Where to buy Star San

[clib]

@clib - ok sorry just venting some frustration, I'll accept unfairly. As I have a science & engineering background I put little weight on personal views unless well supported by evidence which I can assess & evaluate for myself. As you correctly point out one needs a pretty powerful mental junk filter when using the internet. However if used in the way intended and against the normal level of contamination left by good cleaning practices I can find no support for the assertion that no rinse sanitisers such as ChemSan or StarSan do not kill wild yeasts. It is as far as I can assertain an incorrect and what's worse a misleading statementf.

That's fine, thanks for the apology, and for your helpful comments. I fully understand that one person's testimony is not of much value 8n terms of proving anything. I am sure I fell foul of some well intentioned misinformation but, for me, the bleach and vinegar approach has just been a godsend, after a period of wondering why I was getting infections and being extremely rigorous, but relying on Starsan after the cleaning process and immediately prior to using equipment. It just didn't work for me, that's what I know.

So my experience provided me with a very clear sense of what works and what doesn't, but it doesn't prove that Starsan doesn't work. My experience was just backed up by things I read at the time, including scientific explanations. I still believe that bleach and vinegar is better, because of my own experience. Better for me, at least. Maybe I was doing something wrong.

 

[Hanglow]

I used bleach and vinegar for a few times ages ago when starting out, but the main problem I found was that it was all most impossible to find thin unscented bleach with a known concentration. Also when I switched to star san I found it easier and quicker to use. Its also pretty cheap given the amount of sanitiser that you can make with a small bottle, the ability to reuse it is very handy, the foaming is very usefull too and best of all you dont have to worry at all about ruining your beer inadvertantly like you can with bleach. Its a no brainer really, imo.

 

[clib]

I used bleach and vinegar for a few times ages ago when starting out, but the main problem I found was that it was all most impossible to find thin unscented bleach with a known concentration. Also when I switched to star san I found it easier and quicker to use. Its also pretty cheap given the amount of sanitiser that you can make with a small bottle, the ability to reuse it is very handy, the foaming is very usefull too and best of all you dont have to worry at all about ruining your beer inadvertantly like you can with bleach. Its a no brainer really, imo.

It just didn't work for me. Dunno why, now, just didn't!!! Duff batch?

https://groceries.asda.com/product/bleach-disinfectants/asda-smart-price-thin-bleach/1104797
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-...reservedReferrer=[URL]https://www.google.com/[/URL]

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

The worst thing about Starsan? So much contradictory information amd so little from Five Star about use as a no-rinse sanitiser.

I emailed Five Star with a few questions about this a few weeks ago and haven't received a reply. Does anyone know if Charlie Talley still associated with the company? From the interviews I've heard with him, he gave the impression that he saw and replied to questions.

 

[HSD]

Is the foaming action important? I’ve been using Sodium Percarbonate based no rinse and had one duff batch in about 30 so far which I think was down to a wild yeast

 

[Hanglow]

It helps use much less because you can just add a cupfull to your fermentor, shake it up and leave it, then just drain it/reuse when you are ready to use your fermentor.

I use about 2.5L of made up solution per brew and bottling and I think I use excessive amounts, I don't really reuse it. So it works out about 14p per brew on sanitiser for me, looking at the current price of star san.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/260550096?

The problem was a lot of the own brand ones didn't give the actual sodium hypochlorite amounts, just the " Less than 5% Chlorine based bleaching agent " which wasn't particularly helpful as they could range between 5% and less than 1%. At least that link gives it

 

[Bill_g]

The worst thing about Starsan? So much contradictory information amd so little from Five Star about use as a no-rinse sanitiser.

I emailed Five Star with a few questions about this a few weeks ago and haven't received a reply. Does anyone know if Charlie Talley still associated with the company? From the interviews I've heard with him, he gave the impression that he saw and replied to questions.

Not sure about this but I suspect Charlie Talley has moved on job wise. There's a Charlie Talley on Linked In who is listed as Chief Chemist at ideal Energy Solutions. His profile fits. Most of the StarSan interviews were around a dozen years ago perhaps at a time 5 Star were promoting StarSan in the growing home brew market in the US. They are the best info I've found on StarSan.
I have moved over to using ChemSan which is a UK product. ChemSan has a slightly different formulation but uses the same sanitisation mechanism. I found that the manufacturer is very responsive to emails sent to '[email protected]'. I ran into some pH issues which simply turned out to be the product needing a good stir on first mixing (I was injecting 10ml into a 5l container of water & shaking which was not as effective as stirring. The pH measured immediately after a shake was up around 6 i.e the ChemSan wasn't fully dispersed). Anyhow Chemisphere were keen to help & were very understanding of my dummy mistake. Perhaps you could pose Chemisphere your questions in relation to ChemSan, there should be a direct read across to Star San as the products have identical action.
I'd agree there's a plethera of duff information out there regarding the use of StarSan and probably all sanitisation products. Like all internet information, one has to develop a 'nose' for good info. I try to corroborate info on all things from a number of sources and ideally look for independence between prime source and/or results. IMHO never, ever trust a single personal opinion unless the person has verified credentials and they are prepared to back up their opinion with solid references etc.