Saniclean issue?

[stevehaun]

I am a long term starsan user. I recently tried using saniclean to sanitize my kegs and conical. I have found what appears to be white floaters in my saniclean solution. They do not appear immediately but show up 1-2 weeks after preparing the solution. I use RO water to prepare the saniclean solution. I did not have this problem with starsan solutions prepared with RO water. Anybody else have this issue?

 

[Hannabrew]

Unbelievable timing... I just noticed the exact same thing in my solution last night.

Also made with RO water and was clean. pH and Clarity looked fine but I dumped it anyway.

 

[stevehaun]

I have used mine to sanitize kegs and have not noticed off flavors. Does anybody know what this is?

I am considering a switch to iodophor. I am still a little concerned using iodophor as a no-rinse sanitizer, especially doing a totally closed transfer. I checked and I leave about 25 ml of sanitizer solution behind after totally filling keg and blowing it out with CO2.

 

[Vale71]

I don't use chemicals for my kegs any more (except for cleaning of course). I just boil the right amount of RO water, fill the keg up with the still scalding water until it comes out of the pressure relief valve, let sit for half an hour and then push it out with CO2.
The heat will kill off all the nasties without introducing even nastier (chemical) stuff and you have the added advantage that the little water that is left in the keg is basically O2 free because of the boil. I find it a bit pointless going to all the trouble of purging with CO2 and then leaving O2 rich water in the keg ready to be mixed with the beer.

 

[piojo]

I am still a little concerned using iodophor as a no-rinse sanitizer, especially doing a totally closed transfer. I checked and I leave about 25 ml of sanitizer solution behind after totally filling keg and blowing it out with CO2.

I calculated that at the suggested dilution, we should be drinking 12 mL of no-rinse iodophor sanitizer per day. The actual recommendation should probably be less, due to additional iodine which isn't "active" (in a different form, or permanently bound to the complexing agent), so let's say you should drink at least 8 mL of sanitizer per day. Of course if you are getting enough from milk, salt, and vegetables, you might not need to drink any sanitizer. (I'm kidding, of course, but I was tempted to drink a bit of iodophor after doing this calculation, because my place of residence doesn't use iodized salt.)

The tolerable upper limit is about twice the recommended amount, so if you're already in the healthy range, a bit of sanitizer per day is not enough to knock you above that range.

 

[Hannabrew]

This is veering wildly off track...

 

[kiwipen]

I don't use chemicals for my kegs any more (except for cleaning of course). I just boil the right amount of RO water, fill the keg up with the still scalding water until it comes out of the pressure relief valve, let sit for half an hour and then push it out with CO2.
The heat will kill off all the nasties without introducing even nastier (chemical) stuff and you have the added advantage that the little water that is left in the keg is basically O2 free because of the boil. I find it a bit pointless going to all the trouble of purging with CO2 and then leaving O2 rich water in the keg ready to be mixed with the beer.

What kind of kegs do you use? I've heard that boiling water in the keg can make the rubber on the bottom and top come loose. If the kegs don't have rubber parts boiling water sounds like an excellent solution.

 

[LeeH]

Why did you feel the need to switch from star san out of interest?

 

[stevehaun]

I wanted to fill my kegs as full as possible to sanitize and minimize oxygen exposure.

 

[Vale71]

What kind of kegs do you use? I've heard that boiling water in the keg can make the rubber on the bottom and top come loose. If the kegs don't have rubber parts boiling water sounds like an excellent solution.

Nothing's come loose yet. Fingers crossed...

 

[DownHillonWater]

StarSan is dilute phosphoric acid. Remember that beer already has lots of phosphoric acid salts in it. I believe brewers should treat small amounts as having no effect.

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

I don't use chemicals for my kegs any more (except for cleaning of course). I just boil the right amount of RO water, fill the keg up with the still scalding water until it comes out of the pressure relief valve, let sit for half an hour and then push it out with CO2.
The heat will kill off all the nasties without introducing even nastier (chemical) stuff and you have the added advantage that the little water that is left in the keg is basically O2 free because of the boil. I find it a bit pointless going to all the trouble of purging with CO2 and then leaving O2 rich water in the keg ready to be mixed with the beer.

Isn't boiling up a full 5 gallons of water a bit of a pain and time consuming though?

I've been using saniclean and cut gas diptubes. Almost no liquid left at the end of the day as long as I burp it out the gas line.

 

[scrap iron]

Isn't boiling up a full 5 gallons of water a bit of a pain and time consuming though?

I've been using saniclean and cut gas diptubes. Almost no liquid left at the end of the day as long as I burp it out the gas line.

I use Iodine type sanitizers in the keg because they don't foam like the Star San does. So less oxygen to start. I do use StarSan in other areas of the brewery. When using Iodine in the keg after pumping it out with co2 I give another good shot of gas, invert the keg and blow out all the liquid out the cut gas dip tube. Although lately I've been doing this and then setting up the keg to be purged with co2 from fermentation.

 

[Dland]

I wanted to fill my kegs as full as possible to sanitize and minimize oxygen exposure.

Like scrap iron suggests, have you considered purging kegs with CO2 from fermentation? I've done this now for a while and skipped the liquid purge, it is working well for me, is free and less work

On the Saniclean, I use it to sanitize lines and as final rinse after PBW treatment for kegs, valves and fermentors. I like it because it pumps better than Starsan due to less foam. Never had a problem with it, but also don't generally re use it after final run though system at end of brew day. According to label, it uses same sanitizing ingredient as Starsan, but should be mixed at twice the strength.