I Am NOT a Fan Of Star-San

[Plastic Brewkettle]

I recently began using Star-San (3-4 batches ago). The first thing I dislike is the foam. It makes bottling a bit more of a pain in the butt, trying to keep things from running over. Second it's caustic. I burned the tan off my hands (yes, I have a tan - I live in SoCal) a few weeks ago when I brewed and bottled in the same week (different batches). Idophor doesn't cause these problems. Yes, it stains everything brown, but it won't burn a hole into the center of the earth while you're not looking.

 

[MaxStout]

Was that skin burn from concentrated Starsan? I've seen it make black burn marks on wood and it takes the finish off Formica counter tops.

For the diluted, I still wear rubber gloves when dunking stuff as it dries out my skin after a while.

I'm a bottler, and never had problems with the foam from Starsan. I invert the newly-sanitized bottles on Fastracks or a bottle tree, and they have drained several minutes by the time I fill them with beer.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Star san is simple to use, it works great. Don't fear the foam, it's your friend. Been using it for 10 years, my hands are still the same. I have a private septic and it has no negative effects, certainly didn't burn a hole in it or the earth. Never had an infection, not once in 10 years of brewing. Use it as directed and it works great. Sure there are other products out there and if they work for you that's great, but there is nothing wrong with starsan imo.

 

[day_trippr]

Star San is actually acidic from the Phosphoric Acid...which admittedly may be quibbling.
I try not to have prolonged contact with it as it does eventually irritate my skin.
Still, there are so many advantages vs competitors I can't see switching...

Cheers!

 

[GoodTruble]

I'm not a fan of star san. Mostly because I want to be able to use the same cleaner for plastics as metal and glass. But I do keep some around for the occasional use and have never noticed any burns.

 

[Dland]

It is indeed a sanitizing acid, food grade and very unlikely to burn at correct dilution

Same company makes Saniclean, which does does the same thing, but is non foaming and works much better for use when pumping sanitizing solution, though chillers, CIP, etc. I like the Starsan for some uses also, in applications where foaming is a plus.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/star-saniclean.html

 

[Jayjay1976]

I'm not a fan of star san. Mostly because I want to be able to use the same cleaner for plastics as metal and glass. But I do keep some around for the occasional use and have never noticed any burns.

You can use star san for all your gear, I use it on all of my plastic metal and glass.

 

[GoodTruble]

You can use star san for all your gear, I use it on all of my plastic metal and glass.

Allegedly it breaks down plastic. I don't claim firsthand experience or the scientific background to back up that claim. It's just something I read here from a poster that seemed like they knew the chemistry well enough.

 

[day_trippr]

I don't know the chemistry (or any chemistry, for the most part ) but I can attest to the fact that phosphoric acid will attack certain plastics as I have witnessed it...

Cheers!

 

[doug293cz]

Allegedly it breaks down plastic. I don't claim firsthand experience or the scientific background to back up that claim. It's just something I read here from a poster that seemed like they knew the chemistry well enough.

If you soak vinyl tubing in StarSan for a few days, it will get funky. I have not had issues with short (many minutes) exposure. I have not seen any affect on polyethylene, silicone, or PET.

Brew on

 

[MaxStout]

I've found it can give vinyl tubing a hazy appearance over time (e.g., blowoff tubing submerged in a container of Starsan for several days), but that hasn't been detrimental in my experience, and vinyl tubing is cheap to replace anyway.

I have seen it turn the surface of silicone tubing into a kind of chalky texture if exposed for long periods of time. In this case, it was tubing inside a CO2 Harvester that was submerged for weeks at a time.

 

[Plastic Brewkettle]

@MaxStout I always use it diluted to the minimum strength. I still have most of a bottle to use, so I'm stuck with it for the time being.

 

[AlexKay]

I've had no problems with PET fermenters. I also keep solution for dunking in an HDPE bucket. Again no obvious problems.

 

[Tom R]

I tend to have dry skin, especially in winter.
Diluted Star-San can make it even worse, so I either wear gloves or rinse my hands off immediately after contact.

Having previously used bleach, then changed to idaphor, then tried Star-San, I'm a Star-San fanboy.

 

[Deadalus]

Doesn't seem to bother my skin much but I don't do big soaks with it. When I do bottle, I use a bottling tree with the pump and bowl. @Plastic Brewkettle Where you dunking the bottles by chance in a bucket or something like that to sanitize? I don't mix up more than a gallon at a time and I use a syringe to measure it. I use it with a sprayer a good bit or pour it over or inside and swish.

