Do you let StarSan touch your skin?

I just started using StarSan. Is it ok to let it touch your skin (when its diluted per the label)? I was putting my airlocks in a tub with the solution, and my fingers were in contact with it for probably a good five minutes.

Now my fingers feel really rough like sandpaper and dry. I put some coconut oil on them and they feel a lot better.

It will dry your hands out, but it's not that big of a deal.

I bathe in starsan

It doesn't dry my skin out any worse than dish soap.

I soaked my entire arm in StarSan once to retrieve a stir bar from the bottom of a fermenter.

You bathe in it? Yikes that seems extreme?


What makes this stuff sudsy? It doesn't list any saponins or soap like stuff on the label that I saw?

My hands and arms are always in the star-san solution. Haven't noticed anything.

Every time I brew and every time I bottle. Rinse them off and use some hand lotion!

I might have made it a bit strong. I felt like my fingers were burning just a bit in the solution. Then after I was done they felt noticeably dry. But after putting on the coconut oil it feels pretty much normal.

porcupine73 said:

I might have made it a bit strong. I felt like my fingers were burning just a bit in the solution. Then after I was done they felt noticeably dry. But after putting on the coconut oil it feels pretty much normal.

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Did you mix it in cold, or hot, water? I found that cold (or slightly warm) is better than hot. I only noticed drier skin (on my hands) after also mixing up a batch of PBW and putting my hands in that several times (putting items into it). Lubriderm works well (I use it on my cranium IF/when I get sunburn on it in the summer time).

Real men don't use coconut oil. :rockin:

BTW, davekippen, do you wash your undercarrage with Star San too??

Haven't noticed a problem with Star San, but I can tell when I've been playing in the PBW.

Hahha coconut oil is where it's at, using StarSan was a stretch for me, since I don't really trust commercial chemicals, but it seems to be working well. I don't like the chemicals in most 'moisturizers'. Whereas a good coconut oil, well, that is, um, hm I did post this in the drunken ramblings I hope, very nice ...

PBW ok I have to check that out, at first I thought maybe Pabst Blue/white (ribbon)???

Could I start a fire by mixing Carlson Straight A (a lot of strong bases) with undiluted StarSan (a lot of strong acids?) Hm after drinking all this sake and it's Friday I feel almost obliged to give this a try in th driveway????????????

porcupine73 said:

Hahha coconut oil is where it's at, using StarSan was a stretch for me, since I don't really trust commercial chemicals, but it seems to be working well. I don't like the chemicals in most 'moisturizers'. Whereas a good coconut oil, well, that is, um, hm I did post this in the drunken ramblings I hope, very nice ...

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Don't fear what Five Star produces... All good stuff for home brewers (and the big boys too).

porcupine73 said:

PBW ok I have to check that out, at first I thought maybe Pabst Blue/white (ribbon)???

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Ummmmm... yeah...

porcupine73 said:

Could I start a fire by mixing Carlson Straight A (a lot of strong bases) with undiluted StarSan (a lot of strong acids?) Hm after drinking all this sake and it's Friday I feel almost obliged to give this a try in th driveway????????????

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Ok, now you're cut off... No more sake for you Bubba... Put down the coconut oil, put your pants back on, and go back inside.

Hahah in the name of science only. I need to celebrate getting five carboys of varoius meads going to day. It took like 9 hours work but I kn0ow i tiwill payoff evenutaly.

I will never forget my high school chemistry teacher Ms. Borelli. ACID into BASE she would repeat over and over, well Ms. Borelli, wherever you are, this one is for you. I shall pour the, oh man which one was the acid, the sTAR san into the Straight A.

Or wait she might have meant to avoid a fire or injury, ok it's Striaght A into the oh what was the other one Star San that's it. Oh boy I should just go to bead maybe.

Hammy71 said:

My hands and arms are always in the star-san solution. Haven't noticed anything.

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Yep, me too. I even "swish" my star-san around with my bare hands, and take stuff in and out of the star-san with my bare hands. No problem.

