Sanitizing on a small scale
- Thread starter starke20
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Scale back the amount you need. I keep a gallon of Star San ready to go and can dump it into smaller tasks like sanitizing flasks or bottle caps. Since it's 1 oz for 5 gallons, just use 1/5 oz or about 1.2 teaspoons for a milk jug's worth of water and you'll be set. Then you'll have extra to clean off your thief or other little utensils too.
jaytizzle
Well-Known Member
Go get a spray bottle from home depot, put in your 1.5mL (or a teaspoon if you're not able to measure), and keep it around for spot-sanitizing. I use this to spray my thief when I want to grab a sample for gravity readings and any other time I only need a bit of sanitizer. In the sealed bottle it stays good for quite awhile (months!).
Rarely do you EVER need 5 gallons of sanitizers. The great thing about no- rinse/wet contact sanitizers, like Starsan and Iodophor, is that you really just need enough to slosh around. On a normal brew day I only mix a couple gallons or so.
If you use starsan and mix it with distilled water, you can re-use it for weeks, if not months. Even iodophor if mixed with distilled or pre-boiled water and kept sealed between uses, you can get a couple 3 days out of it, maybe even a week, if you add a few drops of fresh.
Because of this many of us, especially starsan users keep a spray bottle with starsan (and I've even done it with iodophor mixed a little stronger than normal) with distilled water. Just to spray things like that with.
I use a nice quart sized spray bottle with 2 ML of starsan in it. I use a children's medicine dropper on hand to mix the starsan with.
Also you can buy your distilled water in plastic gallons, spill a little out and add a little less that 1/4 of an ounce of starsan to each, and just keep it sealed, then use as needed and pour back in.
If you use starsan and mix it with distilled water, you can re-use it for weeks, if not months. Even iodophor if mixed with distilled or pre-boiled water and kept sealed between uses, you can get a couple 3 days out of it, maybe even a week, if you add a few drops of fresh.
Because of this many of us, especially starsan users keep a spray bottle with starsan (and I've even done it with iodophor mixed a little stronger than normal) with distilled water. Just to spray things like that with.
I use a nice quart sized spray bottle with 2 ML of starsan in it. I use a children's medicine dropper on hand to mix the starsan with.
Also you can buy your distilled water in plastic gallons, spill a little out and add a little less that 1/4 of an ounce of starsan to each, and just keep it sealed, then use as needed and pour back in.
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A large bottle of starsan usually lasts me around 2 years, and I brew/bottle/keg often, so I'm always using it. I often even grab my spray bottle to sanitize in the kitchen when I'm cooking.
If you use it judiciously it can last a long time.
If you use it judiciously it can last a long time.
user 98891
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I'm lazy, I just mix up a 5G batch and throw all my brewday stuff in it. Then when I get done with my boil, I can just dump out the bucket into another bucket, pour the wort in (chilled of course), and spray down the the lid. Everything (hoses, siphons, etc) was already in the starsan for most of the day, so I know it's sanitized.
I know I'm wasting much more starsan than I need to. It's just easier for me to have a bucket outside to dip in.
I know I'm wasting much more starsan than I need to. It's just easier for me to have a bucket outside to dip in.
Yes, spot spraying is fine for stuff. That's the magic of Starsan and to a lesser extent iodophors for sanitizing.
I put a lot of good info and tips of effectively using sanitizers in here. Including a podcast by the creator of starsan, and one by a rep from iodophor talking about that and more-https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizer-question-54932/
There's lots of good info in that old thread.\
a6ladd
Well-Known Member
Don't fear the foam! I love StarSan. Absolutely use a spray bottle to spot sanitize smaller items. If you can see its been hit with the solution, let it rest for 30 seconds - 1 minute and you are ready to go!
cmybeer
Well-Known Member
You can save star san for a while too and reuse it right? I was thinking of picking some up for that purpose so that I can have it laying around so I don't need to mix sanitizer every time I want to do a hydrometer reading.
skeezerpleezer
Well-Known Member
I just mix up a big culligan bottle full if it at once, then use as needed. It is nice to have it already mixed and not having to do it every brewday.
a6ladd
Well-Known Member
Mix up a batch and grab some pH strips. If you are worried about it not being effective grab one of the strips, dunk it, and if the pH is under 3.0, smile and press on :cross:
ajwillys
Well-Known Member
When I stopped bottling, my bottling bucket became my star san bucket. I usually mix up 2.5 gallons of it at a time. I then dump some of that into a spray bottle. I keep it for a couple months generally. I bought some ph strips at Austin Homebrew so I can tell when its no longer potent. (If its lower than 3, I use it).
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1013
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1013
hefehawk
Well-Known Member
I make up a five gallon bucket and keep it for a couple of months before I make new.
