Please tell me...

[BruinTuns]

Some useful tips being suggested but so far my favourite is rinse the empties thoroughly as soon as you've drunk the contents. Drain, and then rinse out with StarSan on bottling day.
MyQul, I meant to ask, is that 1cm of diluted StarSan or is it used neat that way?

 

[Wolfracer]

Does starsan sanitise instantly then? Milton should be left in for a good few minutes to do its work... but a quick shake of starsan and empty out sounds even easier.... if it sanitises instantly....

 

[MyQul]

BruinTuns- 1cm of Star san solution. (Diluted)

Wolf Racer- Your supposed to have the star san in contact with whatever you want to sterilize for two mins minimum to sterilize properly but I've never had any problems with about 30 second minimum shaking.But as stated I then put them on a bottle tree and starsan foams up when you shake it in the bottle like that, so the dregs take a bit of time to then drain out. So I guess those dregs are still sterilizing away as they slowly drain down the bottle

 

[honeymonster]

I'm gonna ask Santa for some Star San this Christmas.

Consider me converted!

 

[MyQul]

A big advantage of star san is it's longevity. I've been using a bottle of star san concentrate for about 9 months now and it's only about 1/3 used. The fact that you can use the solution multiple times accounts for it's longevity - One 8oz bottle should last you at least 2 years.

On the 'cons' side your supposed to use it within certain PH range. Something I've completely ignored (I don't even know what the range is) and never had any problems. May be London water stays within that range or something?

 

[BruinTuns]

Another thread about this here: http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=39000
And googling 'Homemade Star San' also throws up sme interesting hits. But I've not found anything that really looks like a worthwhile DIY substitute.

However, this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IAXGKV2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Looks interesting but the instructions say to dilute 25g in 5l water then tip it away after use. So if it 'isn't' re-useable (could it be they just want you to buy more? :hmm:)
then it looks to work out dearer than StarSan
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog
/Five_Star_Star_San_16oz_454g.html#.VHHDoWfX_Fw
which is - apparently - diluted at 7.5ml per 5l water. So although £15 for Star San seems a lot compared to 22p(!) for 2l of Everyday Value thin bleach, at that dilution 473ml of it could last years.

Not being a tightwad or anything :whistle: but I wonder how many times the same dilute solution can be re-used, and how long does it remain effective once diluted?

 

[BruinTuns]

MyQul, Oops, crossed posts.
Do you save the diluted solution for next time?

 

[MyQul]

MyQul, Oops, crossed posts.
Do you save the diluted solution for next time?

Yup, I always keep about 2L in 500ml coopers pet bottles. I generally use the same solution 3-5 times. I would use it more times but due to 'attrition' 3-5 times is what I nrmally get out of it.

What I mean by attrition is things like when sterilizing bottles there's a bit left in the bottles that gets wasted when draining on the bottle tree or when syphoning you have to have some star san in the syphon to get it going that then gets wasted etc, etc

Seems to remain as effective no matter how many times you use it

 

[BruinTuns]

Thanks MyQul. Ok I'm convinced, it's on the list.
Btw, going completely OT for a moment, what type of capper do you use? I'm hearing strong arguments for the bench type but I'm struggling to justify the cost...

 

[Cwrw666]

Eventually you'll get so bored with cleaning bottles that you'll invest in a couple of pressure barrels and discover the wonderful world of dripping taps and pressure leaking from the crappy seals on the cap.

 

[honeymonster]

Eventually you'll get so bored with cleaning bottles that you'll invest in a couple of pressure barrels and discover the wonderful world of dripping taps and pressure leaking from the crappy seals on the cap.

I'm actually getting the Party Star Deluxe tap and some mini kegs for Christmas!:)

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Oh good God no...rinse out with tap water and line up 40 bottles. Boil a kettle on fill each bottle 1/8 full of boiling water. Leave for 10 mins...empty prime with sugar and your ready to bottle. Out of the 110+ brews ive done ive probably bottled 1/4. That's over 1000 bottles and I can count on one hnd how many Ive lost and these were probably because the caps weren't fitted correctly. As long as each bottle is above 63 oC for two mins they ill be sterile enough for use

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Sterile is not the correct word...sanitized is

 

[MyQul]

Btw, going completely OT for a moment, what type of capper do you use? I'm hearing strong arguments for the bench type but I'm struggling to justify the cost...

