Star san, star san, star san . . . .you are my one and only friend! Ha! That's great. Seriously, though, Star san is my go-to sanitizer when it comes to sanitizing my homebrewing or wine making products and here are a few reasons why.
One of the greatest things about Star san is that it only requires a 30 second contact time in order to sanitize. The EPA requires a 3 minute contact time for any kind of sanitizer, so that's how many sanitizers are listed. However, Five Star has done their own testing and using the appropriate amount of star san per water, it yielded a 30 second contact time.
So what does that mean? Well, it means that you can actually put Star San in a spray bottle and spot sanitize equipment as you need to when you're homebrewing or making wine. I have a bottle on hand at all times. If I need to stir something up I spray the spoon down, wait 30 seconds and then stir it up. It's great for spot sanitizing wine thiefs, hydrometers, test jars . . .pretty much anything.
On top of having a 30 second contact time, the foam (and DON'T FEAR THE FOAM) will break down in wort and aid as a yeast nutrient. Can't beat that. One thing to mention, well, I already did, is that Star San foams a lot. I mean A LOT. Don't fear it. It's good for everything. The best part is that the foam acts as a barrier from other bacteria getting into carboys or buckets because when you rack over to a carboy the foam stays on top of the beer/wort/wine.
Another great thing about Star san is that when you're done using it as a sanitizer you can actually water your plants with it. It has a lot of phosphorous that's a great nutrient for plants.
On top of that, one sure sign to know that your star san has gone bad is that it will actually get cloudy. How's that for notification.
These are just a few reasons why I've switched to Star San. It's a great sanitizer and the only one I use now. A little goes a long way.
7 comments:
I've recently started using this too, and love the foam! I believe that as long as the PH stays below 3, you can use it (though maybe the cloudiness is a result of it going above 3 - I toss it when cloudy too). I've heard not to leave it in kegs for extended periods of time, since it's acid based it can pit the metal. Cheers!
Wow, great advice here. I knew that it only needed a 30 second contact time, but then I always let things air dry to get rid of the foam. No more waiting for me now!
Thanks for the info, I was fearing the foam. (Actually getting it to the point where there is no foam left is a giant pain. Glad that's not necessary.
My whole neighborhood brews, and we have all been using star san and rinsing the heck out of it. We may erect a statue of you in our intersection.
dennymack
I recently acquired star san and believe me it wasnt easy since its not being imported in Europe. I really like this product but i wonder if there is some documentation about the fact that the residues act as a yeast nutrient. Seems too good to be true...
Cheers
Rev,
Here's a great podcast from one of the founders from Star San. Check it out. He'll give you all the info you need on the product.
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Sunday-Session/The-Sunday-Session-03-19-06-Sanitation-w/-Charlie-Talley
That explains a lot! Thanks.
I also found this one.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-29-07.mp3
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