Star san

I recently bought star san to sanitize my bottles. I never used it before and the guy at the store said it was a NO RINSE. So taking him at his word I didn't rinse. Well needless to say every bottle I bottled now has a foamy mold substance floating on the surface. Anyone else ever have this issue??

rfoneill said:

I recently bought star san to sanitize my bottles. I never used it before and the guy at the store said it was a NO RINSE. So taking him at his word I didn't rinse. Well needless to say every bottle I bottled now has a foamy mold substance floating on the surface. Anyone else ever have this issue??

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Star San is definitely a no rinse sanitizer so you did the right thing by not rinsing. Star San foams quite a bit, which is actually a great thing since the foam is just as effective as a sanitizer as the liquid. Can you explain your process a bit more? when/how did you sanitize the bottles? Did you dilute the star San down to the proper concentration? Can you describe the mold more? Pics? When did the mold show up?

Basically, the mold is not from not rinsing the Star San.

Starsan is indeed no rinse, leaving some foam behind in the bottle is normal. The yeast will consume the foam, are you sure that it's mold? I have seen what looks like a bit of a "starsan slick" on top of the beer in the secondary before. It has never caused a problem. According to the creator, starsan is safe to consume when diluted properly. There are many threads about starsan on HBT if you want further info.

I mix my star san according to directions in a spray bottle and just use that to spray everything after its cleaned with soap and water. No rinse as everyone else already said but just remember it doesnt take much. don't over do it.

Here is a picture of one of the bottles. As far as the mix ratio I followed the directions almost exactly may have been more water than required but not much.

A little foam is normal when bottling with starsan. whatever that thing sticking to the side of the bottle neck is needs to be scrubbed out. That's not starsan.

rfoneill said:

Here is a picture of one of the bottles. As far as the mix ratio I followed the directions almost exactly may have been more water than required but not much.

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What is your process when bottling? Do you add the two cap fills with 6 gals o water in a 6.5 gallon bucket, then soak the whole bottle in the bucket? Or do you just pour in the sanitizer?

After you put sanitizer in the bottle, are you letting it completely air dry?

jknapp12105 said:

After you put sanitizer in the bottle, are you letting it completely air dry?

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Hopefully not. No-rinse sanitizers work best if the sanitized object (bottle) is still wet with the sanitizer (to the point of filling and capping)...

Cheers!

rfoneill said:

Here is a picture of one of the bottles. As far as the mix ratio I followed the directions almost exactly may have been more water than required but not much.

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That shouldn't be a problem, I over dilute mine also (by about half a gallon) and have had no problem maintaining the proper ph level of the sanitizer. My guess is maybe the bottles were not clean to start with, would need to know more about your process. As stated above, whatever is stuck to the neck of your bottle is not from starsan.

ajlee said:

That shouldn't be a problem, I over dilute mine also (by about half a gallon) and have had no problem maintaining the proper ph level of the sanitizer. My guess is maybe the bottles were not clean to start with, would need to know more about your process. As stated above, whatever is stuck to the neck of your bottle is not from starsan.

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besides the air bubbles there is nothing stuck to the bottles. that blotch you see in upper right is actually something hanging in front of the light. As far as my process of washing, the bottles soaked in a solution of oxy clean to get the labels of scrubbed with a bottle brush and rinsed in plain water 2x before submerging them in a bucket of star san solution for approx 2-3 minutes drained air dried for a few minutes before filling.

jknapp12105 said:

What is your process when bottling? Do you add the two cap fills with 6 gals o water in a 6.5 gallon bucket, then soak the whole bottle in the bucket? Or do you just pour in the sanitizer?

After you put sanitizer in the bottle, are you letting it completely air dry?

Click to expand...

besides the air bubbles there is nothing stuck to the bottles. that blotch you see in upper right is actually something hanging in front of the light. As far as my process of washing, the bottles soaked in a solution of oxy clean to get the labels of scrubbed with a bottle brush and rinsed in plain water 2x before submerging them in a bucket of star san solution for approx 2-3 minutes drained air dried for a few minutes before filling.

rfoneill said:

besides the air bubbles there is nothing stuck to the bottles. that blotch you see in upper right is actually something hanging in front of the light. As far as my process of washing, the bottles soaked in a solution of oxy clean to get the labels of scrubbed with a bottle brush and rinsed in plain water 2x before submerging them in a bucket of star san solution for approx 2-3 minutes drained air dried for a few minutes before filling.

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Everything sounds good. I think you're fine.