Star san spray bottle?

[rhys333]

I just started using star san and I've been reading up on tips and tricks. Some folks just use a spray bottle to sanitize everything... no dunking/full submersion. It sounds convenient, but how effective is this? I have a hard time picturing how well this could work for bottles. Does anybody have experience with this? BTW I'm a newbie to homebrew.

 

[stevo4361]

I use Star San in a spray bottle for most of my sanitizing, but for bottles use a Star San solution in a vinator on top of my bottle tree. Spraying seems to work pretty good for me, but with bottles I'd consider either a quick dunk or the vinator.

 

[uxo]

meh, get a Vinator. Dunking sucks and do you really want to spray the inside of 40+ bottles by hand?


It will work though.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Vinator. No question. Very big convenience for bottling.

 

[two_hearted]

I use a spray bottle for most everything aside from fermenters and kegs. I just slosh around a half gallon or so of starsan for those.

 

[rhys333]

I use Star San in a spray bottle for most of my sanitizing, but for bottles use a Star San solution in a vinator on top of my bottle tree. Spraying seems to work pretty good for me, but with bottles I'd consider either a quick dunk or the vinator.

Damn. Now I want to buy a vinator!

Thanks for confirming. I think I'll mix a 1 gal solution prior to brewing, fill the spray bottle and use it for the fermenter tub and equip, then reserve the rest for bottling day. I figure it should last me the two to three weeks using tap water. I understand it lasts indefinately using distilled water, but it seems to makes sense $-wise to use tap water and toss than paying for the distilled.

 

[BigFloyd]

I use a bucket for dunking, a wallpaper glue tray for smaller stuff, a vinator for bottles and a spray bottle........... All full of StarSan.

Wonderful stuff.

 

[Ramitt]

Thing I like about dunking, is my bottles sit for months in cases in the basement, the filling and dumping of star san helps insure I clear any new debris. Otherwise a vinator sounds cook.

 

[uxo]

Yeah. There's no need to mix five gallons. It's a waste.
I mix 1.5 gallons and use my hands to sanitize the bucket walls and lid. I do the same for my siphon, bottle wand, etc. I do have sanitizer in spray bottle to get the bucket lid and airlock.

Remember, it's a contact sanitizer and foam counts as sanitizer.

 

[eastoak]

Yeah. There's no need to mix five gallons. It's a waste.
I mix 1.5 gallons and use my hands to sanitize the bucket walls and lid. I do the same for my siphon, bottle wand, etc. I do have sanitizer in spray bottle to get the bucket lid and airlock.

Remember, it's a contact sanitizer and foam counts as sanitizer.

it's not a waste if you use it over time. i buy RO water 100 gallons at a time ($25-30, i forget), fill a carboy with RO water add an oz of star san and it lasts me a few months. i have a ph meter to check it's effectiveness over time and have never had it rise in ph over time.

 

[CGVT]

it's not a waste if you use it over time. i buy RO water 100 gallons at a time ($25-30, i forget), fill a carboy with RO water add an oz of star san and it lasts me a few months. i have a ph meter to check it's effectiveness over time and have never had it rise in ph over time.

Exactly.

I'm not quite as extreme as far as quantity goes, but I mix 4 gals ( $ .30 a gal at the grocery fill station) and it lasts just about forever. I have a spray bottle that I use for convenience and the big bottle to siphon out of for kegs and bottling buckets etc.

Oh yeah. If you bottle get a Vinator. It is worth every penny of the 20 or so bucks that it costs.

 

[bertoochy]

it's not a waste if you use it over time. i buy RO water 100 gallons at a time ($25-30, i forget), fill a carboy with RO water add an oz of star san and it lasts me a few months. i have a ph meter to check it's effectiveness over time and have never had it rise in ph over time.

What ph level is starsan no longer effective ?

 

[jtejedor]

Not sure why you would need to mix 5 gallons at a time I mix a quart or two at a time using a child syringe its about 1.5 ml of starsan per quart of water. If you mix with tap water it will most likely not last weeks. You would probably want to keep testing it to make sure its still effective.

 

[Tex]

I use distilled or RO water in my starsan spray bottle and it'll keep good much longer than it takes me to empty the bottle.