Starsan to sanitize bottles?

[wterry]

Is it ok to use the diluted StarSan to sterilize bottlle? The night before bottling have been dipping the bottle in the solution and swirling around and draining. Then I put the bottles in a drying rack.
So, the bottles are dry when I bottle the next day.

There are so many dire warnings on the label, I am now wondering if I should have been doing this at all.

 

[bjhbrew]

Star San is a popular sanitizer for bottles. I would think that as long as your bottling tree was clean and sanitary that you could allow them to dry upside down and bottle the next day with no problem. I’ve also noticed some discrepancy between the warnings on the bottle and typical home brewer process; ie I’ve never bothered to let star San dry before bottling.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Starsan is a no-rinse sanitizer. Best to fill bottles (or fermenter, tubing, etc) while still wet and full of Starsan foam.

 

[Golddiggie]

+1 for filling the bottles while wet. When I bottled, I would sanitize them and put them on the bottle tree right before I started filling them.

IMO, allowing Starsan to dry from the item you want sanitized kind of defeats it's use model.

 

[MaxStout]

Best to fill while the insides of the bottles are still wet with Starsan. If you want to sanitize for bottling much later, cover the mouths with small pieces of sanitized aluminum foil.

 

[marc1]

Is it ok to use the diluted StarSan to sterilize bottlle? The night before bottling have been dipping the bottle in the solution and swirling around and draining. Then I put the bottles in a drying rack.
So, the bottles are dry when I bottle the next day.

There are so many dire warnings on the label, I am now wondering if I should have been doing this at all.

StarSan is great to use, the "dire" warnings are for the concentrate. Don't get the concentrated acid in your eyes, etc.

 

[Drewch]

I clean my bottles after use, store them upsidedown, and then rinse thoroughly with StarSan immediately before filling. I let them drip in a FastRack while I'm prepping the other bottling stuff, but they're always still wet when I fill them.

 

[Miraculix]

+1 for filling the bottles while wet. When I bottled, I would sanitize them and put them on the bottle tree right before I started filling them.

IMO, allowing Starsan to dry from the item you want sanitized kind of defeats it's use model.

Actually not. The theory behind the drying is that the solution gets more and more potent while drying and the nucleation points, ie the microorganisms, attract this liquid and get killed by the now stronger liquid.

 

[IslandLizard]

Actually not. The theory behind the drying is that the solution gets more and more potent while driving and the nucleation points, ie the microorganisms, attract this liquid and get killed by the now stronger liquid.

That's certainly a new look at Starsan's sanitation mechanisms.

Wouldn't the Starsan working solution have killed them already?
While still wet, it will also kill any microorganisms that drop on the surface.
Have things changed?

 

[Miraculix]

That's certainly a new look at Starsan's sanitation mechanisms.

Wouldn't the Starsan working solution have killed them already?
While still wet, it will also kill any microorganisms that drop on the surface.
Have things changed?

Maybe the stuff that's dropping on the surface gets killed during the drying process and not instantly by touching the liquid.

However, I also never let it dry completely...

 

[Golddiggie]

They list a one minute contact time needed for it to do it's job. I use a large enough bucket to submerge whatever I'm sanitizing, or spray it, so that's typically no problem. When I'm canning homebrew, I have a container with Starsan solution in it, that I roll the cans in (ends still open of course) so that it gets all over inside. The cans typically sit for at least a minute before I go to fill one. Lids are left in solution for longer, since I tend to put what I expect to need for the batch in there at the start. Works really well for me. Of course, I typically have four (or five) cans in the solution at a time, adding more as the last can of that set is filling.

 

[wterry]

if a bottle is stored upside down in a sanitized rack(not a tree) then the likelihood of bacteria floating up into the bottle I think would be negligible.

 

[MaxStout]

if a bottle is stored upside down in a sanitized rack(not a tree) then the likelihood of bacteria floating up into the bottle I think would be negligible.

Petri dishes have loose-fitting lids that are not air-tight. Yet airborne microbes don't flow inside, as they would have to pass upward along the sides.

For the same reason, if you sanitize your bottles and invert them onto a bottle tree, Fast-Rack, etc., they should remain sanitized inside.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

… cover the mouths with small pieces of sanitized aluminum foil.

I’m not disagreeing with this, but Starsan will eat the aluminum. Put a cup of Starsan (at recommended strength) in a bowl with a piece of aluminum foil, and leave it for 12-24 hours. The foil will be gone. Or so flimsy that trying to take it out will break it up.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Back to the OP’s question, it is safe to fill when wet with Starsan. It’s also safe to let dry, as long as there are no organisms that can reinfect after it’s dry. And, as long as your cleaning procedures are completely effective, you shouldn’t have to worry about an infection.

