Starsan

[far9410]

Hi all, just received my first bottle of this, can't find anywhere selling spray bottles at the moment, will probably have to wait till the gardening stuff is in stock. Anyway am I right in thinking that it needs to be diluted at 500 to 1 ?

[Belter]

It should say on the back? Remember they're talking about American Gallons though. So convert 5 US gallons to Litres. Then work it out from there.

[oz11]

In the region of 1.6ml / L IIRC.

[gnutz2]

I prefer to use a hand operated spray bottles, like the ones used for cleaning fluids.

1.6 ml per litre is correct.

[far9410]

Thanks guys

[barneey]

Dont forget to write the figure on your bottle of starsan in permanent marker your be glad you did.

[sweatysock]

Toolstation have them if you have one close by. I have one of the pump ones. Hopefully it will do bottles well. i have gone off sanitising bottles due to the palava of rinsing. Hopefully a quick go in the dishwasher then a blast of star san and they will be ready to bottle.

[LeeH]

I used a old de icer bottle.

[far9410]

I got a 750 ml bottle, added 1.2ml to this filled with ashbeck water, it seems a very small amount and doesn't foam up much like others have stated, is this the correct dilution?

[jmc]

I got a 750 ml bottle, added 1.2ml to this filled with ashbeck water, it seems a very small amount and doesn't foam up much like others have stated, is this the correct dilution?

Sounds right to me.
1.2 *1000/750 = 1.6

Give it a good shake to mix it and I bet you fill headspace with foam.

** edit typo **

[far9410]

I got a 750 ml bottle, added 1.2ml to this filled with ashbeck water, it seems a very small amount and doesn't foam up much like others have stated, is this the correct dilution?

Sounds right to me.
1.2 *1000/750 = 1.6

Give it a good shake to mix it and I bet you fill headspace with foam.

** edit typo **

Ok thanks, just needed reassuring I guess, as I've not used it before

[Jules T]

I'm thinking of switching over to starsan (i currently use VWP which takes an age to soak to get the correct contact time and then rinse for 40-45 bottles).

I tend to put most of my brews in kegs so don't bottle that often, so the bottles i do have can sit empty for 6-9 months at a go. If i was to clean then spray with starsan put on a cap and store how long would the bottle stay sterile for?

What's your experience?

[Jules T]

Apologies for double post but i've just been doing a bit of research with my water supplier.

Apparently the hardness of my water is 51mg/l CaCO₃which is at the very bottom of the moderately soft range (soft being less than 50mg/l CaCO₃) therefore i would have thought the ph would be reasonably low. However, in some of the chemical analysis table it talks about a ph value of 7.5-7.9.

Does anyone know more about this than me? (not very difficult)

[orlando]

Hi all, just received my first bottle of this, can't find anywhere selling spray bottles at the moment, will probably have to wait till the gardening stuff is in stock. Anyway am I right in thinking that it needs to be diluted at 500 to 1 ?

jmc has made two spreadsheets one for Starsan dilution and one for PBW that deals with all the issues surrounding imperial vs US, go here.

[orlando]

I'm thinking of switching over to starsan (i currently use VWP which takes an age to soak to get the correct contact time and then rinse for 40-45 bottles).

I tend to put most of my brews in kegs so don't bottle that often, so the bottles i do have can sit empty for 6-9 months at a go. If i was to clean then spray with starsan put on a cap and store how long would the bottle stay sterile for?

What's your experience?

Since I started doing this I have not cleaned my bottles so it must be coming up to a year and so far not a problem. I'm curious as to how long I can go doing it this way so will persevere until an infection spoils my day. What I have done is to slightly up my chances by using a bottle brush (stored in starsan) which I use each time I rinse a bottle before spraying with starsan and capping. It only takes a few seconds to do this compared to the whole rigmarole of a proper clean, sanitise and fill.