First Brew and Nervous !!!

So sanitizing is giving me the most issues, I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to rinse out the sanitizer after or just drain it out best I can. I don't want my first brew to get messed up cause I don't know how to use the various sanitizers I have. I've got 2 star san products, one is 5 stars PBW and the other is Star San Acid Sanitizer for surface sanitation. the first is a powder and the second is a liquid, guy at the store had me buy both, I was kinda nervous so I think I'm supposed to use just one.

Any tips on Sanitation?

Clean off organic matter with PBW then sanitize with starsan solution. 1Oz to 5 Gallons water. Don't rinse after using starsan, the foam is nothing to worry about. It'll actually boost the oxygen level in your wort a little which the yeast will appreciate.

I use Iodine sanitizer which is supposed to be no rinse but I still rinse because I do not want any chemicals in my beer. I have used bleach in water in the past and that requires very good rinsing. I am not familiar with those sanitizers but I would rinse to be sure. Read the label directions and see what it says is my recommendation.

PBW is a cleaner. Use it first to clean your stuff. It needs to be rinsed off.

Star San is the sanitizer. It does not need to be rinsed off and is actually counterproductive to do so. Just drain out as much as you reasonably can.

Mix according to the instructions. That said, you do not need to make a full five gallons of Star San solution. 5gal of solution goes a long way. I've made two 5gal batches of beer and haven't yet used 5 gal of Star San solution. I mix it one gal at a time using 6ml per gallon of water.

Ogri said:

Clean off organic matter with PBW then sanitize with starsan solution. 1Oz to 5 Gallons water. Don't rinse after using starsan, the foam is nothing to worry about. It'll actually boost the oxygen level in your wort a little which the yeast will appreciate.

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Thanks! So the PBW is just a detergent that I guess wont leave as much residue as hand dish soap would if you cleaned with that right? Then just use the starsan for the sanitizing process. Thanks!

I kept getting worried that if Starsan was this strong that it could kill active yeast if I didn't rinse it out! Much more confident now!

Well, it's not really a detergent. It's more like Oxy-clean. The thing about it that you don't really need to scrub to remove residue. Mix it up, leave it sit in contact with whatever you're cleaning for 12-24 hours and oxygen will remove whatever is caked on. You can give it a good scrubbing afterwords if it still needs it.

Starsan is a strong acid concentrate but when diluted is perfectly harmless. I love the stuff. Find yourself a bucket with a lid and you can save it from batch to batch for a while. I mix 2.5 gallons each time and use it for a few batches before dumping.