Oversanitizing?

[SmittyisLEGEND]

Is it possible or you to over sanitize equipment and lead to an off taste in your batch of beer?

 

[BlackGoat]

what sanitizer are you using? The short answer is yes you can leave too much on but it largely depends on what you're using. If iodine-based you can certainly have an off-flavor. Star-san is probably much less prone to it and I'd have to imagine you'd need to be pretty negligent with Star-san to have that much get into your beer. Even a very small amount of bleach remaining on your equipment can cause off-flavors.

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

I'm a brewing hypochondriac, but I use starsan mixed at manufacturers recommendations, therefore just redundant. IMO, there's no such thing as too clean when it comes to brewing.

eff bleach or that pink chlorine based stuff unless you've got some reeeeeal nasty equipment.

 

[bacchusmj]

I've never had any issues with star San and I leave probably 2 cups of foam in the carboy.

 

[cluckk]

Keep in mind that a couple cups of starsan foam is probably far less than a milliliter of actual liquid.

I've racked into a carbon full to the top with starsan foam and it was no problem. The foam just gets pushed out the top.

 

[duboman]

Star San breaks down into yeast food. As long as you are at or below the recommended dilution you're good.

 

[amandabab]

you can use too high of a concentration but you cant over sanitize


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/stupid-starsan-tricks-why-you-shouldnt-fear-foam-127044/

 

[kontrol]

Star San breaks down into yeast food. As long as you are at or below the recommended dilution you're good.

I've read that one quite a few times already, but is it just the "common knowledge" or are there any real studies on the subject?

 

[BridgewaterBrewer]

The inventor of Starsan has made that claim. I believe the interview is posted in basic brewing radio archives. It contains a lot of phosphorous and yeast do like phosphates so its very plausible.

 

[duboman]

The inventor of Starsan has made that claim. I believe the interview is posted in basic brewing radio archives. It contains a lot of phosphorous and yeast do like phosphates so its very plausible.

This is my understanding as well

 

[tampa911]

I read one post on this forum where the poster accidentily poured his entire brew over an ounce of starsan (enough to make a 5 gallon batch) and it turned out fine. He poured an ounce into his primary fermenter and was going to add 5 gallons of water, forgot it was there and poured his wort into the bucket when the brew was done.

 

[kontrol]

The inventor of Starsan has made that claim. I believe the interview is posted in basic brewing radio archives. It contains a lot of phosphorous and yeast do like phosphates so its very plausible.

Better that than nothing Was curious to know if it was just urban stories or no. I don't mind the foam myself.

 

[SmittyisLEGEND]

Well I had two batches turn out bad and it some what tasted like chemicals. I used iodine the first time and I kind of just winged it with the amounts . And when it was time to bottle it had a funny smell to it and didn't taste great. And te second batch had that same funny taste, but I switched to star San... Not sure if I didn't clean it out well enough because I didn't use pbw or anything like that to help clean it prior star San..

 

[SmittyisLEGEND]

*switched to star San forte 2nd batch

 

[BridgewaterBrewer]

You have to get the amounts just right. Basicbrewingradio interviewed the experts of Starsan and iodophor and they gave exact amounts and explained the science. Inventor of Starsan also talked a lot about bleach and how to use it.

 

[bleme]

Well I had two batches turn out bad and it some what tasted like chemicals. I used iodine the first time and I kind of just winged it with the amounts . And when it was time to bottle it had a funny smell to it and didn't taste great. And te second batch had that same funny taste, but I switched to star San... Not sure if I didn't clean it out well enough because I didn't use pbw or anything like that to help clean it prior star San..

A chemical flavor often comes from chlorine in your water too. What kind of water are you using?

 

[SmittyisLEGEND]

Using city water which water reports show chlorine, sulfur and lead... Damn:/

 

[Slainte-brew]

I dont think it is the lead, sulphur would have to be high, and most probable is the chlorine. Either let it sit out before and the chlorine will evaporate, or boil it or use campden tablets.

 

[SmittyisLEGEND]

Okay thank you, if I was to use bottles water would you recommend spring or distilled? I've heard of people using both...

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

Okay thank you, if I was to use bottles water would you recommend spring or distilled? I've heard of people using both...

If you mean your brewing water, use spring water. If you use distilled, you'll have to start using salt additions, and that's a pandora's box if there ever was one. If you're talking about the water used to mix starsan, anything will work. Try and find some ph strips to test your starsan solution since it's the ph swing from PBW(Basic)>Water>Starsan(Acidic) that does the killing.

 

[bleme]

Okay thank you, if I was to use bottles water would you recommend spring or distilled? I've heard of people using both...

If you are using mostly extracts, distilled or RO is preferred as your extract already has the minerals needed for good beer. I also use RO for my Star San. It's only a Quarter per gallon and makes my Star San last months instead of days.

If you are All Grain, then spring water is better.

 

[BridgewaterBrewer]

Ditto

 

[tampa911]

ok time for the dumb question. What is RO?

 

[SmittyisLEGEND]

Reverse osmosis!

Haha all the brew short term is hard to get down!

 

[bleme]

ok time for the dumb question. What is RO?

Around here, nearly every supermarket has a machine outside where you put in your 5 gallon water jug and $1.25 and it fills it with RO water. The water typically runs through at least a couple filters, then a RO membrane, then a UV light to kill anything that might have made it that far.