StarSan & Soft Metals?

I'm assuming that StarSan is safe to use with SS, right?

What 'soft metals' would they be referring to as inappropriate to use with StarSan, and what is 'inappropriate'?

Copper and Aluminum. Inappropriate probably refers to the fact that the metal will pit, shortening the life of your gear and creating places for bacteria to hide.

gotcha. thanks!

I thought in the big long interview, they said Aluminum was safe? I thought it was more like precious soft metals...like gold.

even if it did pit aluminum, you only need 30 seconds of contact time to sanitize, which is way too fast for pitting to occur.

So does this mean you can use starsan for sanitizing kegs?

wsoxfan24 said:

So does this mean you can use starsan for sanitizing kegs?

Click to expand...

Yes.

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Starsan is a mild acid so it will react with metals like aluminum and copper. If you let it sit for hours on end it will eat into the metal, but for a few minutes there is no problem. There was some discussion on this topic with the creator of Starsan on one of the The Brewing Network's podcast.

It's a great episode to listen to. I didn't realize how long Starsan actually stays active. There was mention of how most micros keep a 5 gallon bucket sitting around and just throw stuff in as they need it. The bucket will last for a week just sitting in the open with random crap thrown in it as long as the parts are clean.