How to sanitize racking cane?

Will it sanitize my racking cane if I spray it with an Iodophore(sp) solution and then fill it with the solution to start my siphon? Or is there a better way to do this

many different ways to do it.
Spray bottles are a handy way to sanitize lots of things, all you need is wet contact.
Wallpaper trays are good for long items like racking canes, personally I have a spare corny filled with StarSan (refreshed every month or so) expressly for tubing and racking canes. I can also drop a fountain pump in there and pump StarSan through what I want, and drain it back into the corny.

Second the spray bottle, I keep a spray bottle of Star-San around at all times.

enderwig said:

Second the spray bottle, I keep a spray bottle of Star-San around at all times.

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im going to have to switch over to star Star-San as soon as my iodophor runs out. How long does star-san stay "good" my bottling bucket came with a lid so it would be perfect to keep star-san in there whenever I need something sanatized

chemman14 said:

How long does star-san stay "good" my bottling bucket came with a lid so it would be perfect to keep star-san in there whenever I need something sanatized

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I use a 1 gallon plastic apple juice jug, and make it up a gallon at a time, I can fill my spray bottle, and splash some into the kegs when I sanitize them, a gallon lasts me about 3-4 weeks. As long as the ph of star-san is under 3, it is still fine.

A spray bottle isn't going to sanitize the inside of the racking cane, so the best option IMHO is the wallpaper tray. That's how I do it.

i keep one arond with starsan and its great

I think someone mentioned in a thread that if the Star San is cloudy than it is no longer good. I can't find the thread again. Any one know if this is true? I have a carboy filled with the stuff that i had used to sanitize my bottles. It is cloudy. I am wondering if it is still good. It has only been about 3 days.

as long as the pH is below 3 your good

StarSan won't cloud up if you use distilled water.
I use 2 eyedroppersful (~1.5ml) per quart.

Bernie Brewer said:

A spray bottle isn't going to sanitize the inside of the racking cane, so the best option IMHO is the wallpaper tray. That's how I do it.

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I pump starsan through my autosiphon and wipe it with a sponge on the outside.

Yes, I have a sponge just for Starsan!!

Arkador said:

I pump starsan through my autosiphon and wipe it with a sponge on the outside.

Yes, I have a sponge just for Starsan!!

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I don't own an autosiphon, so I drop my racking cane into the wallpaper tray.

Bernie Brewer said:

I don't own an autosiphon, so I drop my racking cane into the wallpaper tray.

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I always just poured some into the cane and hose and then teetered it back an forth a couple times to wet the insides.

i'm usually using a carboy or keg when im using the autosyohon so i stick it in the keg or auto syphon and pump it a few times then just let it sit for at least 5mn. then use it.

what is this "wallpaper tray" you guys speak of?

Go to Home Depot or Lowes - look around wallpaper tools -
wallpaper must be wet, and it comes in long rolls....

chemman14 said:

what is this "wallpaper tray" you guys speak of?

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It's a cheap plastic tray that is used when hanging wallpaper. I think mine cost me under a buck at Menard's. They're great for sanitizing racking canes, bottling wands, oxygenating wands, anything that is too long to just drop into your sanitizer bucket.

I have a batch of Star-San that I made two months ago using distilled water. Not cloudy yet, but I don't have a way to check the pH... I'm just assuming it's good until it gets cloudy, but is that safe? Should I buy some pH strips that go below 3? I've only got 'beer range' right now, which is like 4.8-6.4 or something like that.

I mixed up some Star-San yesterday and after stirring it around, it became cloudy. Surely cloudiness isn't an indicator of it not being good any more

Trubadour said:

I mixed up some Star-San yesterday and after stirring it around, it became cloudy. Surely cloudiness isn't an indicator of it not being good any more

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Really depends. If your water is hard, it'll turn cloudy immediately, but it's still usable. You just can't depend on cloudiness to let you know when it's not good any more.

My tap water does that, which is why I made up a big batch using distilled water, which I reuse.

I use any Star San that I mix up during brewing or bottling, I don't like to leave that stuff sitting, mine gets cloudy after about 24 hours, and I just cant bring myself to use it after it clouds.

As for sanitizing a racking cane, I do use an auto-syphon, but jsut stick the tip of your spray bottle up to your racking cane and squirt a bunch of Star-San in it until it comes out the other end, good to go!