Techniques - water add and star-san

[haveitall]

Hello all -

I have done two brews so far, on my third now. Couple questions...
1) The Star-san bottle says not to get it on your skin. Sure seems like everyone on youtube just sticks their hands in the stuff. I used gloves the first time. Can I ditch those?

2) On my second batch, I had a schedule crisis - couldn't get it cooled and just dumped in cold tapwater. The beer turned out great so... do I really have to boil the extra water?

Also - I don't know if this is a standard thing or not - but I made a wort cooler with a copper ice-maker line I had - used a saddle valve (right to copper pipe in the ceiling) and some flexible ice-maker line. Worked like a charm - cooled down to 80 in 20 minutes. Way faster than the ice-bath...

 

[Puddlethumper]

1) The Star-san bottle says not to get it on your skin. Sure seems like everyone on youtube just sticks their hands in the stuff. I used gloves the first time. Can I ditch those?

StarSan won't eat your hands. It might dry them out a bit because it is a mild acid. I wear nitrile gloves when cleaning/sanitizing because my skin dries out really easily. And protective gloves are probably a good idea for all of us. I'm actually more concerned with the caustic action of PBW cleaner than I am with StarSan.

2) On my second batch, I had a schedule crisis - couldn't get it cooled and just dumped in cold tapwater. The beer turned out great so... do I really have to boil the extra water?

The biggest concern with adding tap water is that it might have some "bugs" in it that could lead to an infection. You got by fine this time. In the future I would suggest you boil the water you expect to need ahead of time and let it cool to room temp before adding it to your beer.

I made a wort cooler with a copper ice-maker line I had - used a saddle valve (right to copper pipe in the ceiling) and some flexible ice-maker line. Worked like a charm - cooled down to 80 in 20 minutes. Way faster than the ice-bath...

One of the really cool things about homebrewing is all the neat DIY projects we can do. Sounds like you found a good one right off the bat! Congrats!

 

[jro238]

You shouldn't get the concentrated starsan on yourself. The diluted stuff won't hurt you (although it will dry your hands out as puddle said). In addition to possible contamination from unboiled tap water (unlikely in most places, but certainly possible), there is the concern of chlorine. You definitely don't want any chlorine or chloramines in your beer. The chlorine will off-gas during boiling or if the water is left out overnight uncovered. Chloramines won't boil off but can be filtered out.