Star San for Canning?

[nlpavalko]

Hi Everyone,

Kind of a random question, but I am going to can some pickles this weekend, and rather than sanitize the jars and lids with boiling water I have thought to use star san like I would use to sanitize my brew equipment.

Has anyone tried this, or have experience using starsan to sanitize canning equipment? Is it safe for the food and/or lids?

 

[blefferd]

Ive used it for canning before with no ill effects! Its food safe I think.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Good question. Likely yes practically speaking, for something like pickles. But technically, canning provides a higher level of sanitation, or perhaps even sterilization.

All that being said, people have pickled vegetables for a thousand years with little more than salt and vinegar and a root cellar, so perhaps RDWHAHB.

 

[kombat]

I don't think that will work. Starsan is a sanitizer. You need sterilization for canning.

That said, it also largely depends on what you're canning. Certain things are safe to can just with the boiling water bath. Other things require the high temperatures you can only achieve in a pressure canner. It has to do with the acidity of whatever it is you're canning, but I forget the distinction. You should really read a book on canning before attempting this, as it can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing (botulism, exploding glass jars in your pantry, etc.).

 

[passedpawn]

Starsan is fine for consumption once diluted.

I suppose that it's a fine way to sanitize for pickling purposes, since the low pH of the pickling solution is a naturally antibacterial. But if you're canning sweet stuff, I wouldn't trust anything but a pressure canner. I wouldn't even trust the boiling water since it won't kill botulism spores.

[edit: kombat, you and I were thinking the same thing]

 

[passedpawn]

Botulism isn't bacteria, but is a fungus (mold). Not sure how it reacts to acidic sanitizers (like starsan and vinegar). OP, you might want to ask the Google.

 

[kombat]

Just a quick aside - I learned how incredibly persistent the smallest contamination can be the first time I made some agar slants for banking yeast.

I bought a set of auto-clavable vials, mixed up my agar solution, boiled it, piped it into the vials, and put the vials and caps in my pressure cooker (not canner) for 15 minutes. When it finished, I left it for 20 minutes, then popped the lid and carefully put the caps onto the vials and screwed them on, leaving them just a little bit loose for air to vent out in the event of contamination, so they wouldn't explode. I set them in the rack for the recommended 2 weeks to see if anything grew, to ensure they were completely sterile and not contaminated.

I had a 75% contamination rate. I ended up with 3 vials that weren't contaminated. The remaining 9 all showed some sort of growth.

The next time, I was even more meticulous with my process. Instead of autoclaving the caps in a separate beaker next to the vials, I actually put them ON the vials (just loosely) during heating. I baked them in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes instead of 15. And when it was finished, I wore latex gloves dipped in StarSan before touching anything inside the chamber, and before I even took anything out of the pressure cooker, I gently screwed down the caps.

That time, I had a 100% success rate. But I learned that even the slightest contamination, in a nutrient-rich environment (like an agar slant, or, say, a jar of sugary fruit) will take hold and grow.

 

[Beernik]

I agree: canning needs sterilization.

The vinegar in pickles probably means you are acidic enough to just use a boil. Its usually sugary stuff like jams that need pressure canning.

 

[amandabab]

I've added the starsan spray bottle to the process, but it hasn't replaced any sterilization procedures.

 

[marinosr]

Botulism isn't bacteria, but is a fungus (mold). Not sure how it reacts to acidic sanitizers (like starsan and vinegar). OP, you might want to ask the Google.

Botulism is caused by a bacterium in the genus Clostridium. The reason you add vinegar to pickling solutions is that the bacterium greatly prefers a circumneutral to alkaline pH and can't grow in strongly acid environments. That way, even if botulism-causing bacterial spores (almost impossible to kill) get through the heat sterilization, they can't come out of dormancy due to the hostile pH.

That being said, I'm +1 on the above comment that you should follow canning protocols to a T if you're going to be putting them up for a long while. Heat sterilize them exactly to specification, follow acidulation recommendations religiously, and definitely do not use Star San.

If you don't have too many cukes (although now is the season for too many cukes from the garden, I know.), I find that crock and/or fridge pickles are much better, taste- and texture-wise, and they'll keep for maybe 6 weeks, no sterilization needed.

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks for correcting me. I learned something new today.

Botulism is caused by a bacterium in the genus Clostridium. The reason you add vinegar to pickling solutions is that the bacterium greatly prefers a circumneutral to alkaline pH and can't grow in strongly acid environments. That way, even if botulism-causing bacterial spores (almost impossible to kill) get through the heat sterilization, they can't come out of dormancy due to the hostile pH.

That being said, I'm +1 on the above comment that you should follow canning protocols to a T if you're going to be putting them up for a long while. Heat sterilize them exactly to specification, follow acidulation recommendations religiously, and definitely do not use Star San.

If you don't have too many cukes (although now is the season for too many cukes from the garden, I know.), I find that crock and/or fridge pickles are much better, taste- and texture-wise, and they'll keep for maybe 6 weeks, no sterilization needed.

 

[nlpavalko]

Yes thanks everyone! I will definitely go the boil route. I don't have that many cukes for this batch, so the process won't be too labor intensive.