 

[MaxStout]

I’m not disagreeing with this, but Starsan will eat the aluminum. Put a cup of Starsan (at recommended strength) in a bowl with a piece of aluminum foil, and leave it for 12-24 hours. The foil will be gone. Or so flimsy that trying to take it out will break it up.

The thin layer of Starsan on the foil and mouth of the bottle will evaporate long before it corrodes the foil. I have used this method to cover hundreds of sanitized bottles and have never observed any of them becoming corroded.

Putting a strip of foil in a bowl of Starsan, OTOH, will definitely result in the foil dissolving. Much greater volume of acid vs metal in such an instance.

 

[thomer]

I am new relatively new to brewing. I used to sanitize my bottles with Starsan. But after reading John Palmers book, I now put them in the oven at 340F for an hour. I allow them to heat up in the oven from cold to 340F, then cool slowly in the oven after. Any opinions on this method? Seems to work.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Don't Fear the Foam.

 

[Dancy]

I am new relatively new to brewing. I used to sanitize my bottles with Starsan. But after reading John Palmers book, I now put them in the oven at 340F for an hour. I allow them to heat up in the oven from cold to 340F, then cool slowly in the oven after. Any opinions on this method? Seems to work.

I use the oven as well based on Palmer’s chart. As soon as I pour a bottle, I rinse it out 3-4 times, spray Star San into it, swirl it around, turn it upside down to drain and when dry, place it in the case with a lid. When I’m ready to bottle, they are already clean but I sanitize all my bottles in the oven the night befor bottling. I sit on a stool next to the open oven door with the bottling bucket and wand in front of me and pull bottles from the oven one at a time to fill. Then I cap all of them. Never had an infected bottle.

 

[D.B.Moody]

My bottles are rinsed a bit to remove sediment and then run though the dishwasher with other dishes. They are stored in the basement, upright and open, though usually in a beer case that has a lid. They may or may not be rinsed with tap water and put on a bottle tree the night before bottling. I have never used sanitizers. I have done this for 284 batches over 27 years. I have never had an infected bottle of beer. I frankly do not understand why bottling is made so difficult.

 

[grzrk]

After cleaning with some oxy cleaner and rinsing by hand, I usually run mine through the dishwasher twice on the sanitize setting. Then I leave them in the on the racks upside down and take the whole rack to my bottling area. So far so good.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

The thin layer of Starsan on the foil and mouth of the bottle will evaporate long before it corrodes the foil. I have used this method to cover hundreds of sanitized bottles and have never observed any of them becoming corroded.

Putting a strip of foil in a bowl of Starsan, OTOH, will definitely result in the foil dissolving. Much greater volume of acid vs metal in such an instance.

I wasn't disagreeing with you. I do that as well. But I have noticed some etching on the foil sometimes. I just wanted to point it out that Starsan can erode the aluminum.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I use the oven as well based on Palmer’s chart. As soon as I pour a bottle, I rinse it out 3-4 times, spray Star San into it, swirl it around, turn it upside down to drain and when dry, place it in the case with a lid. When I’m ready to bottle, they are already clean but I sanitize all my bottles in the oven the night befor bottling. I sit on a stool next to the open oven door with the bottling bucket and wand in front of me and pull bottles from the oven one at a time to fill. Then I cap all of them. Never had an infected bottle.

Starsan is not a cleaner. Rinsing isn't enough to get them clean. Your luck may run out at some point, but baking in the oven has probably kept the infections at bay.

 

[Dancy]

@homebrewer - given the fact I shake the hell out of the bottle 3x with water in it immediately after pouring the beer then spray some StarSan after that followed by another rinse and can visually see zero crud in the bottle before baking, I’m really not worried about it. And yes, I know SS isn’t a cleaner. If I was a procrastinator and let bottles sit and sediment dried, I’d use a cleanser.
No disrespect intended but I think some people on the forum make some processes more difficult than necessary. If anything, my bottle cleaning process could be overkill.

 

[JAReeves]

I have used OneStep to soak crud off the bottles and prime them for bottling; bottling while wet as well. Anyone else do this as well? Should I switch to StarSan after the OneStep cleaning?

 

[D.B.Moody]

I have used OneStep to soak crud off the bottles and prime them for bottling; bottling while wet as well. Anyone else do this as well? Should I switch to StarSan after the OneStep cleaning?

No. If your current process is working, why consider making it more complicated?

 

[RufusBrewer]

I love my bottle injector and bottle tree. Pump some StarSan into the bottle let it drain on the tree for a while. Then fill it up.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

if a bottle is stored upside down in a sanitized rack(not a tree) then the likelihood of bacteria floating up into the bottle I think would be negligible.

That won’t deter inscects.