Rotating sanitizers?

[Merleti]

Should you rotate different sanitizers? It's brew day and I realize I'm grabbing Star San to clean everything because it is easy and convenient. Then I though could I be building up strains of bacteria that eventually would be able to resist it? It's winter and my house has been shut up circulating the same air for awhile now. Would this be an easier chance for bacteria to bite me when I got a little sloppy? What are your thoughts, and thanks for your replies in advance.

 

[Jeffinn]

I have never heard of rotating sanitizers nor have I heard of brewing type bacteria growing a resistace to StarSan.

 

[Rev2010]

+1 to the above. Been using it for four years now and I've never once had an infection (knock on wood) .


Rev.

 

[IslandLizard]

The bug that survives Starsan deserves to live!

 

[Pyg]

I have never heard of rotating sanitizers nor have I heard of brewing type bacteria growing a resistace to StarSan.

If they did that would be considered evolution and we would all be in trouble!
Before you know it those little bacteria take over and rule us all. I have seen planet of the apes, I know how this plays out!

 

[Merleti]

Pyg since bacteria does change to it's surroundings to survive I am afraid this could happen over time.

 

[Jeffinn]

Pyg since bacteria does change to it's surroundings to survive I am afraid this could happen over time.

If you're worried about it then switch sanitizers. Its overkill and unecessary but if it makes you feel better then go for it.

 

[BigPerm]

I rotate starsan and iodophor when preparing to ferment a clean beer in one that had previously held a mixed fermentation with non-saccharomyces organisms. It reduces the likelihood of having a resistant strain carry through. As has been said, its almost certainly overkill, especially since I ferment in glass, but this isn't unheard of for brewers that share fermenters for clean and sour beers.

 

[Merleti]

Jeffin I'm a sponge looking for info. Can you point me in the right direction why it is unnecessary?

 

[Jeffinn]

StarSan is acid based, it destroys cell membranes. This quote came from another brewing forum:

"Yeah star-san and Iodophore are not in the same boat as antibiotics. You can kindof think of the difference like this. Antibiotics usually attack a particular biopathway. For example some stop the bacteria from producing a particular amino acid or someting that the bug needs to live or reproduce. If the bug finds a new way to make that AA they can survive, and since Bacteria collect DNA like Baseball cards this can happen pretty quickly. However for stuff like acid or Alcohol, the mode of killing is more physical, they usually rupture the cell in some way. I believe that Alcohol actually comprimises the cell membrane. Its much MUCH harder if not impossible to evolve a way around this."

Again, if you're worried about it then by all means rotate your sanitizers. I've used StarSan exclusively for the past 3 years (60 batches) and have never had a problem. YMMV.

 

[Merleti]

Jeffin Sweet. Thanks for the info.
It looks like it still could be possible but unlikely so I will rotate. With my luck this would be the lotto I would win.

 

[BBBF]

Jeffin Sweet. Thanks for the info.
It looks like it still could be possible but unlikely so I will rotate. With my luck this would be the lotto I would win.

I rotate, but has more to do with how they perform. Iodine has a longer contact time and it stains plastic, so I not want a bucket of it sitting around all day while I brew because it will stain the bucket and when I want to sanitize a spoon or something, it needs longer contact time and I'm a busy man.

I tend to use StarSan for fermentation because I'm using the same solution from earlier in the brew day. Also, I keep a portion of it in a spray bottle in case I need to sanitize something in the next few weeks.

For kegging, it is whatever I grab first.

For bottling, I use a BeerGun and the little black stopper will slip right off when I use StarSan. Iodine is less slippery, so I use it. Also, the bottles get rinsed in Iodine and have enough time for it to work. I don't need to fill every bottle in 30 seconds.

 

[rvklein]

It would be like a bug building a resistance to a boot.

 

[Wynne-R]

Lately I’ve been using StarSan first, followed by Iodophor. I use RO water and keep the solutions in spray bottles.

Iodophors are most effective in an acidic medium (pH2 to pH 5)[1] but are effective up to pH7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodophor

If you clean something with PBW or OxiClean you’ve taken the pH up to 11 or so. Knocking it back to pH3 with StarSan ought to kill most anything. Following that up with Iodophor may be overkill, but can the pathogens really be too dead?

 

[bja]