"Stupid Starsan Tricks" or why you shouldn't fear the foam...

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Revvy

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
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Because it's so damn purdy. So post em if you got em.

Sadly, mine are all from a cellphone so they aren't that clear...but you get the idea of how fun it is.

It also shows that if you rack or bottle on top of the foam most of it is going to get pushed out anyway. And as most of you know, the remaining foam becomes yeast food.

So don't fear the foam, photograph it.

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Next!!

:D
 
Good pix of the dreaded "foam snake." Next time I rack, I may try to shoot some....
 
Thoughts:

* My wife is impatient with the foamsnake and she plays with it too much for it to grow to significant length
* You have the same el cheapo Home Depot cabinets that I do
* Somebody spilled their beer. That's so sad
* I really need to upgrade to a bigger stainless kettle
 
I have made some really nice snakes come out of the keg, but this is the only picture I have:

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I think that's a rug and not a spilled beer.

I'm going home to look for the pics that I have.

It's actually just a beat up orange towel I usually throw down on the floor if I'm brewing in the kitchen. The kitchen in the loft is so small that invevitably I end up with water on the floor...once some mead, but never have I committed the sin of spilling beer.

(Watch it happen now. :D)

Oh and the pot was 10.00 at dollar gerneral...trouble is, despite it claiming to be 5 gallons...it's more like 4 or 4.5...I use fermcap though and can nearly fill it for stovetop brewing, get a decent boil on the stove and go take a nap betweem hop additions.

Fermcap-s, the stovetop brewer's best friend.
 
It's actually just a beat up orange towel I usually throw down on the floor if I'm brewing in the kitchen. The kitchen in the loft is so small that invevitably I end up with water on the floor...once some mead, but never have I committed the sin of spilling beer.

Once I forgot to close the spigot on my bottling bucket before siphoning and ended up watering my lawn with a gallon or so of freshly brewed beer. I'm probably going to spend some time in hell for that one.
 
Here's why you don't fear the foam. I present starsan hat and beard! Sorry for the blurry pic I had to move fast, the star san was melting.:D

I must say I feel shiny and clean after that.

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My starsan foam snakes are quite weak compared to the ones posted here. My inferiority complex is starting to take note...
 
When I sanitized my carboy the other day (first time with starsan), there was very little foam to deal with. I put in the recommended 1 oz of starsan, filled the carboy up with ~5gal water, let that sit for 10 minutes, then dumped it all into a bucket for later use. Very little foam, it settled down quickly, and the carboy appeared empty within about 15 minutes. What are you all doing that's causing you to get all that foam?
 
Little story for ya' all:
I work for a chemical company in the UK, and due to chronic difficulties in getting Starsan over here (or so I hear) I decided to just make my own.
Found a rough recipe, and got cracking. Looking at a patent for a low foam version, I figured that to the basic DDBSA, Phosphoric and Isoproyl Alochol (btw, we call that IPA at my work. Not a confussion to make during homebrew!) would do the job but need something to give it real foam.
We have kit for measuring foam generation. So I figured use it to check for the amount of foam and adjust as required.

End result of 1 test: Inconclusive. Test cancelled due to excess foam.
 
Wow! Must be the hard water here, I don't get foam near like that. PH is right but foam is low. (and hopefully beer is good! Still have about 3 weeks til the first batch is ready to drink!)
 
ok I mixed up a fresh gallon with distilled water Sunday I shook the crap out of maybe 2 pints in each BB alas my foam skills are weak...It didn't even come out the neck just to it...


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not sure why the search tool led me to this thread... but i guess it clears up any questions i had about starsan foam in my primary..
 
My favorite one was: I have this huge funnel that cups my buckets like a false bottom. When I transfer/pour all the sanitizer on top of the funnel that's sitting in my bucket, I get minute long, huge snakes coming through the hole/opening in the funnel. It's pretty funny stuff.
 
It's actually just a beat up orange towel I usually throw down on the floor if I'm brewing in the kitchen. The kitchen in the loft is so small that invevitably I end up with water on the floor...once some mead, but never have I committed the sin of spilling beer.

(Watch it happen now. :D)

Oh and the pot was 10.00 at dollar gerneral...trouble is, despite it claiming to be 5 gallons...it's more like 4 or 4.5...I use fermcap though and can nearly fill it for stovetop brewing, get a decent boil on the stove and go take a nap betweem hop additions.

Fermcap-s, the stovetop brewer's best friend.
I spilt mead the other day. Twas a sad day in the apartment.
 
This happened during kegging today. I think my foam snake is the longest.

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