Am I wasting Starsan and water?

I'm on my fifth batch and I am hooked! Love this hobby! Anyway when I sanitize buckets, fermenters, etc, I'll fill the entire vessel up to the brim with water and add Starsan so basically the entire vessel is soaking directly in the sanitizer. I know some of you simply add say one gallon of sanitizer and swirl it around the sides, etc. Is that good enough or am I just being overly paranoid about sanitation? I'd love to save water and Starsan but not at the risk of contamination. Thanks!

Yes. You are.

StarSan in a spritzer is all you need. Nothing has to be immersed, just kept wet for at least 30, IIRC, seconds.

Starsan is some amazing stuff, the bubbles still sanitize as well as the liquid. I wouldn't fill a bucket but I would do maybe a 2.5 gal batch of sanitizer (there is a handy 1/2 oz mark on the starsan bottle. No need to make so much each time. Go to home depot and get a spray bottle. It will be your friend in the quick sanitizing jobs.

Mix it in a spray bottle. I use 1.5 ml (measured in a syringe)to one quart and its easy to just spray here and there when you need it. Works good...last long time.

If I want to soak something I mix up some iodophor and throw it in a bucket.

I usually mix 1-2 gallons on brewday, and pour some into a spray bottle. I use the bucket to siphon through hoses etc, and the spritzer to sanitize anything that will not fit into the bucket. Then I have a spray bottle of sanitizer for around the house for bottling, cleaning faucets, whatever. It lasts a while (I mix it a bit strong, but not REAL strong. Just a little stronger than the bottle calls for.)

Homercidal said:

I usually mix 1-2 gallons on brewday, and pour some into a spray bottle. I use the bucket to siphon through hoses etc, and the spritzer to sanitize anything that will not fit into the bucket. Then I have a spray bottle of sanitizer for around the house for bottling, cleaning faucets, whatever. It lasts a while (I mix it a bit strong, but not REAL strong. Just a little stronger than the bottle calls for.)

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+1 to this ^^^^^^

I'd also add to use distilled water in that spray bottle. My regular water goes cloudy after a week or so, but the distilled, for whatever reason stays clear (an indication the starsan is still acidic enough to be effective). Great stuff that starsan.

mattjmac said:

I'd also add to use distilled water in that spray bottle. My regular water goes cloudy after a week or so, but the distilled, for whatever reason stays clear (an indication the starsan is still acidic enough to be effective). Great stuff that starsan.

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Does it precipitate dissolved minerals in tap water? Does that render it ineffective? I just recently (yesterday) moved from iodophor to Starsan and I used tap water to dissolve it. I didn't make a spray bottle either, I'll do that next time though! How long can it be stored? I remember that iodophor was basically useless in 1 day...

I have a 1 liter spray bottle and use bottled spring water to mix it. My spray bottle lasts until I empty it, and I don't brew as often as most folks do.

I never use anything but my Home Depot spray bottle. I don't mix a gallon, ever. My starsan concentrate seems to last forever.

go buy a gallon of distilled water. Add in 6mL of starsan (use a measuring syringe). Shake. Use it to sanitize anything that needs sanitizing, then return it to the jug. It should keep for months, and many many batches. I find it's even cheaper than iodophor because of the re-usability factor

Note, though, that *cleaning* and *sanitizing* are separate steps.

I've mixed 5 gallons in a bucket, put a lid on it, and re-used it for a couple of months. Not sure if or when it goes bad, but I've never had an issue. I have some that's been in a spray bottle longer than I can remember and it still works great. Usually, I just give the bucket a quick stir or the shake up the spray bottle to agitate it. Not sure I need to, but it doesn't hurt.

prosper said:

Note, though, that *cleaning* and *sanitizing* are separate steps.

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This is key. You don't want to re-use it if you've got stuff floating in it.

Yes - you are over-using it. I mix a spray bottle's worth at a time. Typically this lasts me a while.

