Brewing Master

Question:

I do, the stuff does not evaporate as far as I know, and it will keep sanitizing for a long time.  So I have my two buckets, from my first equipment kit, fill one up with water and starsan and I put as much stuff as I can fit in there.   I then carefully pull stuff out and rinse it a couple of times and place it in a clean table.  I then put more stuff in the bucket, and repeat the process until I am done.   I then take the solution and dump it in my HLT, then from there it goest to my mash tun, then it goes to my brew kettle, and then it goes through my hopback and my counterflow wort chiller, and finally it ends up in my carboys before going down the drain…. Damn, I do have a whole bunch of stuff…..    Talk about a hobby getting out of hand! ek – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive, although it looks like it will work well.   Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1 oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line, etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment. On another note, does anyone in DC have a good reccomendation for a Brew Shop since Brewtopia closed down in Centreville?  Anyone know why Ramsey closed up shop? Thanks, Drew

Response:

Thanks guys-glad it won’t wear out quickly.  I think I do have hard water, maybe I will pick up some distilled water. Drew – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive, although it looks like it will work well. Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1 oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line, etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment. On another note, does anyone in DC have a good reccomendation for a Brew Shop since Brewtopia closed down in Centreville?  Anyone know why Ramsey closed up shop? Thanks, Drew

Response:

Hey Guys, I use StarSan with my well water and haven’t had any problems. I use it to sanitize bottles, then it goes in empty carboys and or empty kegs. I store them full of leftover solution. Just keep on reusing, I feel like keeping it longer but it isn’t that expensive really. After the few bad batches I had which made me switch to it in the first place, I find it good "insurance"  Cheers, Jim

Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive,

although it looks like it will work well. Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1

oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line,

etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more

expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going

through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment. On another note, does anyone in DC have a good reccomendation for a Brew

Shop since Brewtopia closed – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – down in Centreville?  Anyone know why Ramsey closed up shop? Thanks, Drew

Response:

Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.

I’d like to invest in the company that makes this stuff.  Somehow or another they’ve figured out how to make a bajillion percent profit on commodity chemicals…  It’s a blend of dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DDBSA salt, common anionic used in laundry detergent, and generally about $0.50-60/lb.) and phosphoric acid (another commodity, about $0.50/lb. too). I don’t see what is a sanitizer in this solution.  Even when phosphoric acid is used in toilet bowl cleaners, there’s generally another quaternary ammonium compound that is a true biocidal component. Is there something I’m missing?  I use Iodophor currently for sanitizing, and PBW (I’m sure I’d be similarly shocked at how much I’m paying for a powdered cleaner if the ingredients were listed on the label… As you may have guessed, I’m in the chemical industry, working in sales for a chemical manufacturer, so I do have some insight on these things. I looked at the bottle of StarSan, but just couldn’t rationalize paying that much for components that I do not recognize as sterilants.  I’m sure that it’s a good detergent, but I wonder about its sanitizing capabilities. Prost! Mark

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’d like to invest in the company that makes this stuff.  Somehow or another they’ve figured out how to make a bajillion percent profit on commodity chemicals…  It’s a blend of dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DDBSA salt, common anionic used in laundry detergent, and generally about $0.50-60/lb.) and phosphoric acid (another commodity, about $0.50/lb. too). I don’t see what is a sanitizer in this solution.  Even when phosphoric acid is used in toilet bowl cleaners, there’s generally another quaternary ammonium compound that is a true biocidal component. Is there something I’m missing?  I use Iodophor currently for sanitizing, and PBW (I’m sure I’d be similarly shocked at how much I’m paying for a powdered cleaner if the ingredients were listed on the label… As you may have guessed, I’m in the chemical industry, working in sales for a chemical manufacturer, so I do have some insight on these things. I looked at the bottle of StarSan, but just couldn’t rationalize paying that much for components that I do not recognize as sterilants.  I’m sure that it’s a good detergent, but I wonder about its sanitizing capabilities.

It passed the FDA’s testing for sanitizing, that is why.  Contact the manufacturer, I am pretty sure they will provide you with whatever it takes to convince you of it’s sanitizing abilities.  Anyway, if you have the knowledge to mix the chemicals it is made of do that…I do not, so I will purchase and use the Star San.  It works wonderfully. Cheers, Mike

Response:

Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive,

although it looks like it will work well. Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1

oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line,

etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more

expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going

through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment.

Drew, Star San is cheaper than it appears because it doesn’t ‘wear out’ quickly at all. It is pH sensative, so if your tap water is hard (or has a high pH) be sure to mix it with distilled or RO (reverse osmosis) water. I mix two basic lots: 1/4 tsp in a 500ml spray bottle (for coating surfaces and the room generally), and 1 tsp in a gallon (for soaking larger objects such as hoses) Keep re-using the Star San solution until it goes hazy, which in my case is usually several weeks. Steve

Response:

Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive, although it looks like it will work well.   Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1 oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line, etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment. On another note, does anyone in DC have a good reccomendation for a Brew Shop since Brewtopia closed down in Centreville?  Anyone know why Ramsey closed up shop? Thanks, Drew

Response:

Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive, although it looks like it will work well.   Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1 oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch?

