Using star san for the first time in carboy.

[Sigthor]

Hey all, first time brewer here and I'm preparing to move from my primary to my secondary fermentor today. I picked up a bottle of star san after reading much about it here. I was just curious about the best way to use it in a glass carboy, and how much do I need to use? Is just a gallon suffecient if I swirl it around in the carboy or do I need to use a full 5 gallons? Is it possibly/ideal to use a spray bottle in a carboy? I plan on spraying the inside of my tubes and syphoning equipment but I can't see spraying the inside of a carboy.

Also, I'll be sure to not fear the foam.

Thanks ahead of time for you answers.

 

[llazy_llama]

I usually pour in about a gallon of water, add in my Star San, and just shake the **** out of my carboy for a good 3-5 minutes.

Then again, I use Better Bottles. That might be a bit harder with a glass carboy, but hey... it's good exercise.

And welcome aboard!

 

[BarleyWater]

I don't even use a full gallon, just enough to make sure the inside gets completely wet, then swirl it around for a minute and it's good to go.

 

[BruDaddy]

I do the star san shake as well - the glass carboys are a decent workout. If you do it right before you rack you get the added effect of a really cool star san foam snake creeping out of the mouth of the carboy and spiraling up the siphon hose. Quite amusing - especially if you've followed the RDWHAHB advice.

 

[CnnmnSchnpps]

I do the star san shake as well - the glass carboys are a decent workout. If you do it right before you rack you get the added effect of a really cool star san foam snake creeping out of the mouth of the carboy and spiraling up the siphon hose. Quite amusing - especially if you've followed the RDWHAHB advice.

RDWH3HB :rockin:

 

[Figbash]

I keep Star San solution in a spray bottle and use that to sterilize everything from equipment to bottles to carboys. Just spray enough in so it coats the sides and let it sit. It only takes a minute to do it's thing. After that the carboy will be sterile and ready to go. Using more solution won't make it any more sterile.

Tom

 

[hayabusa]

I keep Star San solution in a spray bottle and use that to sterilize everything from equipment to bottles to carboys. Just spray enough in so it coats the sides and let it sit. It only takes a minute to do it's thing. After that the carboy will be sterile and ready to go. Using more solution won't make it any more sterile.

Tom

A cornie full of Starsan and a Spray bottle last a long time.... Once I started doing that I was amazed at how long 5 gallons of Starsan lasted me - the amount of Starsan I have wasted is a crime.

I use the spray bottle on most everything and I dispense from the cornie when I need a jar filled for any soaking...

 

[Sigthor]

Well what i ended up doing was mixing a gallon of the solution in a gallon jug, pouring about half of that into the carboy and shaking for a bit. Then i used the sypon and tubes to syphon the fluid back into the jug so that they were sanatized too. It seemed to have worked out well.

 

[llazy_llama]

After that the carboy will be sterile and ready to go. Using more solution won't make it any more sterile.

Sanitized, not sterile. Huge difference.

 

[bad coffee]

Starsan only needs 30 seconds of contact time. So no need to shake your bottles full of fluid for 5 minutes. I have glass carboys and I'm lazy!

B

 

[Kronin]

Sanitized, not sterile. Huge difference.

what is the difference, exactly?

I know they are different, but I am not sure how or why.......

 

[llazy_llama]

Sterile means that no bacteria exists whatsoever. In your kitchen/garage/basement, you're never going to get an object sterile, at least not for longer than a few seconds.

Sanitized means that the vast majority of bacteria has been killed off. For our purposes, we're probably talking about 95-99% of ambient bacteria.

 

[PavlovsCat]

I posted this in another section as a reply, but I'll mention it here. I purchased a small garden sprayer from HD in which I store my StarSan, after seeing a video on YouTube. I just stick the flexible wand into my carboy and spray, swish once or twice and pour out. Smaller items like the airlock I put in a small bowl and spray and let soak. The racking cane or autosiphon can be sprayed directly inside and out, and the tubing the same way. You only have to get a thin layer on. And it's very portable, no lugging around a big bucket. After the transfer, I'll use it to blast off the potentially stubborn krausen residue before I soak in PBW. The sprayer stores what's left of the starsan.I just de-pressure the sprayer after use. All in all, I use less than a quart for the whole process. Just make sure you mark it "sanitizer only", so no one fills it with weed killer!

 

[rockymtnbrewer]

I used it for the first time and had the same question