How food-grade is Star San?
Will Trice
instructions, not straight from the bottle) has made its way into a
carboy of schwarzbier that I was repitching due to a stuck fermentation.
Without going into the embarrassing details of just how said Star San
arrived in the carboy, I'd like to ask what your thoughts are as to the
effect the sanitizer will have on the finished beer?
-Will
will dot trice at comcast dot net
Bart Goddard
september.org:
I have nightmares like this. Somehow I'm brewing, and then
the dream sequence changes my pot into the washing machine
and somehow there is detergent and clothes in my brew.
Eventually the sewer backs up into the tub and I'm wondering
how I can salvage this.... I much prefer rabid robot zombies.
I don't know about Star San, but my guess is you have a
poison batch. Bottle it and give it to the in-laws for
Xmas.
Now I'm afraid to go to sleep.
--
Cheerfully resisting change since 1959.
Scott
Oooh...this is a tough one to call. On one hand, all places that sell
the stuff say it is a "no rinse" sanitizer when used at the proper
dilution rate, so it seems like it may be safe. On the other hand, I
see (from a picture of the front of the bottle on the Internet) that
they have instructions on what to do if swallowed (call poison control
center), but I assume that's if swallowed from the bottle at full
strength. The manufacturer has a toll free number (800-782-7019) so I
would give them a call and explain what happened and see what they
think. Assuming it went into 5 gallons of beer, and since beer is
mostly water, it should be diluted even further....
Ace
Will Trice
> I have nightmares like this. Somehow I'm brewing, and then
> the dream sequence changes my pot into the washing machine
> and somehow there is detergent and clothes in my brew.
> Eventually the sewer backs up into the tub and I'm wondering
> how I can salvage this.... I much prefer rabid robot zombies.
Funny you should say this, I was dreaming last night that I was trying
to make a batch using popcorn as an adjunct. But I kept overflowing my
tun with grain and couldn't get the grain and the popcorn in at the same
time... The grain is falling out all over the bed... And SWMBO could
see this at any moment... ooooo, scary....
Steve Bonine
> The manufacturer has a toll free number (800-782-7019) so I
> would give them a call and explain what happened and see what they
> think.
I'm afraid that what you're likely to hear is "throw it out" because the
manufacturer is going to cover their ass. If they told you it was fine,
and you got sick, they might have some liability. Maybe the questions
to ask are more along the lines of whether it breaks down with time.
> Assuming it went into 5 gallons of beer, and since beer is mostly
> water, it should be diluted even further....
My vote would be that it's likely OK, but I'm not sure I would be
willing to stake my life on it.
mdave...@iname.com
As it's a sanitizer, I suspect that it's gonna kill anything that will
grow in beer...therefore, since you racked it because of a stuck
fermentation, I suspect that it's STILL gonna be stuck, because the
yeasties will be dead.
As for safe to drink or not....I"m guessing that even if it was safe,
it'd taste like crap....and if you wanna drink beer that tastes like
crap, just buy a bud light.
Mike
Will Trice
> As it's a sanitizer, I suspect that it's gonna kill anything that will
> grow in beer...therefore, since you racked it because of a stuck
> fermentation, I suspect that it's STILL gonna be stuck, because the
> yeasties will be dead.
It may have killed off the original lazy-butt, slacker yeast that can't
finish a job. But I pitched with a fresh quart of starter after the
incident, i.e. after the sanitizer was diluted with 4+ gallons of
half-fermented wort/beer (perhaps in that state it is bert? weer?) and
the fermentation took off immediately. I haven't checked the gravity
yet to see if it is where I want it, probably give it a couple more
weeks to age anyway.
> As for safe to drink or not....I"m guessing that even if it was safe,
> it'd taste like crap....and if you wanna drink beer that tastes like
> crap, just buy a bud light.
