I know some folks save some sanitizer from brew day in a spray bottle, but I OTOH sometimes forget to fill my bottle. So... Here's some math for mixing small batches. The ratio is one fl oz of starsan to 5gl (640 fl oz), right? Right. So... let's break that down to two quarts (64 Fl oz)... turns out to be 0.1 fl oz star san to 64... 0.1 fl oz is 3 milliliters... Gee... My kid has those oral syringes for medicine that have measurements in milliliters... Easy as can be... I fill my bottle with water, use the oral syringe to measure star san, no waste, and you are sure to use the right amount. And yes the oral syringe is now with my brew gear.
Gee whiz Star San measurements...
- Thread starter Gixxer
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geoffey
Well-Known Member
You aren't reading the original post very clearly. He's giving quick and easy instructions for mixing a SMALL amount of starsan, not 5 gallons.
OP: thanks for the tip!
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i use a syringe as well - 6ml of starsan for a 1 gallon batch. they really need to wise up and print this on the label. that or grams per liter would be nice as well
flars
Well-Known Member
Make up a one gallon solution of Starsan in a water jug. Fill your spray bottle from the jug. If the jug is printed Spring water or Distilled water, cross it out with a marker. Mark it Starsan.
Quick and easy.
Quick and easy.
It's also marked at smaller increments. I only mix 1 gal at a time and fill the measuring portion to exactly "just below" the 1/4 oz mark. To make 2 quarts (which I think is a 1/2 gallon?) go to exactly "about halfway" up the 1/4 oz mark. Err on the side of caution and go a little higher if your eyes aren't calibrated for estimation.
Cool idea. I have a bunch of those disposable plastic 3ml pipettes. This will be more accurate than measuring spoons when I want to mix up solution for a quart spray bottle.
6ml = 1.21 teaspoons. i bet 1.25 teaspoons would be great for a 1 gallon batch
Gixxer
Well-Known Member
I love all the wishful thinking! See, there's more than one way to solve a dilemma, no matter how small! Masskrug, just like geofrey explained, this is for if you for whatever reason need more than 1/4 fl oz. In my post I am using less than 1/8 fl oz.
Gixxer
Well-Known Member
A fringe bennie to using the pipettes or syringes is less chance for a mess... one of my pet peeves is that last drip that dribbles down the threads when I pour straight out of the measuring cup side of the bottle, then travels down the threads, and down the bottle, so either it discolors the flat surface its resting on, or the bottle is slick when you pick it up to use it again. Sure, I could take my finger and wipe and then use my hand to stir the batch, but... meh...
The disposable syringes are precise and neat. You can usually get them for free from the pharmacy; theyre just going to throw them away after they use them.
Id like to caution folks to treat concentrated StarSan with respect, it contains 50% phosphoric acid. The right way to handle it is with eye protection and rubber gloves.
At least be sure to rinse everything with cold water when youre done, including the outside of the container. Be very careful not to touch your face until you have very thoroughly rinsed your hands.
As for liters, its in the ratio of 1/640, exactly 1.5625 mL/L. Slightly less, 1.5240 for a quart.
Id like to caution folks to treat concentrated StarSan with respect, it contains 50% phosphoric acid. The right way to handle it is with eye protection and rubber gloves.
At least be sure to rinse everything with cold water when youre done, including the outside of the container. Be very careful not to touch your face until you have very thoroughly rinsed your hands.
As for liters, its in the ratio of 1/640, exactly 1.5625 mL/L. Slightly less, 1.5240 for a quart.
Couldn't agree more. That stuff in its concentrated form is nasty and will ruin your day faster than you can imagine. In all honesty the StarSan concentrate is the thing I treat most carefully in the entire condo. That includes the sword collection.
Renoun
Well-Known Member
It's a serious chemical and should be respected. Wearing eye protection for the rest of your brew day wouldn't be a bad idea either and you should have some good gloves around for other tasks too. If you never took chemistry or it's ancient history I'd also caution you that one always dilutes an acid by adding the concentrated acid to water and not the other way around.
I find a 10ml syringe to be pretty handy for mixing up a gallon jug, a growler, or spray bottle full of StarSan.
I used a measuring syringe a few years ago, now I just "eyeball" it using the measuring cup on the SS bottle, 1/10 ounce for two quarts, and half that for one quart. A bottle of SS seems to last almost forever if used sparingly. 2 quarts is plenty to sanitize a keg or fermenter IME.
Wilserbrewer
Biabags.webs.com
Wilserbrewer
Biabags.webs.com
Then they wouldn't sell as much star-san
Stealthcruiser
Well-Known Member
Wonderful stuff, that Starsan........Lots of other uses too.
The Wife brought home a leather chair for ME to clean up, I used saddle soap for the leather, but it wouldn't touch the corrosion on the brass tacks on the front arms of the chair.
Broke out the spray bottle of Starsan and doused the tacks with it, let it sit, doused them again, and hit them with a toothbrush, ( hers!), and the corrosion cleaned right off.
Rinse with clean water, dry with compressed air, and done.
She thought I spent hours on it, so I told her no different.........
Sorry 'bout the hijack!
The Wife brought home a leather chair for ME to clean up, I used saddle soap for the leather, but it wouldn't touch the corrosion on the brass tacks on the front arms of the chair.
Broke out the spray bottle of Starsan and doused the tacks with it, let it sit, doused them again, and hit them with a toothbrush, ( hers!), and the corrosion cleaned right off.
Rinse with clean water, dry with compressed air, and done.
She thought I spent hours on it, so I told her no different.........
Sorry 'bout the hijack!
Wonderful stuff, that Starsan........Lots of other uses too.
The Wife brought home a leather chair for ME to clean up, I used saddle soap for the leather, but it wouldn't touch the corrosion on the brass tacks on the front arms of the chair.
Broke out the spray bottle of Starsan and doused the tacks with it, let it sit, doused them again, and hit them with a toothbrush, ( hers!), and the corrosion cleaned right off.
Rinse with clean water, dry with compressed air, and done.
She thought I spent hours on it, so I told her no different.........
Sorry 'bout the hijack!
I've used Starsan to clean copper. A few shots with a spray bottle and minutes later, it's nice and shiny. We should start a list of non-brewing applications for the stuff.
Starsan...what CAN'T it do?
