Starsan Suds

[Dave_E]

Hi All,

I hope this discussion is ok here as it does pertain to bottling. I love Starsand, easy to use, I can keep a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff in the shop for a few 4-5 months but… You can not emerse anything in the bucket and empty it without creating massive bubbles. This goes for carboys, cylinders and bottles. I’ve watched YouTube videos where someone is filling a bottle with the suds in it and they say “don’t worry about the bubbles, they all get force out”. Ugh, not true. I do not have a bottle washer, squirty thing that you put the bottle on. I wash all the bottles by hand, rinse well and then give them a Starsand bath. Those of you that use one of the bottle squirt thngs, is that all you do for sanitation prior to bottling? Here’s a picture of what I ended up with with a cider batch. Will it hurt anything?

Dave

 

[Chorgey]

With Starsan, don't fear the foam! Do not rinse and do not dry. There are different ways to sanitize your bottles. You can either use the "bottle washer, squirty thing" (Vinator?) or you can immerse the bottles in a bucket. Starsan is supposed to foam.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Hi All,

I hope this discussion is ok here as it does pertain to bottling. I love Starsand, easy to use, I can keep a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff in the shop for a few 4-5 months but… You can not emerse anything in the bucket and empty it without creating massive bubbles. This goes for carboys, cylinders and bottles. I’ve watched YouTube videos where someone is filling a bottle with the suds in it and they say “don’t worry about the bubbles, they all get force out”. Ugh, not true. I do not have a bottle washer, squirty thing that you put the bottle on. I wash all the bottles by hand, rinse well and then give them a Starsand bath. Those of you that use one of the bottle squirt thngs, is that all you do for sanitation prior to bottling? Here’s a picture of what I ended up with with a cider batch. Will it hurt anything?

I buy a one gallon jug of distilled water at the grocery store, pour out an once or two, then add in just shy of 1/4 ounce concentrated StarSan. From there, I refill my spray bottle as needed. I don't soak bottles in StarSan, I soak them in OxiClean (scent free), rinse them out, give them a quick look for any gunk still in the bottle (and if there is, that bottle goes straight to the recycling bin), then give the cleaned bottle a couple spritzes of StarSan from the spray bottle, and put it back in a fresh paper-towel lined box, upside down. The bottles are then completely ready for filling whenever you need them.

And diluted StarSan (in small amounts) won't hurt anything.

 

[Happy Tails Brewing]

When I would bottle I started by dunking the bottles and then holding upside down until most of the liquid was out. At some point I got a fast dry rack so they could sit in the rack until I filled them. (Quicker and Easier) I also added a bottle rinser(Quicker, Easier, less StarSan), so I could squirt StarSan once or twice and then put them in the fast dry rack. Never had any issues. StarSan is designed to foam. That allows it to cling all surfaces long enough to do its job. Having some amount in your bottles will be fine. I did notice a lot of foaming issues with using StarSan with the bottle rinser. If the foam bothers you, you can try using Saniclean. If is a no rinse santizer also made by five star but is low foam as StarSan is high foam. I have never tried it. I thought about it but switched to kegging rather than bottling.

 

[MaxStout]

If you use Starsan to sanitize bottles, then invert on a bottle tree or FastRack tray, after a minute or two you won't even have 1ml of it inside. That tiny amount won't affect your beer and it won't be noticeable.

 

[Wayne1]

Change over to using Sani-Clean. It is a non-foaming acid anionic similar to Starsan.

 

[Broken Crow]

I'm gonna make the same recommendation I always make when someone Fears the Foam: Pour a bit of Star San in a glass and take a sip. It's surprisingly tasteless. When the miniscule amount that clings to a bottle is diluted with whatever you're filling it with, it immediately breaks down and ceases to be Star San and becomes simple common microbe food...remaining yeast in the drink will digest what little there is. It takes a relatively large amount of Star San to alter the taste.

 

[dmbrew48]

Just a word of caution on Sani-clean - great stuff & I use it .... but - be quite cautious on mix ratio & application time on non-stainless equipment. It is rose colored & will stain.

 

[Snuffy]

I don't mind the Starsan foam that is sort of immobile and hangs around after you invert a corny or whatever. I just let everything that is immersed in it drain completely and air dry as much as possible. Hasn't hurt me sssso fffffar. <twitch>

 

[IDMaynard]

Don't fear the foam!!!!