Star San and stainless steel

[Brewham]

The stuff is acid. Do I have to worry about my stainless steel sink?

How hard is it on hands? I hate to wear rubber gloves just to clean out a few pieces of equipment.

 

[malkore]

fine on stainless steel, but do watch out on counter tops. the undiluted stuff is known to stain stuff like formica and corian.

it'll dry the hands out a little...nothing too bad though. way less harsh than working with a bleach sanitizer solution.

 

[mdgtarheel]

The stuff is acid. Do I have to worry about my stainless steel sink?

How hard is it on hands? I hate to wear rubber gloves just to clean out a few pieces of equipment.

I use the stuff all the time. Never wear gloves. I once mixed it pretty strong so that it would tear labels off beer bottles faster and had my hands in it for about a half hour nearly constantly and did notice my hands dried out just a bit, but really hardly even noticeably. I would not worry about it. The guy who works at the homebrew store around here said he once gargled it and then suck-started a siphon to prove to somebody that the stuff was food-grade. I would not recommend that, but still, the stuff is not dangerous. It really is a remarkable product.

 

[Rob_T]

The guy who works at the homebrew store around here said he once gargled it and then suck-started a siphon to prove to somebody that the stuff was food-grade.

Now that's dedication! Hilarious

 

[Burgs]

A sink would be different, but you're not supposed to soak small parts and stuff like that in it - correct? I'm pretty sure it corroded my first stainless steel barb.

 

[Burgs]

The guy who works at the homebrew store around here said he once gargled it and then suck-started a siphon to prove to somebody that the stuff was food-grade.

I used to work at Panera and this dude came in once, either from Ecolab or a competitor with some kind of organic cleaning supplies to sell.

He tried to sell us on how safe it was for hands and skin by spraying it straight in his eyes... not the best example to set. I think a lot of that demo bottle got wasted just by people spraying each other in the eye... haha.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

I usually spray my hands (along with anything else) that may touch the wort post boil. As said, I have noticed a very slight drying occasionally. Should be fine on SS.
During bottling once, I added a squirt of Starsan, to test later... could not detect the starsan at tasting.

 

[mjs483]

If you are prone to extremely dry skin (like me) you may want to wear gloves. I love star-san but it actually does dry my hands out pretty bad if I submerge my hands more than a couple times in a session. Most people don't seem to have as much of a problem though...

 

[Hammy71]

A sink would be different, but you're not supposed to soak small parts and stuff like that in it - correct? I'm pretty sure it corroded my first stainless steel barb.

I use starsan on everything without even thinking of gloves. No dry skin or anything. I leave it in my stainless cornie kegs for months on end with no ill effects. Far as I can tell the stuff is harmless. I soak my "small parts" from my cornies and such all the time in it.....why would that be bad? The only thing that I've seen get compromised by starsan is plastic. Always rinse it off your plastic parts (vitanator etc,) when your done with them because they will become brittle from long term use. Stainless though.....nah. Me thinks your 'stainless' barb was made with 'chinese' stainless (the kind of stainless that rusts.....lol).

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

When I started using it, it really dried out my hands. Now it doesn't affect them. I guess my skin is now used to it or something.

 

[jpc]

The guy who works at the homebrew store around here said he once gargled it and then suck-started a siphon to prove to somebody that the stuff was food-grade. I would not recommend that, but still, the stuff is not dangerous. It really is a remarkable product.

To be technical, "food grade" doesn't mean that it won't harm you. Many chemicals can be called "food grade" (such as hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, etc.) that you don't want to consume in any quantity. "Food grade" simply means that it doesn't contain dangerous compounds that cannot be consumed (cadmium, for instance).

 

[BargainFittings]

A sink would be different, but you're not supposed to soak small parts and stuff like that in it - correct? I'm pretty sure it corroded my first stainless steel barb.

I've left stainless parts in dilute starsan for weeks without corrosion. It will take chrome off plated brass.

 

[Arkador]

I've left stainless parts in dilute starsan for weeks without corrosion. It will take chrome off plated brass.

I leave stainless kegs with the stuff in it for weeks on end, until I need to put beer in it.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Mixed Star San is about as acidic as soda. You could probably drink it, but I won't vouch for the taste.

 

[lowlife]

I'm a *******, I drank it once for the hell of it. It doesnt hurt you. Tastes pretty tart.

 

[Ricand]

Yeah pH of mixed Starsan is in the three's so not too much of a worry. I cover everything with it that even might touch cooled wort. I also use it in my 3 piece plastic air locks and haven't notice any effects to the plastic. There are so many different plastics that you can't make a general statement about it. Now hot PBW on the other hand, after long exposure will begin to redden and chemical burn yah like all get out.

 

[MNDan]

I store 5 gallons of RO water mixed with the appropriate amt of StarSan in a corny keg, and have for years. No negative impact on the keg whatsoever, and the StarSan lasts forever!