Nitrile glove + Star San = Sulfur?

[smizak]

Anyone else experience this? I noticed it while brewing a couple weeks ago and just sprayed some on my glove, it's instant rotten egg smell. Weird...there's no sulfur in the nitrile chemical composistion, must be something they coat them with.

 

[uncia]

Nobody else I brew with does but I always smell sulfur when mixing starsan.

 

[TheGeek]

I always wear nitrile gloves when dealing with a brew post-boil, but haven't experienced this. Odd. I'll have to look at the box and see if they are coated with anything.

 

[smizak]

Nobody else I brew with does but I always smell sulfur when mixing starsan.

That happened to me when I mixed my starsan with tap water, sulfates reacting with the phosphoric acid. They really recommend mixing it with RO or distilled water.

 

[jfkriege]

I get exactly what you get. When mixing or working with StarSan I dont really get an odor. As soon as I get it on nitrile gloves it smells terrible. I am glad I am not the only one. I will check and see if the ones I have a coated with anything.

Joshua

 

[Coastarine]

I get a bit of that smell when I sanitize my orange universal carboy caps. They are a stretchy rubber material.

 

[smizak]

I get exactly what you get. When mixing or working with StarSan I dont really get an odor. As soon as I get it on nitrile gloves it smells terrible. I am glad I am not the only one. I will check and see if the ones I have a coated with anything.

Joshua

I just checked mine, they are labled powder-free, but it doesn't say if they are coated with anything else. Mine are Medline Exam gloves.

 

[malkore]

I've smelled the sulphur when my carboy caps and bungs get wet with it.

 

[IFP]

I have definitely smelled the rotten egg smell when I spray Star-San on my rubber stoppers. I'm glad it's not just me.

 

[Scimmia]

Weird...there's no sulfur in the nitrile chemical composistion, must be something they coat them with.

Star San isn't just Phosphoric Acid. It also contains Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic Acid, which does contain sulphur.

 

[-TH-]

I have definitely smelled the rotten egg smell when I spray Star-San on my rubber stoppers. I'm glad it's not just me.

Same here.

 

[smizak]

Star San isn't just Phosphoric Acid. It also contains Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic Acid, which does contain sulphur.

right. I forgot about the foaming agent. Weird that it reacts with rubber. Wonder if it affects the sanitizing power at all.

 

[dorklord]

I get that rotten egg smell sometimes when I mix starsan. Of course, I also get that rotten egg smell sometimes when water from my faucet comes in contact with the world, so I figured that was all it was.

 

[bovineblitz]

I never noticed when I use nitrile gloves. I'll check it out when I get home today.

 

[smizak]

I contacted Five Star about this. They agree that it's the surfactant breaking down, but they don't know why. They will look into it. They claim that any sulfur compound formed shouldn't affect the final product, but it smelled so bad yesterday bottling my Tripel that I got paranoid and took them off. Now my skin is flaking off of my hands.

 

[AiredAle]

Nitrile rubber gloves are cured (crosslinked) with sulfur, or sulfur containing chemicals. If what you are smelling is rotten egg smell, then it's most likely hydrogen sulfide (H2S) coming off the gloves or out of the StarSan. Can't tell you what chemistry is taking place exactly, but i would guess either the residual sulfur-containing crosslinker in the glove is being hydrolyzed to H2S by the acid in the StarSan, or something in the glove compound is reducing the dodecyl benzene sulfonate in the StarSan to H2S. My guess would be hydrolysis of the crosslinker in the glove, particularly if some are worse than others, since different manufacturers and different lots of glove would have different levels of residuals in them. Admittedly a bunch of handwaving, but my best guess.

 

[smizak]

I think you got it, thanks. I'm curious to see what a long exposure to Starsan will do to a nitrile glove. I'm thinking if enough of the sulfur crosslinking the polymer gets hydrolyzed, the glove will break down. I'm going to NY for the weekend, I think I'll dunk one in some and let it chill for a couple days.