This is my main concern. The active ingredient in Star San is
phosphoric acid which is used by the metric ton in soda, but what about
the foaming agent and all the other various and sundry ingredients in
Star San? I'm gonna try calling Five Star, but I agree with Steve
Bonine that they'll probably just take the most conservative position,
rather than the most accurate. Hell, they may not actually know since
they didn't design the stuff to be used this way.
Steve Bonine
> the fermentation took off immediately.
I actually take this as a good sign. If the chemical properties of the
sanitizer aren't sufficient to kill yeast, I'd feel pretty comfortable
drinking the beer.
It may not even make that much difference in the taste.
Report back, please. If we don't hear from you, we'll worry <grin>
johngoe...@gmail.com
I remember an episode of the Sunday Session from the Brewing Network
where they had the owner of 5-star on. He insisted that if you could
stomach it (as in the taste when its in your beer, I dont think he was
recommending drinking the working mix of star-san). They did a test
with either a 5 gallon batch or a pint and added ounces of star-san to
the beer until they could taste it, IIRC the number of ounces of
sanitizer was quite high before they could taste it. I would let
everything settle out and see if you can taste the star-san. If it
tastes fine I doubt there is enough of anything in the beer to hurt
you. If it tastes like star-san I'd dump it.
Steve Bonine
> If it tastes like star-san I'd dump it.
What does Star San taste like? I've never tried it.
Scott
You beat me to it ;)
Bart Goddard
> johngoe...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> If it tastes like star-san I'd dump it.
>
> What does Star San taste like? I've never tried it.
>
A lot like Tecate.
jkrehbielp
> Steve Bonine <s...@pobox.com> wrote innews:8npuek...@mid.individual.net:
>
> > johngoetzin...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> >> If it tastes like star-san I'd dump it.
>
> > What does Star San taste like? I've never tried it.
>
> A lot like Tecate.
>
> --
> Cheerfully resisting change since 1959.
I get it in my mouth all the time when I suck on the hose to start a
siphon. It tastes kind of sour, no big deal.
I'm almost certain that the scary warnings on the bottle apply to the
concentrate, not the diluted working-strength stuff.
I'd say if it wasn't strong enough to kill the yeast, it's not going
to hurt you.
barn...@ureach.com
> I'd say if it wasn't strong enough to kill the yeast, it's not going
> to hurt you.
Baker's yeast is known to thrive in solutions with high concentrations
of Pb (lead). So, I wouldn't use that rule of thumb
Roger
Steve Bonine
But the active ingredient in Star San is intended to kill things like
yeast. If the amount in the solution is insufficient to accomplish its
intended task, then it's probably sufficiently dilute to not be
dangerous to humans.
Strange Brewer
Sorry Bud; It's hosed. A few drops wouldn't have hurt it but a pint? Slug food.
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Will Trice
> On Dec 25, 6:18 am, Steve Bonine<s...@pobox.com> wrote:
>> Report back, please. If we don't hear from you, we'll worry<grin>
>
> I remember an episode of the Sunday Session from the Brewing Network
> where they had the owner of 5-star on.
Thanks for the tip, I listened to the show and one of the hosts
apparently had the same problem in the past (apparently the host got A
LOT of Star San in there - they were joking that the wort was 50% Star
San). The owner of 5-star told him he should have just fermented the
beer, the Star San just acts as yeast nutrient at that point. So I got
this puppy carbonated on tap yesterday. It still didn't ferment down to
where I wanted it so it has a lot of residual sweetness, but so far I
haven't suffered any ill eff
Scott
It still didn't ferment down to
> where I wanted it so it has a lot of residual sweetness, but so far I
> haven't suffered any ill eff
Uh oh...did you die in mid-sentence?
Doug Freyburger
And just happened to fall on the send key. I loved the humor of it.
Steve Bonine
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Miles Bader
>>> It still didn't ferment down to
>>> where I wanted it so it has a lot of residual sweetness, but so far I
>>> haven't suffered any ill eff
>>
>> Uh oh...did you die in mid-sentence?
>
> And just happened to fall on the send key. I loved the humor of it.
Perhaps he was dictating.
-miles
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