My hands aren't bothered much in general from different chemicals however. I can clean walls with a TSP solution and wet rags before painting without irritation. Stuff that causes nur nur neurological tic damage I will wear gloves for now.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I've been using it on my PET fermonsters going on 5 years without an issue. It definitely will ruin vinyl tubing but that stuff is crap anyway and I consider it disposable. I have left s-type and 3-piece airlocks soaking in it for a month or longer with no ill effects. Only other thing it has affected are my mitts, so I use Duke Cannon "bloody knuckles" hand repair balm after a brew day. Non greasy and unscented, hands down (pun intended) better than any hand lotion I've ever tried.

Also works great as a 'stache styling aid to lock in that Sherlock curl; pretty much ensures imminent swoonage by my lady swmbo.

 

[Golddiggie]

You're not supposed to bathe in Starsan. I've never had it do anything to the pigment on my skin, even when dunking a ton of things in it (without gloves on). I've started wearing gloves on packaging day since I'm putting a good number of cans into Starsan solution and handling them a good amount (in it). At most it dries out my hands more than I would like. Hence wearing gloves now.

I've had zero issues using it on both stainless steel, glass and plastic items. I never leave hoses soaking in it for long.

I use the listed concentration level, maybe a little stronger on partial measures. Then again, with the dilution level that takes place it probably isn't enough of a difference to matter.

 

[Jayjay1976]

You're not supposed to bathe in Starsan.

Hear you but hey, once I'm in it up to my elbows, my armpits gotta get a slosh, as well as the man-nips. Just to, you know, knock down the 'crobes.

StarSan, don't fear the foam.
StarSan, hey that's a lot of foam but okay.
StarSan, FFS don't love the foam, sheesh...
StarSan, it'll shine up your copper thingamajig.
StarSan, hey knock it off over there.
.
.
.
.
StarSan, its really great for brewing but yikes, don't put it on your dang-a-lang.

 

[BrewZer]

I have noticed that when I soak my bottlecaps in star san, the beers don't head as nicely as when I just boil them.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I have noticed that when I soak my bottlecaps in star san, the beers don't head as nicely as when I just boil them.

I bottled dozens of batches before I started kegging and I never noticed anything like that. I use star san to flush and purge all of my kegs which leaves plenty of wet film behind and have never noticed any issues with head retention. You should look at other variables, it cannot be the thin film remaining on a wet cap.

 

[Sam_92]

@MaxStout I always use it diluted to the minimum strength. I still have most of a bottle to use, so I'm stuck with it for the time being.

I will PM you my address so you can ship that bottle of star san to me and get yourself some Iodaphor.

I love star san personally and haven't had any ill affects. It's the oxy clean that dries my skin out so I dip them in starsan to neautralize it!

 

[GoodTruble]

Yeah, onestep (which I believe is similar to oxyclean) seriously dries out my hands. I try to use gloves if my hand will have any prolonged contact.

 

[RufusBrewer]

I like Star San. I use it regularly. Interesting that Iodophore kills a wider spectrum bad things.

I do not find myself soaking my hands in the Star San. For bottling, I use a bottle pump. Bottling is enough of a chore, the $15-$20 is worth it to make things go easier.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Too bad Madge didn't work for Star San...

 

[govner1]

Allegedly it breaks down plastic. I don't claim firsthand experience or the scientific background to back up that claim. It's just something I read here from a poster that seemed like they knew the chemistry well enough.

I’ve been using StarSan with my Better Bottle fermentors for 10+ years without any negative effects. I also use it on all my other equipment for sanitizing after cleaning with B-Brite and rinsing.
I keep it in a plastic spray bottle for sanitizing connectors during the brew day as well.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Not a Star-San fan here either. It wasn't the foam or caustic skin melting that got me. I just couldn't stand the smell. I switched to Lysol no-rinse sanitizer some years ago and it works great. Still foams, but not as much. The smell is almost pleasant. Not sure what makes Lysol and Star-San chemically different, but if it works, it works.

 

[MaxStout]

I like Star San. I use it regularly. Interesting that Iodophore kills a wider spectrum bad things.

I do not find myself soaking my hands in the Star San. For bottling, I use a bottle pump. Bottling is enough of a chore, the $15-$20 is worth it to make things go easier.

I had one of those Vinator pump things, but the cheesy plastic broke after a year or so. Now I just dunk bottles in a bucket of Starsan and drain. Rubber gloves on for that.

Iodophor, in higher concentrations, is a broad spectrum disinfectant. I think it even kills coronaviruses at the right concentration. I seem to recall seeing it on the FDA list of approved disinfectants.

