Cleansing & sanitising - will this do it?

Yeastmaster · Dec 13, 2014

Hi Bruintuns

The need to let it air dry is news to me. I rinse/spray everything that will come into contact with wort or beer with star san solution. I then wait at least 1 minute before stirring my wort with the wet and foaming sanitised spoon, siphoning beer into my sanitised bottling bucket through my sanitised siphon or whatever.

When I bottle my bottles are full of star san foam which is pushed out by the beer. Six weeks ago I siphoned what must have been almost a cup of star san and distilled water solution (not sure I would risk this with tumble dryer water! ) into my beer when racking by accident.

I bottled nevertheless and I just had the first beer from that batch and there's nothing wrong with it.

The reason why I'm telling you all this is to reassure you that there is no need to worry about the foam or that star san will do anything to your beer. If you do want to wipe it off I would do this with a clean sponge drenched in star san solution (I always have this to hand when brewing) as paper towels are not sanitary.

BruinTuns · Dec 13, 2014

Cheers Yeastmaster, the sanitized sponge is a good tip.
Re air-drying, I'm just quoting the destructions. I guess they're being a bit over cautious. Good to know it's not necessary.

BruinTuns · Dec 17, 2014

Right, I have now tried Star San with boiled water, Tesco Everday Value mineral water and their Ashbeck water which, afaik, only comes in 5l containers at about a quid, so still pretty cheap.
I tried putting a drop of Star San into Ashbeck tonight and - so far - it's the first water I've used to remain clear. Just in case it goes cloudy overnight I'll check it in the morning and update this post.

Update:
The Star San in Ashbeck solution is still clear today. Strange that the Value mineral water should go cloudy but I can confirm that Star San is fine with Ashbeck.
Whether it remains clear for as long as would a solution made with distilled/de-ionised water remains to be seen but so far so good.

GHW · Dec 20, 2014

I've just diluted the 5L bottle of ashbeck water from tezzers with star San and it's stayed clear. Gravity on my batch in fv is down to 1010 and slowing up so will be bottling soon. The spray bottle sounds easy enough but I'm a bit concerned whether it will give good coverage. Do those of you using this method just stick the nozzle in the top of the bottle and give it a few squirts?

Yeastmaster · Dec 20, 2014

Thanks for the update Gareth. Let us know how long it stays clear for - sounds promising.

I only spray the star san onto my equipment; I read about this in Palmer's book How to Brew (he's extremely diligent about sanitation and if he does it it will be fine abd indeed I've never had any problems).

When it comes to bottles I pour it from bottle to bottle using a funnel, twisting it when I pour it out so that I can be sure the whole inside has been covered. I then put the bottles upside down on a tray I sprayed with star san which also ensures the opening is nicely sanitised. After 5-10 minutes I then seal it with a star san sprayed crown cap.

There's lots of foam inside the bottles after doing this but this isn't a problem and the beer pushes it out when you bottle. I use a (star san sprayed) bottling wand.

GHW · Dec 20, 2014

Sounds good. Think I'll follow that routine. Do you need gloves for the diluted star San? Marigolds are not my best look...

Yeastmaster · Dec 20, 2014

I use marigolds (don't know if it's necessary).

pluckthechicken · Dec 21, 2014

I've used both ashbeck and the value water... the latter is pH 7.8 and the ashbeck is ph 6.8, so that's probably what causes the cloudiness in the value water, as it's got quite high residual alkalinity?

I always use nitrile gloves that I nick from my lab at university (the perks of being a lab geek)... it amazed me the amount of youtube tutorials where people sanitize with such great care and then touch everything with bare hands!

BruinTuns · Dec 21, 2014

Thanks for the info about the different alkalinty levels, interesting.
Re using gloves I do it the other way, i.e. I 'scrub up' and then sanitise my hands and forearms with Star San solution.

GHW · Dec 21, 2014

Star San gloves! Like it. To be worn with beer goggles.

GHW · Dec 21, 2014

For some reason I am increasingly dreading this bottling.

Anyway, do you guys sanitise crown corks before capping your bottles? Presumably a dunk in the star San will do the trick? What about the corker? That seems like overkill!

Yeastmaster · Dec 21, 2014

Crown caps, capper, etc. - everything is sprayed with star san solution. It only takes a few seconds and a minute or two after spraying you can use it.

Brew2Day · Dec 23, 2014

You can also (as I do) fill a ssanitised bucket or washing up bowl with Campden tabs, maybe 2-3ltrs and crush a couple campden tabs and add your bits and bobs to it until your ready to use them.

I'm also using IPA 70 rubbing alcohol as a spray for a quick blast of clean on things like a hydrometer before popping it in the wort.

I would get some starsan but refuse to pay the shipping as it totals almost 20 quid.

Cwrw666 · Dec 23, 2014

I've never sanitised crown caps and never had a bottle of beer go bad on me. I just use them straight from the packet.

johnnyboy1965 · Dec 23, 2014

I think Ive bottled over 2500 x 500ml bottles and have never lost one yet. Ive lost a few from the caps not seating correctly. You are correct in your thinking about sanitation...If your that concerned,,,and I don't blame you. just put your caps on a tray and blast them through your oven at 180oC for ten mins

Cwrw666 · Dec 24, 2014

johnnyboy1965 said:
I think Ive bottled over 2500 x 500ml bottles and have never lost one yet. Ive lost a few from the caps not seating correctly. You are correct in your thinking about sanitation...If your that concerned,,,and I don't blame you. just put your caps on a tray and blast them through your oven at 180oC for ten mins

Crown caps have a rubbery layer inside which is what seals the bottles. I don't think sticking them in the oven would do them a lot of good! You could just chuck them in a jug of boiling water though - I've done this on the odd occasion when I've run out of crown caps mid-bottling and fished some used ones out of the bin to re-use.:lol:

pluckthechicken · Dec 24, 2014

Cwrw666 said:
Crown caps have a rubbery layer inside which is what seals the bottles. I don't think sticking them in the oven would do them a lot of good! You could just chuck them in a jug of boiling water though - I've done this on the odd occasion when I've run out of crown caps mid-bottling and fished some used ones out of the bin to re-use.:lol:

Second the boiling water, I've heard some say it might damage the seal but I've never had problems doing that, although I just starsan them now so I don't burn my fingers getting them out

However I've not been desperate enough to fish any out the bin.

Yet...

wezil · Dec 26, 2014

Hi,boiling water will remove the temporary hardness from water this is what causes the lime scale in your kettle although it will not affect the permanent hardness.So boiling it may be enough to make it usable with starsan. Or invest Â£80-100 in a kettle type distiller these are advertised as making distilled water. As an aside when distilled water touches metal it is no longer distilled. (so keep it in plastic or glass).

BruinTuns · Dec 27, 2014

A question for other Star San users: how fussy do we need to be about removing the suds from freshly sanitised bottles? I give them a few vigorous shakeouts but the foamy residue is very tenacious.

wezil, I tried boiling the water but it went milky as soon as I added the Star San. So far Tesco Ashbeck is the only water I've found to stay clear.

wezil · Dec 27, 2014

Hi, least you know now. Sometimes the water company will artificially harden the water to raise the PH. which helps to protect their pipe work from corrosion. This type of water if boiled can be very soft afterwards that's all. And I believe the suds will be harmless just leave them draining for 10minutes probably all disappear.

Cleansing & sanitising - will this do it?

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