Anyway, I'm still worried about it getting in my beer so I won't use them anymore. Even just a small amount, like a drop on the glove, was enough to produce a more than noticeable smell. I don't want any of that dripping off one of those gloves and ending up in a fermenter, or worse, bottle of finished beer.

 

[AiredAle]

Smizak,

I'll be interested in the results of your experiment. My guess is no change in the gloves because I think the smell comes from unused crosslinker not the actual crosslinks. But, having just looked at a chemical resistance chart for nitrile gloves, it does say that phosphoric acid resistance is poor, so maybe the gloves will dissolve. I still guess not much change, just more smelliness. LEt us know, actual data is always better than handwaving, just harder to argue with

 

[bovineblitz]

I brewed today and wore nitrile gloves for part of it. When they were totally soaked in StarSan I didn't notice any sulfur smells at all, even if I directly smelled the gloves. My gloves are from Fisher Scientific.

 

[Planet4net]

Well I have encountered this as well. In fact I made up some StarSan on Wed in an old animal cracker container that I have used many times in the past. I used water from an RO system(though I was just informed the tank needed changing in June or July). When I opened it today it stank of rotten eggs/raw chicken/sulfur. I used some in a new bottle washer(to give it a try) and after use the smell was gone from the sani in that container so I suppose the H2S dissipated. I have also noticed the smell from nitrile gloves. I have the cobalt blue ones. The pH is at 2.4 in my current sani and it has not gotten cloudy at all. Apparently we can detect it at very low quantities. Just found some info here if you want to check it out but basically this:

Values vary widely. Range of acceptable values: 0.001-0.13 ppm (detection). Geometric mean air odour thresholds: 0.0094 ppm (detection); 0.0045 ppm (recognition).(59) Loss of ability to smell H2S begins at 50 ppm (20); exposures above 100 ppm may rapidly (2-15 minutes) deaden the sense of smell.(1,33) Reduced ability to smell (olfactory fatigue) may also result from prolonged exposure to concentrations below 100 ppm.(60)

Well the link is weird so here: http://www.ccohs.ca/products/databases/samples/cheminfo.html copy paste...i tried it an it keeps sending to citypages...WTF?

 

[Philsc]

I recently switched from iodophor to starsan. I used distilled water and keep the starsan in two 10L plastic cans - I wanted to use it from batch to batch. I did some bottled one batch racked another to secondary and made a batch of starsan. I noticed a sulphurous smell and just thought I'd done a stinky fart, but now it's obviously the starsan, and even the kitchen reeks of sulphur. It was freaking me out. I thought I'd ruined my starsan, and ergo, ruined my beer and cider.

Perhaps i have, but I feel a little better anyway.

 

[bovineblitz]

I brewed today and wore nitrile gloves for part of it. When they were totally soaked in StarSan I didn't notice any sulfur smells at all, even if I directly smelled the gloves. My gloves are from Fisher Scientific.

my fisher gloves don't smell but the other brand i have does smell. strange.

 

[brewtus_]

The sulfur is most likely excess crosslinking agent or accellerator used for the curing (crosslinking) reaction other posters have referred to. Other crosslinking agents (things like peroxides) can also be used instead of sulfur ones. Some manufacturers may be using sulfur, others may not. To avoid the sulfury smell, use gloves that have been labeled as "sulfur-free".

 

[bob1852]

why are people using nitrile gloves with star san?

 

[smizak]

why are people using nitrile gloves with star san?

I was because star-san has the tendency to make the top layer of the skin on my hands flake off a couple days after getting exposed to it. Gross I know. I look like a leper.

 

[BrewThruYou]

I know this is a really old thread, but has anyone noticed the taste of beer affected by nitrile gloves + starsan? The sulfur odor really concerned me. I think that all rubber gloves (latex, nitrile and vinyl) probably have the sulfur accelerant in them and will react to starsan. Or am I wrong?

 

[Planet4net]

I've noticed that using vinyl gloves works fine in starsan. I have noticed that o-rings and some rubber stoppers will cause this smell though certainly not as strong as the nitrile gloves. I have not noticed any of the smell/taste in the beer but I do use vinyl gloves now when messing w/ starsan.