Trying to use less star-san

wilserbrewer said:

Starsan last me a long time

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You love it long time??

I skipped a few posts in the middle, but in case nobody covered it....

.... Why are you sanitizing your brew pot? It should only need to be washed after use, not sanitized.

I have had the small bottle of Star San for a couple years now. maybe 50 batches in the small 8oz bottle.

The only equipment that doesn't get the spray bottle treatment is long tubing and auto siphon which get soaked in a wallpaper tray with about a capful of star san. The PH of this is around 1 and would last months. I racked my last 2 batches in 2 month old star san (left open) and a couple of dead flies got into the tubing that was soaking and was fine.

Don't dunk your bottles in star san... get one of these.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BOTTLE-SANITIZER-P152.aspx

I didn't see it mentioned scanning this thread so I will.

StarSan will last a super long time if you use RO or distilled water. The mineral content in tap water helps to break down the Starsan.

I buy distilled water at the grocery store and my 5 gal bucket StarSan is going on 9 months old now and the PH is still below 2.5 (measured with a PH meter) I add additional distilled water as it depletes about 1 gal (through foam left in vessels or small buckets of it for blow off hose) and then a tsp or so of StarSan concentrate. 6 tsp = 1oz so 1 tsp to 1 gal water is a little overkill but so be it.

I am careful that anything entering the bucket is clean, it has stayed crystal clear all this time.

Reading the directions on the star san bottle it says " For all applications, allow to air dry [but suraface must remain wet for at least one minute], do not rinse after application...
I see videos all the time of beer and wine makers rinsing out a carboy or fermenter and its dripping wet with foam and sanitizer and they dump their wine or beer right in. I thought it must air dry before you proceed? Any thoughts?

On brew days I mix up a gallon or so to keep around in a small bucket on brew day. I also keep a spray bottle of starsan all the time. I keep it under the kitchen sink most of the time for daily use stuff like cleaning miscellaneous parts when doing transfers or whatever, and on brew days it goes out on the brew stand with me.

chachi44089 said:

Reading the directions on the star san bottle it says " For all applications, allow to air dry [but suraface must remain wet for at least one minute], do not rinse after application...
I see videos all the time of beer and wine makers rinsing out a carboy or fermenter and its dripping wet with foam and sanitizer and they dump their wine or beer right in. I thought it must air dry before you proceed? Any thoughts?

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The residue on the insides of things is diluted to the point where it makes no difference for us. I wouldn't put a batch onto a gallon of the stuff, but others have forgotten to drain (more than you might think) and haven't had an issue.

Not sure why they say to let dry, other than as a CYA move.

Yea, let it stay wet. If it dries off, it's just susceptible to getting crap on it again. Don't air dry star san.