Star San in my beer

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Zabuza

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So I was just checking on my IPA that I worked so hard on and I unplugged the blowoff valve to smell it...the moment I plugged it back in about a cup or two of sanitizer solution siphoned down into the 5 gallons of beer that was fermenting. It's two or three day old StarSan...this batch has to be ruined, right?
 
lumpher said:
a little star san actually acts as yeast food, so it'll help. relax, my friend, and have a homebrew

But a cup or two? I mean, that's a lot. I'm hopeful, but completely freakin out. 8-16oz.
 
Pratzie said:
Oy...I dunno about that much with the acidity of it. Hopefully its less then ur expecting

No, pretty precise. The blowoff tube went to a four cup measuring cup that I filled up to four cups a few days ago. It's now at two cups. Some evaporated, yeah, but we're talking somewhere between one and two cups. Can I add a base to even out the acidity?
 
Relax and let it go. Beer is tough to mess up once it's fermenting as long as you practice thorough sanitation, and I would say you're plenty sanitized!:D
 
IM not sure about adding a base since there really isn't a way to see how the acidity was affected. I just asked about it cuz the acid killing the yeast in the beer and affecting the pitch. How long has the batch been fermenting?
 
Well I decided to add another gallon of similar GU:BU wort to the brew, raising total volume to 6 gallons. That makes two cups (at worst) about 2% of the total volume, and one cup would make 1%. I'm also hoping the renewed fermentation will be able to break down some of the StarSan. We got 150+ IBUs on this brew, so I'm not worried about the taste, though I am worried about attenuation/health of people drinking it.
 
I did an experiment a while back. Started with wort at a pH of 5.3. Mixed it with starsan. At a 4:1 wort to sarsan ratio, which is where you'd end up if you took 4 gallons of wort and added and entire gallon of starsan, the pH was 4.8. I promise that adding 2 cups (1/8th of that amount) of starsan did exactly nothing to your beer. It almost certainly did not cause the fermentation to slow down. If your fermentation is slowing, its because its been going for a couple days and that's just where its at in the process.

:mug:
 
Star san loses it's it's acidity over time (when not sealed with distilled water) so if it never acidified your beer enough to kill the yeast you should be ok. I can relate to your concern (its easy to say 'relax' when its not your beer!), but I'm sure the beer will be fine.
 
I think in situations like this trying too hard to solve problems you imagine exist has a greater chance of creating a real problem than fixing anything.
 
I think in situations like this trying too hard to solve problems you imagine exist has a greater chance of creating a real problem than fixing anything.

Agreed. I've had a cup or two of starsan end up in a batch before and it made zero difference. It will be fine.
 
Ok, thanks guys! All the other threads I found on search talked about a very little amount of sanitizer (residue left in the bucket, foam, forgot to empty the racking cane hose, etc), so I was concerned that a considerably more amount would have wrecked it. Glad to hear I was concerned about nothing.
 
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