I keep 5 gallons in a 6 gallon bucket, and some extra in a 1 gallon bucket, with lids. I store everything that can ever come in contact with my beer in whichever bucket fits better. My thief is in there, my hydrometer, my testing cylinder, spare fittings, hoses, extra bubbler, etc. When I sanitize my fermenter, I just dump most of the 5 gallons in, swirl a bit, and put it back in the bucket. Same with kegs; fill 'em, pressurize, then draw it all out through the beer faucet. That's a waste of CO2 I suppose, but everything gets well doused.

And of course I have a spray bottle full as well.

Brewing Clamper said:

Does it precipitate dissolved minerals in tap water? Does that render it ineffective? I just recently (yesterday) moved from iodophor to Starsan and I used tap water to dissolve it. I didn't make a spray bottle either, I'll do that next time though! How long can it be stored? I remember that iodophor was basically useless in 1 day...

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Star San is good so long as the pH is below 3.
But I think it's safer to mix up a fresh spray bottle with 10 cents worth of concentrate and 25 cents worth of distilled water.

for those of you just using the spary bottle method, how are you sanitizing your glass carboys and tubing?

how about when bottling? i have been submerging clean(pbw and a hot rinse) bottles in a 5 gal mix of starsan, draining and filling. Is there room for improvement here?

just curious because after reading this, i have definitely been using to much water and starsan myself. Always looking to improve my process.

thanks for the info!

benver said:

for those of you just using the spary bottle method, how are you sanitizing your glass carboys and tubing?

how about when bottling? i have been submerging clean(pbw and a hot rinse) bottles in a 5 gal mix of starsan, draining and filling. Is there room for improvement here?

just curious because after reading this, i have definitely been using to much water and starsan myself. Always looking to improve my process.

thanks for the info!

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http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BOTTLE_SANITIZER_P152C47.cfm

I love this for bottles. Uses very little and is super fast and effective.

As for carboys and tubing, I mix 3 gallons of distilled water and star san at a time, and I reuse for about 2 months. I check with ph strips just to make sure I'm safe and I always am. I suppose you could dump your spray bottle into the carboy and then back into the bottle.

benver said:

for those of you just using the spary bottle method, how are you sanitizing your glass carboys and tubing?

how about when bottling? i have been submerging clean(pbw and a hot rinse) bottles in a 5 gal mix of starsan, draining and filling. Is there room for improvement here?

just curious because after reading this, i have definitely been using to much water and starsan myself. Always looking to improve my process.

thanks for the info!

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Spray bottle. Lots O' Squirts.

My bottles get sanitized in dishwasher (heat).

I dump a half cup of StarSan in the carboy and slosh it around.
All you need is to get the interior surface wet.

For siphoning, I connect a straight cane to a bent cane with about 2 feet of tubing.
The bent cane gets a racking tip, the straight one gets another 2 inch piece of tubing and a small funnel.
Coil the tubing in a bucket so the canes are pointing straight up and fill with StarSan.
Those plastic bucket clips are handy.

With a better bottle I can hold the business end of the sprayer in the neck and it sprays the inside of the carboy. Spray several times while turning the carboy and everything except right at the shoulder is coated. Turn it as I empty it out and it hits the shoulder and neck. I would assume a glass carboy can be sprayed the same way.

With tubing, I hold the end up to the sprayer and give it a couple pumps. That puts enough starsan in the tubing that it completely fills about 2" of tubing at wherever he lowest point is. Then I just raise and lower the ends of the tubing to chase that 2" of starsan back and forth from one end to the other. Dump it out and then spray the outside and I'm done.

If you plan on kegging it is always a good idea to make up about 2.5 gallons and run some of that if not all through your beer lines everytime you keg.

I use 1ml in 500ml water. I use RO water. RO water has been stripped of ph buffering ability, so it'll take on whatever the PH is of what you mix it with. So it's no surprise that star san'll stay clear and usable for longer using such water.