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Confusion about " no rinse "

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OBSCZONER

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I dont totally understand the whole no rinse sanitizer thing. ive looked through the site and cant find any info. How is just letting the sanitizer sit on your equiptment not bad for your health? ive seen photos of star san snakes coming out of fermentors and i dont understand. please explain this for me for i wish to use no rinse sanitizer but am very skeptical
 
It means at proper solution the amount of sanitizer is at a safe enough level to ingest so you don't have to rinse. Especially since you are going to add as much as 5 gallons of liquid that will render it pretty much nonexistent in terms of ppm.
In other words, no rinse means you don't have to rinse it off.
 
If you let us know which sanitizer in particular you are talking about, then we can find some more information. Assuming you are talking about Star-San:

MSDS

Technical Data Sheet

At label rates it have been deemed no-rinse by the EPA.
 
You don't want to have a half gallon of starsan sitting in your fermenter when you transfer into it, but if you spray down the sides with a spray bottle or fill it part way up with solution and shake it, then drain it out leaving just foam behind... there's hardly any starsan there, really. By the time you fill the fermenter, it's so diluted that it's not worth worrying about. The ingredients are non toxic at that level and just become food for the yeast.
 
If you let us know which sanitizer in particular you are talking about, then we can find some more information. Assuming you are talking about Star-San:

MSDS

Technical Data Sheet

At label rates it have been deemed no-rinse by the EPA.

Look at the MSDS, main ingredient is Phos. acid, once you dilute it to the strength for use and then again with beer over what little bit is left in your equipment I would think there would be less left than there is in Coke. So you better stop drinking Coke, or anything with additive E338 in it.
 
And FWIW you don't have to have a bunch of foam in the carboy/keg with Starsan. Starsan makes bubbles very easily and it takes a while for them to go away but if you fill your carboy/keg ahead of time the bubbles will subside and then you can dump it out leaving zero foam. Or you can just mix the Starsan in the carboy/keg, slosh/stir it relatively gently and not have the bubbles in the first place. Iodophor isn't nearly as bubbly.
 
I have a feeling that Coke has phosphoric acid levels closer to mixed (30mL in 5G water) starsan than a few Tbs of mixed starsan in 5G beer.
 
I have a feeling that Coke has phosphoric acid levels closer to mixed (30mL in 5G water) starsan than a few Tbs of mixed starsan in 5G beer.

I can just see the next thred now...

Can I use coke to sanitise
I read on HBT somewhere that coke had the same sanitising properties as startsan....
 
The important thing to remember is that we use all kinds of products daily that are caustic, fuming and poisonous at higher concentrations.

Hydrogen Peroxide
White Vinegar
Nail Polish Remover
Etc. Etc.

When many of these things are diluted past threshold concentrations they become safe even for ingestion. Would you be concerned if we regularly used vinegar as a sanitizer? I've read undiluted StarSan will etch glass. I regularly stick my hands and arms in diluted StarSan with no ill effects.
 
The important thing to remember is that we use all kinds of products daily that are caustic, fuming and poisonous at higher concentrations.

Hydrogen Peroxide
White Vinegar
Nail Polish Remover
Etc. Etc.

When many of these things are diluted past threshold concentrations they become safe even for ingestion. Would you be concerned if we regularly used vinegar as a sanitizer? I've read undiluted StarSan will etch glass. I regularly stick my hands and arms in diluted StarSan with no ill effects.


And thats is one of the reasons for food additive numbering (as well as not having to make the packaging bigger just to fit the crazy names of the stuff inside on it). I'm sure if some read a can of Coke and it said "Phospohoric acid" they would fall down thinking they were going to die, but E338 doesn't seem as bad ;)
Side note: undiluted starsan will etch glass?
 
I use iodophor mainly because I'm more comfortable with it as it is a needed trace element and because you can drink it at diluted levels of 12.5 ppm. Not so sure about star san but I don't trust myself with a concentrated acid at home just sitting there on the shelf.
 
I use iodophor mainly because I'm more comfortable with it as it is a needed trace element and because you can drink it at diluted levels of 12.5 ppm. Not so sure about star san but I don't trust myself with a concentrated acid at home just sitting there on the shelf.

What you're afraid you're going to run out of beer one night and just break out the star san and chug it?
 

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