You will get other answers on this; there’s lots of different ways to do it. What I do is mix up 1 *teaspoon’s* worth.  I.e., I use 1 tsp Star San to 3Qts and 10oz of water.  (This is the same ratio as 1 oz to 5 gallons), and then I use that to sanitize everything I need on brew day.  I start by putting it in my fermenter and shaking like hell so that the foam is everywhere.  After a few minutes, drain a little into a plastic spray bottle.  Drain the rest through your racking cane and hose into a pot.  Coil the hose into the pot, spray the outside of the racking cane, and then toss everything else you need into the pot:  airlocks, racking cane tip, stoppers, whatever.  When ready to rack, tip the fermenter to drain, and as you need other equipment, remove it from the pot. I just shake everything to get most of the Star San off.  Don’t worry about drying it off, don’t worry about foam. If I feel like it, I’ll take the leftover solution and keep it in a jug for the next session, but usually I mix up fresh each time. Great stuff, Star San. –frank

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – the bottle says Five Star Chemical Company  Denver, CO  (303)287-0186 http://www.fivestarchemicals.com I think you can get it at any decent homebrew store What about those of us who frequent the indecent homebrew stores? Somebody has to walk on the wild side around here Cheers, Mike

I’ve heard of those stores. The bottles are all nekked and they only take $1 bills ;-0 Cheers, Laine

Response:

the bottle says Five Star Chemical Company  Denver, CO  (303)287-0186 http://www.fivestarchemicals.com I think you can get it at any decent homebrew store

What about those of us who frequent the indecent homebrew stores? Somebody has to walk on the wild side around here Cheers, Mike

Response:

where do you get this stuff from, and who makes it?

You can get it from a number of brew shops.  One that comes to mind is www.grapeandgranary.com in Ohio.  It is made by Five Star. http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/ It is definitely cheaper by the gallon, and a gallon would last a very long time (640 gallons of no-rinse sanitizer to be exact) I plan to actually place my next order of their chemicals with the folks I bulk order my malt from.  Unfortunately, the shipping of that to TX from upstate NY would be prohibitive.  Anyway, I get my bulk malt from www.northcountrymalt.com and I get the brewer’s prices due to volume. Cheers, Mike

Response:

the bottle says Five Star Chemical Company  Denver, CO  (303)287-0186 http://www.fivestarchemicals.com I think you can get it at any decent homebrew store ek – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – where do you get this stuff from, and who makes it? — George Daher Katy, TX www.geocities.com/sgdaher/brewery Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive, although it looks like it will work well. Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1 oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line, etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment. I mix 1 1/4 teaspoons per gallon of water and mix it in gallon batches. You do not have to keep something submerged to get the required contact, only splash the surface and keep it wetted.  At the concentration I gave it is no rinse and a 2 minute contact time.  It also foams, that can create the contact. I have about a pint of the stuff left, but when that is gone, I plan to purchase a gallon.  It can be had for $31 or so, so each gallon of mixture would be about 5 cents (4.8 cents to be exact).  Sounds cheap to me… Cheers, Mike

Response:

It passed the FDA’s testing for sanitizing, that is why.

Change FDA above to USDA… Cheers, Mike

Response:

where do you get this stuff from, and who makes it? — George Daher Katy, TX www.geocities.com/sgdaher/brewery

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive, although it looks like it will work well. Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1 oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line, etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment. I mix 1 1/4 teaspoons per gallon of water and mix it in gallon batches. You do not have to keep something submerged to get the required contact, only splash the surface and keep it wetted.  At the concentration I gave it is no rinse and a 2 minute contact time.  It also foams, that can create the contact. I have about a pint of the stuff left, but when that is gone, I plan to purchase a gallon.  It can be had for $31 or so, so each gallon of mixture would be about 5 cents (4.8 cents to be exact).  Sounds cheap to me… Cheers, Mike

Response:

Hey Star San users, I just ordered some Star San for my next batch.  The stuff is expensive,

although it looks like it will work well. Here is my question for Star San users:  Do you just mix one solution (1

oz to 5 gal) and do all your sanitizing in that one bucket for your entire batch? By this I mean, do you sanitize all your equipment, bottles, tubing line,

etc, EVERYTHING, all in the one batch of sanitizer? I am going to try to use the stuff sparingly because it is one of the more

expensive supplies, but I also want to make sure that the sanitizer won’t "wear out" after going

through 48 bottles when it comes time to sanitize my equipment.

I mix 1 1/4 teaspoons per gallon of water and mix it in gallon batches.  You do not have to keep something submerged to get the required contact, only splash the surface and keep it wetted.  At the concentration I gave it is no rinse and a 2 minute contact time.  It also foams, that can create the contact. I have about a pint of the stuff left, but when that is gone, I plan to purchase a gallon.  It can be had for $31 or so, so each gallon of mixture would be about 5 cents (4.8 cents to be exact).  Sounds cheap to me… Cheers, Mike

Response: