Starsan

[aldee]

Is Brewers Coop the place to buy starsan or have we found someone cheaper/ closer to Christchurch? cheers

[James P]

I have not found a place closer for starsan. Not even sure of the cost it of from BC as I use iodophor.

[Reviled]

$21.95 last time I was in, a damn good price seeing as it lasts for ages!!

[denimglen]

Just pay the money for the starsan. Honestly aye, it lasts for fucking ever. I bought mine when he first got it in, must be like 9 - 12 months ago now, then managed to spill about 1/3rd of it and I've still got heaps left. 1.6mL starsan to 1000mL of water so lasts for ages.

[jamis]

Yes but what can u sterilise with 1L ?

I bottle so I sterilise my bottles in the bath and to get enough water in there to fill the bottles up u need about 20-30 L.
Thats 32-48mL per brews worth of bottles.
Theres only 8oz(224ml) in a bottle
@$19.90 a bottle - not all that economical
I guess I could sterilise all my bottles in smaller batches in a smaller container like a bucket or laundry tub but it says on the starsan bottle to have a contact time of 3 mins- hence the bathtub, otherwise it would just take to long.
I have a feeling there is a better way!?

[Arron]

Hi Jamis.

I listened to a podcast over the weekend with the top dog from 5star chemicals.
He said the 3 minutes contact time is 3 minutes wet. That means surface does not have to be submerged for 3 minutes, can be submerged then time counts while item drying but still wet. (if that makes sense?)
So if you were to use smaller bucket only have to dunk each bottle then leave them to dry.

[jamis]

Cheers that sounds more like it

[Arron]

Yeah its going to save me a fair bit of time as well. Apparently its a common misconception the immersion thing.

[Pilgrim]

Contact time for StatSan is 30 seconds to 3 minutes, and like Arron said it only has to be wet, not immersed for that time. StarSan is magic, learn to love the foam.
BTW, keep a spray bottle full of the stuff and spray around everything, in particular the tap on your fermenter before you transfer your beer and around the disconnects on kegs.

[Nick T]

Hi Jamis, I bottle too. If you get one of those italian upside down squirty bottle washers you only need a few hundred millitires of sanatiser in it. Each bottle gets a few squirts to rinse out the inside then you leave them to drain upside down in your dishwasher tray. Or just pour it in, shake it about and pour it out. Starsan can then be kept and re-used a few times until it goes a bit manky. I keep a 10 or 20 litre bottle (can't remeber which) made up on hand, as well as a sprayer. Rinse out your fementer, carboy, siphon etc and then back into the 20l container to use again next time. Spray anything that worries you (rubber stoppers, your hands, lip of fermenter etc).

[jamis]

I have seen those italian bottle rinsers they look interesting. Does the water just get recirculated so u can just use a small amount?

Jeez that reusing the starsan solution over and over sounds abit dodgy mate dont know if I could do that...

[Nick T]

It gets recirculated. It 'whooshes' up into the bottle at quite high pressure, then falls out again into the rinser reservoir.
If you look on youtube there are a number of vids on bottle sanitising etc. They all say to re-use StarSan - probably no more than for a couple of brews or so, though....

[denimglen]

20 - 30 L is a waste of any sanitiser IMO, if you're going to do it that way I would use something cheap like bleach and keep the starsan or iodophor for everything else.

You can also reuse starsan until the pH rises, and when it does you can just top up with more starsan to get it to the right pH and it's good to go again.

I only use about a tablespoon per bottle, so could stretch 1000mL to about 60-odd bottles.