I don't use a capper. Being a tight git, like yourself ;-) I use coopers plastic screw top pet bottles so i can reuse the tops as well as the bottles.

 

[BruinTuns]

Being a tight git, like yourself ;-) .. .

Well of all the..
Er, no, that's pretty accurate actually. My screw tops are Tesco everday value mineral water @ 17p each

 

[BruinTuns]

Eventually you'll get so bored with cleaning bottles that you'll invest in a couple of pressure barrels and discover the wonderful world of dripping taps and pressure leaking from the crappy seals on the cap.

I'm getting to the age where that can pass for an evening's entertainment...:-(

 

[PhilByford]

Yep there is....

I also use star san!

It's a no rinse 3 minute sanitiser where only the foam need touch the surface.

I generally sanitise whilst bottling. I use 2 large flexible plastic laundry tubs. I first clean my bottles with oxyclean in the tubs. I then fill 1 tub with 5 litres of warm water, add 10ml of star san. Fill 10 bottles with a few cm of sanitiser, shake then stand upright. Meanwhile sanitise syphon equipment, caps and pour some santiser into clean spray bottle and spray inside other flexi tub (remember surface only needs to be wetted to work). Drain bottles back into solution then stand upright into empty santised tub. Now fill the next 10 bottles to santise. You can now rack your beer into bottles without worrys of spilling. I tend to fill and then place cap on bottle straight away (don't seal yet, I'm just letting the neck fill with CO2 to lessen oxidisation risk). Once all 10 are filled you can secure cap and set aside. Continue with the next 10 bottles using same steps. Finally when all bottles are filled and capped, I spray the outside of them with sanitiser just to be sure. All done!

 

[pms67]

Ok
I drink my homebrew,rinse with a little fairy liquid (or other comparable brand).
Rinse with cold water,leave upside down till I've drunk my next brew and then stick it in my hut,never bought sanitiser in the year and a bit I've been brewing and never had a problem,maybe I'm doing it wrong but it works for me ????
Seems to me people can can a bit obsessed about infection,it's unlikely to happen unless you are very sloppy.
All abuse welcome :whistle:

 

[Featherhat]

Ok
I drink my homebrew,rinse with a little fairy liquid (or other comparable brand).
Rinse with cold water,leave upside down till I've drunk my next brew and then stick it in my hut,never bought sanitiser in the year and a bit I've been brewing and never had a problem,maybe I'm doing it wrong but it works for me ????
Seems to me people can can a bit obsessed about infection,it's unlikely to happen unless you are very sloppy.
All abuse welcome :whistle:

OK. Although I'm not quite so reckless, I do use sanitiser, I fully agree that it's possible to worry too much. Often, if I just need one bit of kit; hydrometer for example, I'll just boil a kettle and give it a quick swill over. I'm also not too paranoid about lifting the lid on my fv to see whats brewin' and I've yet to suffer from an infection. Beer and wine have been brewed for centuries in considerably less sanitary conditions than we're used to. Keep calm and carry on.

 

[MyQul]

Ok
I drink my homebrew,rinse with a little fairy liquid (or other comparable brand).
Rinse with cold water,leave upside down till I've drunk my next brew and then stick it in my hut,never bought sanitiser in the year and a bit I've been brewing and never had a problem,maybe I'm doing it wrong but it works for me ????
Seems to me people can can a bit obsessed about infection,it's unlikely to happen unless you are very sloppy.
All abuse welcome :whistle:

I'm of the opinion that sterilizing is just 'the icing on the cake' as it were and it just make 99% sure you've killed all the nasties. Cleaning properly will kill most bugs, after all brewing has been going on for thousand of years - pretty sure whoever discovered how to make beer didn't discover how to make star san at the same time.

I once saw a programme where they washed a guy's hands, one hand with normal detergent and one hand with anti-bacterial detergent then shined a UV light on them both. Both had significantly less germs glowing on them before washing but both hands had about the same level of germ glowy-ness.