Starsan and a Spray Bottle

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jcarson83

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Well I just brewed my first batch with the Starsan and a spray bottle technique. Usually I mix a 5 gallon bucket and soak everything that comes in contact post boil. That seems a little anal though so I decided to try a little more economical approach. I cleaned everything really well with oxyclean and rinsed then just spray with starsan. I'm a little nervous but hopefully the yeast will take off take care of anything left over. If it works I'll have a new keg full of Yoopers Dogfish Head 60 min clone.
 
I use this method all the time. I did recently have an infection, but it was more because of the yeast not getting started than my sanitation.
 
Spray bottle of Starsan works for me too. My practice is to thoroughly clean the items that touch the wort post boil. If you do a good job and remove all the dirt you can see, the StarSan spray will kill 99% of the stuff you can't see. I rarely mix up more than a gal of Starsan at any one time.
 
I usually keep 2 gallons of starsan mixed up plus a spray bottle ready for brew days. I'll dump almost a gallon into the fermentors to soak before I use them, and I'll also have at least one other medium sized plastic container that I soak hoses and other small items in. Other than that I'm spraying away with the spray bottle, usually over my soaking container to recover as much of it as possible. So far, so good.

Congrats on the Dogfish Head 60 mnute brew. That is a fine recipe and I think you're gonna like the results!
 
Has anyone else noticed that Starsan seems to screw up a spray bottle after a while? I know w/ Windex or other cleaners it seems to be ready to spray immediately but the Starsan I have to squeeze for a while to get it to start spraying and even then the spray isn't as fine and even. I've already switched sprayer once and this one deteriorated just like the first one.
 
Has anyone else noticed that Starsan seems to screw up a spray bottle after a while? I know w/ Windex or other cleaners it seems to be ready to spray immediately but the Starsan I have to squeeze for a while to get it to start spraying and even then the spray isn't as fine and even. I've already switched sprayer once and this one deteriorated just like the first one.

Some sprayers hold up to Star San and other chemicals without problems and others do not. I was given a whole case of spray bottles and they seem to be of a higher quality as I've been using the same one with Star San for a very long time.

IMO, many of us are using way more Star San than is necessary. You only need to wet a surface with Star San. I put only about a pint or even less in the plastic fermenters. I put the lid on and slosh/shake it up to cover all interior surfaces. I remove the lid and spray it on both sides with sanitizer and either dump the Star San into another bucket for reuse on the next fermenter, keg or whatever. I only mix up one gallon at a time and that's typically more than enough for a brewing session. When sanitizing kegs, I dump it from one to the next and supplement with the spray bottle. A little Star San goes a long ways. Using more sanitizer does not equate to better sanitizing. Used properly, Star San is very economical.
 
I mix one gallon at a time. I qt goes into a trigger sprayer the rest goes into a small Garden sprayer. Garden sprayer is for larger items like carboys the trigger sprayer for little jobs .
 
I've had the same spray bottle for starsan for almost a year now with no problems. Stay away from cheaper bottles meant for misting water on plants or ones you find in the beauty products section. If I remember right my spray bottle cost me 10 or 15 bucks, but I've only had to buy one.

I'm a die hard starsan sprayer. The only bit of starsan that does anything is what's in contact with what you want to sanitize. All the bulk sitting between the walls of your fermenter is money down the drain.

I even use the spray bottle to sanitize my tubing. Stick the end of the tubing up to the nozzle of the spray bottle and give it six or seven pumps. Then let that travel back and forth through the tubing as you raise and lower each end. Works just dandy.
 
It's also good practice to spray Star San into the bucket spigots after taking samples etc. I do the same as ChshreCat with the tubing, keg dip tubes and even my SS aeration wand. I must be lucky, but have never had an infection problem so far and I've been brewing for quite a while.
 
Iodophor works fine in a bottle too.

It doesn't keep as long as star-san, though. It's a great choice for the brewday, but don't expect it to still sanitize your gear a week later.
 
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