Saran film

Just switched from isophor to Sarsan and I'm noticing the stuff sanitized in the Sarsan seems to have a slimely texture. Is this normal?

 

Did you use the proper dilution? Maybe you added too much? Star-san & PBW in the proper dilution,are no more slippery than dish soap to me....

 

Yeah I used 1oz to 5 gal. Maybe even a but too little. I believe Sarsan is no rinse that was my only concern about said slimeyness. It is comparable to dish soap but I never had any feeling like that with isophor. Is that feeling normal for Sarsan?

 

How long are you soaking them? I also noticed that if you let something soak overnight in Starsan it has a slimy coating. But just doing a soak for a few minutes I don’t have any issues besides the normal film. Starsan is supposed to leave a protecting film behind but it seems that too long of a soak turns it slimy. I never tried using distilled water with it and I wonder if that would maybe help?

 

Distilled water makes it clearer & last longer. But I use it for only a minute or so,leaving a film on whatever I use it on,including bottles. But I use star-san in a vinator atop my bottle tree. Or swish a gallon of it around the inside of my fermenter.

 

Remember, with Star-San.....DON'T FEAR THE FOAM!!!!

 

That was my other concern. It looks like dishsoap and the bubbles concern me. They make no difference in leaving behind?

 

No difference at all,ime. It's said to break down into yeast nutrient anyway.

 

Yup- the foam is your friend. There's so little liquid in the phome, you could fill a bottle with foam, then rack your beer into it, and not have it affect the beer (ask me how I know).

I get the slimy texture too. Star san is an extremely powerful acid cleaner- my guess is that the acid is dissolving the dead skin on my hands and making them feel slimy, because I can still feel it after rinsing for minutes and minutes with water, plus my hands are dry and scaled for days after a bottle washing day.

 

star-san does have a mild detergent (hence the foam), and due to molecular charges, it gets attracted to certain surfaces like plastics and vinyl tubing.

if you give it the 1-2 mins soak, it shouldn't really build up. but if you let it soak over night, or leave a bucket of mixed star san, you will notice it building up a little.

hitting the build up with warm/hot water gets it out pretty quick since it dilutes the concentration.