Bru'n Water and Wards Labs

[dsniegocki]

doesn't that leave some residual star san either liquid i.e. what starts above the gas in port or foam that isn't pushed out like a traditional racking process that may affect the taste. I mean have you ever got star san on your hands and tasted it? Kinda rank. Star san specifically says to let it air/drip dry.

I like the idea, not knocking it, just trying to understand the process better. I would think that after letting the keg drip dry and purging with C02, burping the relief valve numerous times and then displacing the C02 in the keg (& perhaps small amount of o2) with beer pushed under pressure (2-3psi) that should be sufficient to significantly minimize or eliminate o2 exposure?

Good stuff in that thread to be sure from some folks that are much smarter than me. : )

I can't speak for StarSan as I use One-Step, but considering all of the other things in my process (fermentor, connections, etc) that have no-rinse One-Step residue on them, it never seemed to me that the amount remaining in the keg relative to the beer would cause any harm, and I certainly haven't tasted any ill effects.

As far as just purging with CO2 alone... I'm no scientist and I definitely bow to the smarter minds on here... but the two factors as I understand it are dissolved oxygen levels, and time. Even "pure" commercial CO2 can increase the DO level in your beer given enough time (not to mention CO2 mixed with the ambient air in your keg), which is why some folks perform natural carbonation with spunding valves. But purging the ambient air with just CO2 does not displace nearly enough ambient air to make much difference. My understanding is that as little as one shot glass of ambient air contains enough oxygen to affect your beer over even a few days' time.

In other words, if you're going to bother eliminating oxygen at all during packaging, you would do best to work to eliminate it all. Certainly hop flavors are affected quite noticeably by this. John Kimmich (Alchemist) is a huge nut about eliminating DO levels at packaging, and it apparently makes a difference for him