Starsan foam...rinse it out or let it dry?

[duridsr4fite]

discuss...please

 

[carnevoodoo]

Neither. Rack onto it. Don't worry about it at all. Star San is a WET contact sanitizer. It won't hurt your beer. You don't want it to dry and rinsing it out eliminates the purpose of using it.

 

[The Pol]

If you rinse it out, you might as well not use it. It is a no rinse sanitizer. What are you going to rinse with?

Dont rinse, dont fear the foam...

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Definetly agree with everyone else about not fearing the foam. It will not hurt anything at all. Just pretend it is not there and continue as normal.


Ed

 

[Brewpastor]

No rinse means no rinse, but it is hard to resist the impulse. There is a good discussion of this on one of the Brew Strong Podcasts with Five Star.

 

[SumnerH]

What are you going to sanitize the water that you use to rinse with? StarSan?

Turtles all the way down?

 

[StoutFan]

I've even heard around here that when the Star-San breaks down in even becomes a yeast nutrient. I don't personally know about this, but more food for the grinder.

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

It is a yeast nutrient. I have researched this and independent of Star Sans .pdf file, other sources state that the active ingredients in Star San are a plant nutrient.

Don't fear the foam, but DO make sure you use it at the prescribed amount per batch.

 

[beerthirty]

DFTF(Don't Fear The Foam)

 

[Figbash]

The whole idea of using StarSan is so you don't have to rinse. As has already been stated, if you rinse you may as well not use it at all.

Tom

 

[PavlovsCat]

When it comes time to bottle and there are a few tasks to accomplish - like preparing the priming sugar, racking to the bottling bucket, sanitizing bottles, do most people sanitize all their bottles all at once, or individually before filling. I think most would sanitize all at once - just easier that way. But then the Starsan has a chance to dry before you actually bottle. So the Starsan is not still wet! I sanitize all at once using a vinator and drying rack, and have had no problem with any post bottling infections.

 

[bull8042]

Don't rinse and don't let it dry. When I sanitize my bottles, I hang them on a bottle tree until I am ready to use them. Just before filling, I will dip the mouth of the bottle in sanitizer since the outer lip of the bottle is the only thing exposed to falling particles, and even that could be debatable.

 

[SumnerH]

I sanitize all at once. They're still wet when filled.

I don't use have a bottle tree, never understood the point of those--when I clean them, I just set them right-side and they dry overnight. When I'm bottling, I so likewise and they remain damp with sanitizer until I fill them.

 

[Homercidal]

I just dip in starsan and hang on dishwasher. Even if they are dry inside when I bottle, they have been hung upside down and not likely to get anything bad in them anyway. I mean, I have my bottling bucket open and transferring to it anyway, so if something is going to get in there, it will happen there, not the bottle.

 

[viking999]

I don't rinse, don't let it dry, and don't hang it upside down to drain the bubbles. Enjoy the foam snake!

Seriously, StarSan is pretty safe when diluted to the proper level for sanitization. If you then take a thin film and some bubbles of the already diluted solution and add 5 gallons of wort on top of it? Then it's practically nothing.

Part of the beauty of no rinse sanitizers is that they continue to sanitize after you remove them from your tub of solution. If you sanitize and then rinse, any microorganism could fall on or in your equipment and cause problems later. If it's still coated in sanitizer, that bugger is gonna get killed fast. Of course, I take this to the extreme and keep my equipment submerged in sanitizer until I need it, but I'm paranoid.

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

I usually just put whatever I sanitized aside to drip for a while. But I also always boil a kettle or water before doing any cleaning and sanitizing. I let that cool while I work and if I have something that has a huge amount of foam from the Starsan I just swish a few ounces of the pre-boiled water in to rinse.

I have used it every way. Dry, wet, rinsed with boiled water and so far I never had a problem. But as for letting it dry I know I heard or read somewhere that it still protects against bacteria. I don't know if that is correct or not but I know I heard or read it before.

Still I sanitize everything once I am done with it and again the day that I am going to use it again.

 

[BlackDogBrewing]

The foam is your friend...if you rack into a carboy full of foam, you'll also get a cool spiral of foam up your racking cane tube...