Star-San question(label removal and sanitize)

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DansBrew

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I am newer to brewing, I just bought Star San. I was using an Iodine based sanitizer previously. I got away from the Iodine for a few reasons. But its irrelevant. Someone on this blog said Star san is the best for removing labels. I have the bottles soaking in the 1 ounce to 5 gallon dilution. I hope the labels come off. I also hear that Star San has a good shelf life. If I take the Star san and strain the label gook out, Can I use it to then re sanitize the bottles before I bottle? And whats this whole foam joke about? I see a little when I sanitize my hydrometer and all, Is it really that bad on the larger scale??
 
You mis-read....Starsan is only really good for removing etched/painted labels on some painted bottles of beer, like those from Stone and some Red Stripe.

We use oxyclean to remove paper lables.
Just the mere soaking of bottles in the starsan solution MAY release most labels, but at the cost of starsan it is really almost a waste of money, especially with the price of oxyclean and generic products being so much cheaper....

I really wouldn't trust it to sanitize after you have been soaking bottles and trying to dissolve paper, you are dealing with dissolved glue as well....

Starsan has a good shelf if you mix it with distilled as oppoed to tap water and store it in an airtight container.

Pretty much any other questions you may have about starsan and sanitizers can be found here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizer-question-54932/
 
Oh ok. Thanks Rev. I just checked the cooler full of bottles soaking, and I would NEVER use it after seeing the conidtion that its in. Its all cloudy and slimy, I'm assuming from the glue letting go. As for reusing it, Do you use a litmus paper to test pH to see if its still good then? And I assume its good to top off then if it goes below pH? For example, if I clean bottles with a brush, and then sanitize, I can reuse it for a couple of batches as long as the pH is still good?
 
mostly starsan is okay to use as long as it remains clear, when it's clouds up is when i usually toss it, however cloudiness is not a true indicator of ph. it's unrated for a sanitizer when the ph is above 3 iirc. oh yeah dont try to remix it. just dump and make a fresh batch.
 
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