Rookie Star San Question

[RallyintheValley]

Ok, this is as basic a question as it gets, but I really haven't seen this explained anywhere yet.

When using Star San to sanitize bottles, is it ok to use your bare hands to immerse the bottles in the solution? I will be using a five-gallon bucket and plan on dipping bottles in 2 at a time, then transferring to drain upside down on my sanitized dishwasher racks. Also can you use the same solution for all 50 bottles? Would dipping my hands in 25 times going to ruin the solution?
Would it be easier to spray the star san directly into the bottle?

I'm brand new at this, and used bleach for my first batch, but it was a headache because I'm dealing with limited space.

Thanks!

 

[JetSmooth]

It won't ruin the StarSan, tha'ts how I do it. I think it get in there much mo thoroughly than spraying, though lots of people have success with that way too.

However, my hands dry out pretty bad for the next few days. They get flaky and like there's dandruff. It won't harm your hands, but it's kinda wierd.

But, that's the price we pay for beer!

 

[Hang Glider]

agreed - won't hurt the star san, it will sanitize your hands. Probably not the best thing, according to the label, but I do it too. If your skin is sensitive, you can find some latex-type gloves...

I use a spray bottle for what I can, but I dunk lot's of stuff. I usually take one of my ice-chests and fill it with water, and make a "sanitary dunking tank" for all the tubing, parts, counterflow chiller, etc...

 

[Shackled]

Get a Vinator and make your life a lot easier. its 15 bucks, small and easy to store.

 

[RallyintheValley]

Thanks for all the quick responses

I think I may go with the vinator with Star San, since it seems like it will save me time and money in the long run.

Cannot wait to get a stout started this weekend now that I have one batch under my belt.

 

[pwndabear]

what i usually do is put a batch of starsan in my bottling bucket and throw everything needing sanitization right in the bucket. then, to get the bottles sanitized, one by one i fill them a little bit from the spigot, shake the heck out of them, and pour them back into the top in a converyer belt motion until they are all sanitized.

 

[Shackled]

Vinator + Bottle tree will make life much easier when it comes to bottling

 

[tvtoms]

Another +1 for the sulfiter/vinator. Works great. 3 or 4 squirts in each bottle and set it to drip. If it's an ez-cap bottle, dip the cap and gasket down into the solution real quick too and that's that. I do this while the priming sugar is nearly chilled down enough to pour and bottle the batch.

 

[shawnbou]

Another satisfied user of the Vinator + bottle tree method here. I spray the bottle tree down with StarSan first, then put about 1-2 cups of StarSan in the Vinator and go.

When I first started using StarSan for bottles, I also dunked them in a bucket 2-4 at a time with bare hands. It worked fine and I figure dunking my hands in the StarSan actually sanitized my hands rather than contaminating the solution. The reason I switched was because SWMBO and I made a mess every time we pulled bottles out and dripped StarSan all over the counter and/or floor. And yeah, I don't like to admit it but it did irritate my tender hands.

As for reusing the StarSan, even if you do dunk your bottles directly into the bucket, you can use the same solution for the entire batch's worth of bottles and most likely even beyond ... as long as everything is clean when you dunk it. I mix up my StarSan 2.5 gallons at a time in a bucket and reuse it pretty much indefinitely until it gradually depletes over time. Distilled water keeps the pH more stable (so I'm told), and I just add a few more drops of the concentrate when the pH gets too high. Whenever debris starts to collect at the bottom the bucket, I rack it off into a clean bucket.

 

[NorCalAngler]

Another happy vinator/bottle tree user. Money well spent if you plan on bottling for a while.

 

[JNye]

vinator is great. I don't use a bottle tree though. I just set the bottle upside down on a towel and lean the bottles against something. I toss a handfull of caps in the vinator tray so they are sanitized and ready as I need them.

 

[Moonpile]

+1 Vinator (+5 vs infections).

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[phishfood]

I do the "dunk" method, holding 2 bottles under with one hand while picking up the next two with the other hand. Then I put them in another bucket upside down to drain until I pull them out to bottle.

A vinator sounds really nice, but buckets are free, and I can store them outside. Space inside is at premium in my tiny house.

My hands are pretty calloused, so I have not experienced any issues with the Star San to date.

 

[rideincircles]

I figured i would bump this since it seems like the vinator is the way to go.

My hands dry out pretty bad with starsan, and the previous time all my skin peeled off mainly since I left a bunch of tubes and other stuff in the bucket for multiple days and got covered with a haze. I wiped off the haze with my hands and it seemed like the dryness wouldn't go until my skin peeled off. I am likely to want to try a different method with the vinator, but still will be dunking them for a little while longer.

Just my two cents, avoid leaving stuff in their for over a day. The haze is hard to get off and I don't think I can clean it easily from inside the tubes.