 

[balrog]

Regarding vinyl tubing turning white after being submerged in star-stan: I use tapwater in a jug, into which the blow off vinyl tube is submerged during fermentation, and the submerged end of the vinyl gets white-ish, and that's with plain water. Admittedly, given the nature of CO2 bubbling through, the water is acidifying during the 4-5 days of high activity, after which I figure the keg being "blown through" by fermentation gas is purged enough, and I just put an S-airlock on the fermenter then.

But the submerged section of vinyl tubing is white. I wipe it, rinse it, hang it, and it clears.

 

[bracconiere]

saw this in another thread, found it useful...

 

[bwible]

Anybody sanitize brown glass bottles in iodophor at bottling? Never tried that and this has me wondering. Would it darken or stain them? Would it be good to use on bottles if it kills on a wider spectrum.

 

[Sam_92]

Anybody sanitize brown glass bottles in iodophor at bottling? Never tried that and this has me wondering. Would it darken or stain them? Would it be good to use on bottles if it kills on a wider spectrum.

Iodaphor shouldn't stain glass at all if my memory serves me. Also you have to be a little more careful because it's a no-rinse sanitizer only at a particular concentration.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Staining typically requires porosity. One of the benefits of glass is its lack thereof.

 

[Grizwold1]

@MaxStout I always use it diluted to the minimum strength. I still have most of a bottle to use, so I'm stuck with it for the time being.

It's not terribly expensive--throw it away or give it away and get what you like

 

[rallenhall]

My standard procedure is to soak bottles in a bucket of iodophor before placing on a draining rack and going straight to bottling. Have never had a problem. Lengthy contact will stain vinyl and white plastics, put has no affect on glass.

 

[Brooothru]

It is indeed a sanitizing acid, food grade and very unlikely to burn at correct dilution

Same company makes Saniclean, which does does the same thing, but is non foaming and works much better for use when pumping sanitizing solution, though chillers, CIP, etc. I like the Starsan for some uses also, in applications where foaming is a plus.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/star-saniclean.html

I use both and they both are effective, easy to use, and not hazardous if used as directed in proper dilution. Saniclean is great for CIP and other applications where foaming is not needed or is undesirable. Everything else get Star San. I keep a fresh pint in a spray bottle for quick santizing. Buy each by the quart, once or twice a year.

 

[Golddiggie]

I've used iodophor once so far in a fermenter that had my last batch of cider run through it and it went lower than expected for the FG. Was cheap insurance to make sure everything was good for the following beer going into that fermenter. No issues with the beer that went in after.

I might pick up a bottle when I go to the LHBS today (to get something they special ordered for me, cheaper than getting it from MoreBeer by a good enough amount). That way I'll have it on hand in case I want/need to use it in the future. Since I just picked up the larger (quart) bottle of Starsan, I won't run out of that anytime soon.

 

[Brooothru]

I've used iodophor once so far in a fermenter that had my last batch of cider run through it and it went lower than expected for the FG. Was cheap insurance to make sure everything was good for the following beer going into that fermenter. No issues with the beer that went in after.

I might pick up a bottle when I go to the LHBS today (to get something they special ordered for me, cheaper than getting it from MoreBeer by a good enough amount). That way I'll have it on hand in case I want/need to use it in the future. Since I just picked up the larger (quart) bottle of Starsan, I won't run out of that anytime soon.

Speak about not running out any time soon, I've got an almost full quart bottle of Iodaphor left over from my first purchase of brew gear in the early 90s. Used it a few times. Works great but I didn't like the staining of plastic, nor the residual iodine smell (reminded me of numerous cuts and scrapes as a kid).

In fairness, the LHBS guy told me it would last for a long time. He didn't lie.

 

[Golddiggie]

Speak about not running out any time soon, I've got an almost full quart bottle of Iodaphor left over from my first purchase of brew gear in the early 90s. Used it a few times. Works great but I didn't like the staining of plastic, nor the residual iodine smell (reminded me of numerous cuts and scrapes as a kid).

In fairness, the LHBS guy told me it would last for a long time. He didn't lie.

I have stainless conical fermenters, so staining those isn't a concern.

 

[Brooothru]

I have stainless conical fermenters, so staining those isn't a concern.

I'm all stainless now, except for some glass and borosilicate, plus a few high temp hoses. I may have to revisit the use of Iodaphor. That stuff probably has a shelf life measured in millennia.

 

[hotbeer]

I use Iodophor too. It's a broader ranging sanitizer and doesn't seem to be affected as much by water pH as does StarSan.

Though if I shake the water/iodophor out of my bottles after sanitizing, they'll be somewhat bubbly inside too.

And whether I use iodophor or StarSan, I toss it the same day. I don't save it for later after mixing.