Star San & other newbie questions

[Tim1975]

These questions sit between a few areas on the forum so please feel free to move if I have messed up.

I have been avidly watching YouTube clips on brewing and pretty much everyone uses Star San so I went and bought some at the weekend. Didn't realise how little you need but have mixed up 1ml with 750ml water (didn't go cloudy, all good). Just so I put my mind at rest, I have seen people spraying Star San liberally on everything so it will come into contact with the beer, I am right in thinking that it's not going to poison anyone if it gets in the mix and is ingested by drinking the beer?

I'm pretty sure the answer to the above is yes but want to check before I go mad spraying everything and being super clean!

The other thing is that I am now on day 7 of my Coopers Aus Lager Fermentation (first brew ever), checked the FG last night and all is good, it is a little cloudy though, will this get better during second fermentation? Did I do something wrong? Tastes great so that side of it is fine, just wanted a nice clear lager or am I being to hopeful here?

 

[Bigjas]

These questions sit between a few areas on the forum so please feel free to move if I have messed up.

I have been avidly watching YouTube clips on brewing and pretty much everyone uses Star San so I went and bought some at the weekend. Didn't realise how little you need but have mixed up 1ml with 750ml water (didn't go cloudy, all good). Just so I put my mind at rest, I have seen people spraying Star San liberally on everything so it will come into contact with the beer, I am right in thinking that it's not going to poison anyone if it gets in the mix and is ingested by drinking the beer?

I'm pretty sure the answer to the above is yes but want to check before I go mad spraying everything and being super clean!

The other thing is that I am now on day 7 of my Coopers Aus Lager Fermentation (first brew ever), checked the FG last night and all is good, it is a little cloudy though, will this get better during second fermentation? Did I do something wrong? Tastes great so that side of it is fine, just wanted a nice clear lager or am I being to hopeful here?

Star San is 'no rinse'. What I do is spray it on anything that will come in to contact with my wort/beer and leave it for a couple of minutes. You still need to clean everything thoroughly before you use it though, it wont sanitize dirt.

Your brew will start to clear with time, the longer you leave it, the clearer it gets. You can use finings to help the process along, I use 'Cold Crashing' to help clear mine. There are lots of opinions on what's best to do to create a clear beer.

 

[Tim1975]

Thanks Bigjas, yes I use brewpacks bottle and barrel cleaner for cleaning and the Star San for sanitising, thanks for allaying my fears about it!

The clearing beer thing, I guess I will just have to be patient and see what it looks like when it has finished doing it's thing in a few weeks time, most important thing is it tastes nice

 

[Graz]

It is no rinse but I always drain off any excess. Less additional chemicals in my beer the better I think.

As for your lager, nothing to fear. It will be quite cloudy until it has had time to condition. They'll alway be some yeast in suspension which will eventually drop out over time.

I normally keg my brews after 2-3 weeks in the fermenter and it's never perfectly clear going in, few more weeks it's fine to drink but gets better and clearer after 4-6 weeks. Depends on your method of serving but with my bottom tap barrels the first few pints can be a little cloudy as the sediment tends to settle at the bottom but fine after that.

If bottling you'll get a small layer of sediment at the bottom so just pour slowly and carefully so as not to disturb it and leave a little bit of beer behind.

 

[Personal91]

These questions sit between a few areas on the forum so please feel free to move if I have messed up.

I have been avidly watching YouTube clips on brewing and pretty much everyone uses Star San so I went and bought some at the weekend. Didn't realise how little you need but have mixed up 1ml with 750ml water (didn't go cloudy, all good). Just so I put my mind at rest, I have seen people spraying Star San liberally on everything so it will come into contact with the beer, I am right in thinking that it's not going to poison anyone if it gets in the mix and is ingested by drinking the beer?

I'm pretty sure the answer to the above is yes but want to check before I go mad spraying everything and being super clean!

The other thing is that I am now on day 7 of my Coopers Aus Lager Fermentation (first brew ever), checked the FG last night and all is good, it is a little cloudy though, will this get better during second fermentation? Did I do something wrong? Tastes great so that side of it is fine, just wanted a nice clear lager or am I being to hopeful here?

As GRAZ says it will get better with time , i tend to look at it as 2-2-2

2 weeks in the primary fermenter
2 weeks in bottles or a pressure keg conditioning in a warm area ( a top nozzle floating fed king keg of my prefrence)
2 weeks in a cooler area to allow the stabalisation of carbonation (try saying that after a few pints)

on many brews i end up leaving them 3 weeks in the primary fermenter mind you as it allows the yeasties to work through any byproducts and unwanted flavours they may have created