New Brewer With Star San In Spray Bottle Question

[Powerslave1724]

Hi all, new brewer here. Co-worker got me into it. He makes some excellent beers! I've always loved beer so I'm pumped to get into this.

Anyway, I have a question about Star San. He uses a 32oz spray bottle and mixes tap water with the StarSan. He mixed it up for me while I was brewing my beer yesterday but I think he put too much in (if that's possible?) He put a little more than 1oz in the 32oz Spray Bottle and filled it with tap water. The color of the water in the bottle has a tint to it (from the starsan). From what I was reading it's supposed to be 1oz per 5 gallons so the ratio seems way off and now I'm worried it might throw some off-flavors into my brew or even worse, get me and everyone else who drinks it sick!

I cleaned everything the night before with the PBW wash and sprayed everything down pretty heavily with the spray bottle filled with star san before putting the wort into the fermenter. Is this too much sanatizer? Is there such a thing? Will this ruin my beer/get me sick/make you go blind/kill people/(insert other negative effect here)?

Thanks!

 

[earwig]

Yea that's too much. 1oz is enough for 5 gallons of water.

 

[kylevester]

StarSan is supposed to be flavorless and I've never gotten anything from it, but I also mix it to the right concentration.

If his brews don't taste off to you, then you're fine. I'd tell him he's wasting his money by mixing 1 ounce to 32 ounces water. With StarSan, you can take a 5 gallon bucket and make up a solution and just store it. Monitor with pH strips or every 2 months or so add a little concentrate to ensure the pH stays at 3. I generally dump my StarSan every 2-3 months or any time I go through a lull in brewing.

 

[Powerslave1724]

StarSan is supposed to be flavorless and I've never gotten anything from it, but I also mix it to the right concentration.

If his brews don't taste off to you, then you're fine. I'd tell him he's wasting his money by mixing 1 ounce to 32 ounces water. With StarSan, you can take a 5 gallon bucket and make up a solution and just store it. Monitor with pH strips or every 2 months or so add a little concentrate to ensure the pH stays at 3. I generally dump my StarSan every 2-3 months or any time I go through a lull in brewing.

Yeah his brews are excellent and he has won contests before but I'm more worried about any negative health effects it may have by putting too much starsan in. If it's just a flavor issue then I will take care of that on my next batch but if there is a chance this can get me sick i will dump it and start over. Don't really want to do that unless I absolutely have too though.

 

[ChessRockwell]

Yeah, too much. Is it going to cause problems? I doubt it. It's a strong acid, beer will dilute it, and I believe I remember reading on here that the yeast eventually eat it. I don't have a link to support this, but... maybe someone else knows.

 

[ChessRockwell]

but if there is a chance this can get me sick i will dump it and start over. Don't really want to do that unless I absolutely have too though.

Definitely not going to happen. You're safe, that's for sure.

 

[Albadia]

Totally safe, both taste wise and health effect wise.

Starsan ends up as a yeast nutrient in the fermenter, so safe for that. It's supposed to not give any off flavors even in high concentrations.

As far as health benefits. Theres a youtube video floating around of the "PR lead" or president or something of the company that makes Star san drinking straight a straight shot of it. Basically pointing out that "our stuff is super awesome, theres a limit to how awesome we can say it is on the bottle because of federal regulations, but here's my confidence in it"

Should be just fine.

 

[kylevester]

Yeah his brews are excellent and he has won contests before but I'm more worried about any negative health effects it may have by putting too much starsan in. If it's just a flavor issue then I will take care of that on my next batch but if there is a chance this can get me sick i will dump it and start over. Don't really want to do that unless I absolutely have too though.

Nah, it'll be fine since it dries quickly. Just don't chug the spray bottle.

 

[iaefebs]

A proper dilution is 1.5 cc or (1.5 ml) per quart. Anything else is extra acid. 20X recommended strength sounds excessive. I know some people complain that normal strength irritates skin.

 

[earwig]

Iaefebs is right, even at the proper dilution after having my hands in a lot of starsan they look like they belong to someone with OCD who washes their hands every five minutes. I doubt that is a major concern for you if your only using it in a bottle but if you start mixing it up yourself you'll save some money and healthy skin by diluting it properly

 

[kylevester]

A proper dilution is 1.5 cc or (1.5 ml) per quart. Anything else is extra acid. 20X recommended strength sounds excessive. I know some people complain that normal strength irritates skin.

Yep, it increases the molarity and thus the damage it can do. At the recommended dilution, while low pH it's also very low molarity and thus you could drink it just fine, like phosphoric acid in soda. I wouldn't risk it at 1 oz StarSan in 32 oz water.

 

[Minky]

A Star-San solution has a much longer shelf life when it's made with distilled water.

 

[Powerslave1724]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I only used the spray bottle to spray the inside of my fermenter (pretty heavily) before dumping the beer in and used it to spray my equipment. Going forward I will just use the proper ratio but still good to know it won't effect health and the beer!

On a side note...the beer smells great! Can't wait to try it! :rockin: