Full boils in extract brewing

[Jazman]

Hmm. Yea. Foam. I just sanitized a 6gal carboy, mixed the starsan into water first (no foam), sloshed it around inside the carboy and now I have ~3gallons of foam. I'm rinsing it out.

Instead of sloshing/agitating it, just carefully roll the liquid around the inside of your carboy. Remember, you just want to coat the surfaces to disinfect. The more you agitate, the more foam you'll get. So, try not to agitate and you'll minimize the foam you get.

Jaz

 

[wyzazz]

If you really don't like the foam you can pick up some Iodophor, IO Star, or Saniclean for sanitizing your equipment. These are all perfectly suitable alternatives to StarSan, & none of them foam like StarSan.

 

[cincybrewer]

I barely ever get foam in my primary because I fill the water first and add the StarSan after. If you put the StarSan in first and fill on top of it the agitation will cause it to foam up way more. I do get lots of foam however on my strainer and another item or two since I move the sanitizing water from my primary to a bucket and when doing that the agitation creates a lot of foam in my sanitizing bucket. And I just leave the foam on, never been a problem.


Rev.

I added water and then added starsan for the first time friday and there was no foam at all so I was worried I didn't have the correct ratio. I ended up dumping it, then adding the star san first which gave me a ton of foam. Sometimes the foam gives me solace that it will sanitize my equipment. However, it causes me problems when I get a hydro sample because the foam makes the hydrometer tough to read.

 

[logan3825]

Use a spray bottle. Mix a gallon of distilled water with 1/5 oz starsan and use it to fill a spray bottle. All you need to do is get the surface wet to sanitize. The foam is not a bad thing.

 

[Rev2010]

I added water and then added starsan for the first time friday and there was no foam at all so I was worried I didn't have the correct ratio.

Don't be worried if there's no foam. Just fill the vessel then add the StarSan. I usually stir it up a little with the spoon that I am sanitizing to make sure it all mixes properly.

BTW, why are you sanitizing for the hydrometer? Are you dumping the sample back into the beer? I just taste a reading and dump it so I never need to sanitize the hydrometer or its tube.


Rev.

 

[cincybrewer]

Don't be worried if there's no foam. Just fill the vessel then add the StarSan. I usually stir it up a little with the spoon that I am sanitizing to make sure it all mixes properly.

BTW, why are you sanitizing for the hydrometer? Are you dumping the sample back into the beer? I just taste a reading and dump it so I never need to sanitize the hydrometer or its tube.


Rev.

I take my hydro reading from my beer thief, so I sanitize that. I just stick the hydrometer in the thief, then draw a sample until the hydrometer floats. So the thief is what causes the foam. I used to take a sample and then put it in a test tube, but the tubes kept leaking from the base, so I switched to just taking my reading straight out of the thief.

 

[Wyrmwood]

I just taste a reading and dump

Drink it!

 

[Rev2010]

Drink it!

I have many times but often don't anymore since pre-fermented beer takes like crap with all the sugars still present. I now only really taste when it's something new I'm doing. I do always drink the sample before bottling.


Rev.

 

[cincybrewer]

Yea, I drink at least some of mine but I always end up pulling up so much trub or yeast that it generally isn't worth it. With my thief, it's hard to get a sufficient sample without pulling up a little trub.