.glaciertanks.com/PDFs/carbstonecareguide.pdf
Spike Brewing say: “After use, the carb stone should soak in brewery wash or similar product for at least 24 hours.
After a good long soak, rinse with warm water while attaching the stone to a CO2 line to push all residual material and brewery wash out of the stone’s porous body.
When ready to use again, we recommend one more rinse then soak with sanitizer for a few minutes.”
With carb or O2 stones, pasteurize if you can, either instead of (preferrably) or in addition to chemical sanitization. The pores are too small for aqueous sanitizing agents to reach. I stick my O2 wand in the sparge water while it’s heating up, for example. I would do the same for a carb stone if I used one.
160oF for ~2 minutes all it takes. Pasteurization is always better than chemical sanitization, provided the equipment can handle the temp.
Carb stones are not as subject to infection as many might fear. As long as you keep them clean and sanitize before use they should be fine. Beer, post fermentation, is pretty stable. Most infection happen pre-fermentaion.
A hot soak in 165-180 water will sanitize them properly.
You don’t need a stone to carb if you allow enough time on gas. For me it would be just another added expense and more to clean.