sanitizing

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
brewmadness

brewmadness

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
167
Reaction score
11
Location
Ionia, Michigan
Hi - beginning brewer finding myself addicted to reading through all of these posts. Great info. I have a question on the different sanitizers. I'm only into my first batch and used Star san to sanitze the brew bucket and equipment. As i've seen others comment here, the amount of foam generated was incredible. Not a big deal in the bucket as it was fairly easy to get out. My question is sanitizing the carboy and bottles? seems like it will be near impossible to get all that foam out. And won't rinsing with tap water reintroduce impurities? What do you use and how do you sanitize your carboys and bottles?
 
Don't fear the foam, the foam is nontoxic and will have negligible impact on your beer (it's only foam, after all--5% liquid and 95% gas--and you could drink a glass of starsan solution and be fine, not that you'd want to . . .)

When I siphon 5gal beer into keg the foam pushes out the top in a beautiful arcing foam snake of doom, it's very metal.
 
jkreuze said:
Don't fear the foam, the foam is nontoxic and will have negligible impact on your beer (it's only foam, after all--5% liquid and 95% gas--and you could drink a glass of starsan solution and be fine, not that you'd want to . . .)

When I siphon 5gal beer into keg the foam pushes out the top in a beautiful arcing foam snake of doom, it's very metal.
Click to expand...

Awesome!:rockin:
 
I accidentally forgot to dump about 1/4 gal of star san out of a carboy I was sanitizing right before I racked a beer into it. Beer still turned out great and I am still alive and havent even grown any new fingers or toes.

Like jkreuze said, dont fear the foam, it will actually help the yeast a bit.
 
brewmadness said:
Hi - beginning brewer finding myself addicted to reading through all of these posts. Great info. I have a question on the different sanitizers. I'm only into my first batch and used Star san to sanitze the brew bucket and equipment. As i've seen others comment here, the amount of foam generated was incredible. Not a big deal in the bucket as it was fairly easy to get out. My question is sanitizing the carboy and bottles? seems like it will be near impossible to get all that foam out. And won't rinsing with tap water reintroduce impurities? What do you use and how do you sanitize your carboys and bottles?
Click to expand...

I use a carbouy drainer: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_34_459&products_id=10994

I just let it drain, the foam pretty much drains out, just real slow. I use the same basic technique with bottles, but instead of a carbouy drainer I use a bottle tree: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=bottle+tree

By the time the last bottle is on the tree, the 1st bottle is mostly drained of foam & is ready to fill. It works well for me, I'll bet it'll work for you too. Regards, GF.
 
If the foam still makes you nervous then put the Star San in the carboy after the water and gently roll the carboy on its side instead of shaking. Same with bottles. I rinse my bottles in the sink but I fill the sink halfway with water first then add the sanitizer, then add the bottles gently. Let set a few minutes, lift out, let drain and and put onto the pegs of a tray from my dishwasher to drip dry. But like the others have said, it's really not a worry.
 
I've only used star san a short time and still have a little foam fear.. so what I did was take a spray bottle of star san and spray the foam then drain. That helped me get rid of about 90% of the foam and settle my anxiety over it.
 
If you don't like the foam use Saniclean, which is the low foam verson of Starsan. I didn't like the foam from Starsan for bottling so I switched to Saniclean. It is just as effective, but requires 2 oz/5 gal instead 1 oz.
 
Cool. I guess when I think sanitize, I think caustic chemicals! Just didn't want my beer to taste like......well, sanitizer! Thanks for the reassurance. Only my first batch, but already thinking of how to expand the operation!
Thanks guys!
 
One other method if the foam scares you is to wait until you've added all the water you're going to use to add the starsan, this will greatly reduce the amount of foam you get. Me.... I love the foam it assures me that i am getting contact with the sanitizer in all the hidden naked to the eye places!
 

Similar threads

level-one
Setup for blow off and preventing sanitizer in beer
Replies
3
Views
366
hotbeer
hotbeer
W
35% Hydrogen Peroxide for sanitation
Replies
22
Views
977
Peebee
Peebee
W
Rookies Making Rookie Mistakes: Blow-Off Solution Sucked into Fermenter During Crash
Replies
12
Views
970
WarmWindBrewing
W
Rett03
Don’t know why I keep getting lacto infections
Replies
5
Views
1K
MaxStout
MaxStout
PashMaddle
Noob doing the noob thing.
2
Replies
56
Views
2K
Kornssj
Kornssj
Brewer's Friend 300

Latest posts

Back
Top