smell from star san??

[A1337sti]

Question about the last batch i made. (well still fermenting)

So i'm new to star-san and fairly new to home brewing.. although i've made a lot of (Mr Beer) Batches i still don't really know what i'm doing .. .

:fro:

okay i used the star-san in my mr beer fermenters (plastic barreled shapped fermenters with a leaky screw on lid , so you don't "need" an airlock)

Q) I had a strong smell when i used the star san.. Is that normal? this lead me to rinsing them out with tap water (probably a no no)

mostly i'm just wondering if that's normal from star-san or if that indicated that maybe my fermenter was still dirty.

:cross: I've been washing with dish soap , which i recently read on these forums isn't a good idea. (my beers have HORRIBLE head retention) all of my brews seem to have a slight off taste that i can't really describe. its not tart /sour, but sorta like that ... seems to be the same off-flavor batch after batch .. not sure if that's from the soap (I rinse really well) the mr 1-step sanitizer i was using, or from the mr beer unknown yeast ...

also after reading an other thread on this forum it seems that PBW is recommended, or straight-A / B-brite .... i have plastic fermenters and an aluminum brewing kettle. i also read that most of the cleaners are acidic which can be bad for metal . :|

so now i'm more confused. soap is bad cause it leaves a film that kills head retention and might off flavor the brew. so i should use an acidic cleaner, but those are bad for metal? so what do i clean an aluminum keggle with ? is this further complicated because i have a stainless steel bulkhead and siphon pipe in there, and a brass compression fitting. I was all set to buy a bunch of PBW but after reading about it being bad for metal .. now i'm lost.

thanks

 

[thadass]

What was the dilution ratio you used for the starsan?

I wipe my aluminum kettle down with a terrycloth towel and very hot water. I give it some dish soap every 5 batches maybe, and then rinse the heck out of it with hot water. Never any star-san in the kettle (don't need to sanitize it anyways) and never any clean-in-place cleaners like b-bride, PBW, oxiclean, etc.

Plastic buckets get the hot water/wipe-down as well, and then star-san'd.

Glass carboys are soaked in oxiclean, rinsed very well, and then star-san'd


Never had any weird smells from star-san in any of this!

 

[smizak]

Did you use tap water to mix it?

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[A1337sti]

I think I did like a double strength of 1 oz to about 3 gallons instead of 5 as it said. i was thinking more was better ..

and yes i mixed it with tap water to create the solution. my water tastes really good, but it is hard water (city) and i **believe** it has a ph of 7

I need to rack to 2ndary tonight (needed to 3 days ago) and i may taste a small sample of the this batch to see if i have any of my usual after-taste

thanks for the cleaning / sanitation tips for varying surfaces !

 

[smizak]

You really should use distilled to mix it. Bet your solution is cloudy too right? The inventor of star San warns against tap water buffering out the low ph of the sanitizer and reducing its effectiveness

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[A1337sti]

Actually its not cloudy at all ...

and i'm about to ask probably a really dumb question as bottling day is upon me.

What should i wash my bottles with, would oxyclean been okay? the laundry soap stuff? or do people use a different oxiclean than what i'm thinking of (the billy maze for your laundry stuff) ??

i don't have any PBW , just star san, and dish/hand soap .. also would soaking PBW in Stainless steel sinks be a problem ?

 

[ImNoExpert]

I'd wash with oxyclean FREE, rinse well, then sanitize with the starsan and don't rinse. I've never noticed (properly diluted) starsan to have a smell or taste let alone any after it's gotten in my beer. That's one of the reasons I like to use it.

 

[thadass]

I also wash wish Oxiclean Free, or a non-scented non-colored generic equivalent. It works very well for bottles and carboys.