We just came back from vacation, and I noticed a few small ants roaming around my kitchen sink. I started smushing them, and then I grabbed my spray bottle of star san... A quick squirt of the sanitizer killed the ants immediately. It was amazing. From what I read with ants, they will keep coming back until you remove the scent trail they leave, so I started spraying the entire area and killed a few more ants. I then saw a yellow jacket stuck between my window and window screen and I sprayed that with the Star San and it killed the bee as well. What is this stuff that we are using to clean our beer supplies that is strong enough to kill bugs?
Other Uses for Star San
- Thread starter BubbaK
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Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
drowning is such a cruel death
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible
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Now I gotta go find some bugs! 
rsmith179
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According to their website, Starsan is a combination of phosphoric acid and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid. Sounds to me like that will do the job with ants and bees!
broadbill
Well-Known Member
Didn't I read somewhere else on this forum that StarSan permanently etched someone's granite countertops? Not sure I'd be spraying StarSan willy-nilly around the various surfaces of my house.
Edcculus
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I think it was un-diluted.
JVD_X
Well-Known Member
That was me and it was formica. If you wipe it up you should be fine.
I sprayed it diluted on the formica and it hasn't damaged it.. I'll keep that in mind though. Most of my spraying has been in the porcelain sink
LandofOz... I'm not drowning them.. its more like giving them a shower
LandofOz... I'm not drowning them.. its more like giving them a shower
I've found it makes an excellent toothpaste when mixed with Comet cleanser.
Hang Glider
Beer Drinker
Yup, it's the undiluted (full strength) that stains the counter tops. If some runs down the sides and sits on the formica and you don't realize it for a while, you, too, will have a mark on it. (I have several - didn't realize what was making the stains...)
However, I have also let the overspray of a properly diluted batch sit on the counter for untold hours, until evaporation, with no ill effect.
Looking forward to the tootpaste trick - does it whiten too? Will it work with Ajax?
However, I have also let the overspray of a properly diluted batch sit on the counter for untold hours, until evaporation, with no ill effect.
Looking forward to the tootpaste trick - does it whiten too? Will it work with Ajax?
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I use it to spray down granite countertops after they've had raw meat on them. No etching. I get the stuff all over my hands when I brew with no ill effects, how can it hurt my counters (talking diluted starsan, of course)?
Looking forward to the tootpaste trick - does it whiten too? Will it work with Ajax?
Any household cleanser will do. If your pearly whites still aren't their pearly-est, I'd suggest Brillo pads.
I find that Mr Clean really does a good job as a mouthwash. Lemony!
ytsejam
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I use it as a liquid fly swatter.
Knocks 'em right out of the air.
Knocks 'em right out of the air.
JOHN51277
Well-Known Member
Try Pine Sol, and Fast Orange. Like an IPA! Piney, and Citrusy!
I'll plead the fifth here and now.
I noticed this tonite. I was cleaning and saw a trail of ants. I hit them with the starsan that was in my spraybottle. They stopped walking immediately and were dead withinin a few more seconds. Bizarre.
I thought I had discovered something new and came here to report on it. Searched first and found a few threads where others had already boldly gone. Great minds, I guess.
Since I started using Star San I haven't had to degunk the garbage disposal. When it stinks, I pour a pint or so down the drain with it running, and smell-b-gone.