I have always submerged my hands and arms in StarSan when cleaning bottles without issue except for some drying a day or two later. However, I now use brewing gloves and try to keep my hands dry to prevent my hands from drying out.

I have starsan all over my skin all the time. fingertip to elbows, don't worry about it splashing on my face or anything.
My hands are rough and the rest of my skin is exposed to all sorts of elements, thorns, oils and chemicals used on cars, you name it.
That might be part of the difference with some people who say they are sensitive to starsan.
If you have soft skin and it's somewhat sensitive you might be prone to irritation from it and other things that don't bother some other people.

Use glove it is very dangerous, every time I get Star San on my hands it makes me want to brew again.

It's safe. You can even drink the Star San to cure the hangover you're going to have when you wake up this morning teasing, don't drink it.

It seemed like this was more of a plug for coconut oil from the beginning, until you started trying to light your driveway on fire. Can't help you out with that, but I also, try to stay away from excessive contact with synthetic chemicals. I use coconut oil for dry lips, dry skin, in a deodorant recipe, and it's great for popping popcorn.

Thanks fingers feel back to normal. Fortunately I fell asleep before making it out to the driveway. Yes I use coconut oil as a deodorant too, it works pretty well most of the time but it can't handle intense exercise. I was using tea tree oil with it but it is too strong. I eat a tsp or so with meals, and palm fruit oil that is tasty too.

For my deodorant, I mix patchouli, jasmin, and tea tree oil into melted cocunut oil for a smell I like. Then I add some baking soda and corn starch to thicken. It's worked out great, even when biking around in the 100F degree summer weather around here. It doesn't keep me dry, but does keep the smell away. One small mason jar of this stuff lasts over a year.

I bet it take some getting used to being around you coconut oil fanatics.

It's fine. I drank it a few weeks ago and I'm still here....

Bulls Beers said:

It's fine. I drank it a few weeks ago and I'm still here....

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Do you feel more sanitary inside??

Wildwest450 didn't definitely didn't worry about it;

My hands are covered with it every time I bottle. I have noticed that it does a number on my skin, it IS phosphoric acid after all. Wearing gloves really isn't an option unless they go up above my elbows, otherwise Starsan would just get inside the gloves, which would actually prolong the contact. I always have a towel handy to wipe my hands with, so I actually have less contact with Starsan by NOT wearing gloves & using a towel. A little Neutrogena hand cream after bottling & cleanup are done & I'm good to go.
Regards, GF.

porcupine73 said:

Could I start a fire by mixing Carlson Straight A (a lot of strong bases) with undiluted StarSan (a lot of strong acids?) Hm after drinking all this sake and it's Friday I feel almost obliged to give this a try in th driveway????????????

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properly done, this one will give you salt water, not a fire.

HCl (Hydrochloric Acid) and NaOH (lye, sodium hydroxide) = NaCl + H2O


another with no problems with diluted StarSan touching my skin - although it does dry it a bit - but lotion makes it hard to hold my beer glass after brewing!

I dip my hands in that stuff.

Someone here said they spray their junk with starsan after sex if it's a questionable date.

So, there you go.

Touching your skin is fine but be careful with jewelry around it. I sanitized 6 or 8 kegs one day so my hands had a lot of contact and it took the finish off my wedding ring. Luckily my wedding ring is Tungsten and quite cheap so SWMBO wasnt too pissed at me.

It rubs the StarSan on its skin or else it gets the hose again

I bathe in it weekly and gargle with it before I go to bed every night. Nothin' quite like the invigorating tingle of StarSan on your junk.

I regularly have my hands covered in it.. if it gets in a tiny cut you'll get a warm tingly sensation. Other than that it does t dry your skin out anymore than doing dishes.

I'm not sure "dries out" really covers it. Starsan destroys my hands and SWMBO won't let me touch her in a non-worksafe way until I've remedied it. Damn you brewday! SWMBO loves you so much but I hate wearing protection (my fancy Blingmann gloves).