yes, another star san question

ok, i have been using the idophor (sp) for my first few brews. i recently switched to star san. my question is that i've been reading about people just making enough star san to get everything wet, and not necessarily making an entire 5 gallons to fill my ale pail.

if i make a gallon or so, and shake the pail with the lid on, will this get everything? or do i need to fill it to the top and let it soak? if seems like this is just going to be another wasted 5 gallons of sanitizer then, since i have no where to put it after i'm done.

thanks
Jon

Get a spray bottle from the grocery store. They are like $2 and you can always have some on hand.

so i just spray down the inside of the fermenter then?

I just make up some starsan in a spray bottle. Then, I spray down the pail inside and out and it's good. A pint or so in a spray bottle lasts a long time. We use it all over the kitchen too. Great for spraying down cutting boards after using them for chicken and washing them off.

wow, i've been wasting so much then. i would fill my pail and then use it to clean everything for my brew session then dump everything out. this is great news

jonp9576 said:

wow, i've been wasting so much then. i would fill my pail and then use it to clean everything for my brew session then dump everything out. this is great news

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I still fill up a bucket 1/2 way or the sink to let everything else soak, then just refill by sprayer/empty jugs with the starsan. I've been using the same 28oz bottle for more than year and have tons left.

Typically I put some star san and some water (maybe 1qt) in my fermentor, cover it, and then shake the crap out of it. Then I pour out the star san solution into my sink along with some other star san solution. Fermentor lid and all other tools are then soaked in that solution in the sink. I have a spray bottle of star solution as well but I suspect it is the shaken solution that takes care of things for me.

Do you dilute the star sans with water in the spray bottle or use it straight up? Thanks!

BlackCoffeeandBourbon said:

Do you dilute the star sans with water in the spray bottle or use it straight up? Thanks!

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Regular mixture

Dillute it. 1oz per 2.5 gallons I believe. Maybe its 1/5 gallons. Someone will chime in

BlackCoffeeandBourbon said:

Do you dilute the star sans with water in the spray bottle or use it straight up? Thanks!

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Dillute! 1oz per 5 gallons I believe. Says on the bottle

will it keep well in my bottling bucket. i dont use it since i keg. it might not be a bad idea to have a bunch around. i am sure it will get used up

jonp9576 said:

will it keep well in my bottling bucket. i dont use it since i keg. it might not be a bad idea to have a bunch around. i am sure it will get used up

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Clean out some gallon milk jugs or something and store starsan in those. I use the big Arizona Ice Tea jugs, they work great

good idea. i will do that

Minerals in regular tap water will degrade Star San.

If you use distilled water, Star San will last almost indefinitely.

The only way to tell if Star San is effective is take a ph reading. If the ph is below 3, you are good to go. You can read ph with inexpensive ph strips.

Get a medicine syringe, for babies and you can make uber small batches.

olllllo said:

Get a medicine syringe, for babies and you can make uber small batches.

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I already do that. I use it to sanitize my 4 oz primary fermenter!

how do you guys clean out your tubing? I am assuming you use something other than star san.

Also, would providone Iodine work the same as Iodophor?

i use oxyclean or PBW to "clean" everything. star-san for sanitizing. i just pump some through the tubing with my siphon starter.

Hey mods, how about a star san sticky?

probably overkill. But I have been filling the carboy with the appropriate amount of iodophor and water. Then siphon all it out with the tubing I am about to use.

I am usually doing a couple things at once, so its not really slowing me down.



Today I racked my stout, There was at least 7" of trub at the bottom. Which gunked up the tubing a bit when I hit the end of the siphoning.

I ran hot water through it, then filled the used carboy with bleach and hot water. Then siphoned it through the tubing. I rinsed the carboy 3 times by filling it up with around a gallon of water and swished it around. I will not be using it for a couple of weeks, so the bleach should be gone.