Star San top-off snafu

[rode_orm]

While topping of some water in my boil last night, I reached for the wrong gallon jug of liquid. Instead of pouring in about 12oz of fresh spring water, I poured in 12oz of diluted Star San mixture. A careless mistake which was no doubt aided by the quantity of homebrew I was enjoying while making more homebrew!

So the question is, is this batch ruined, or worth keeping? Are there health concerns for such a quantity of Star San?

The batch size is 5 gallons.

 

[Heavywalker]

I'm thinking it will be fine, Sanstar in an effective sanitizer because it lowers the PH so that nothing can live in that environment, It does not work like bleach or other sanitizers that need to be rinsed. what you really did, assuming the proper solution, is dump .01875 oz of sanstar into a five gallon batc or .0029% of your entire batch.

 

[brewkinger]

I'm thinking it will be fine, Sanstar in an effective sanitizer because it lowers the PH so that nothing can live in that environment, It does not work like bleach or other sanitizers that need to be rinsed. what you really did, assuming the proper solution, is dump .01875 oz of sanstar into a five gallon batc or .0029% of your entire batch.

There is nothing like mathematics to really drive a point home!
I think you will be fine. Who knows? Maybe you stumbled onto the missing link of home brewing and it will end up being one of the BEST beers ever.
If so, please post the recipe as I am sure that there is someone else that would enjoy a new style of beer. What BJCP classification would we need to invent? CIPA (Chemical IPA)

:cross:

 

[marvinsjunk]

I was listening to an old Basic Brewing podcast where he interviewed the owner/developer of Star San, and a guy wrote in with a story where he forgot to drain the Star San out of his conical fermenter before transferring the chilled wort. From what I remember, the guy said that it probably wouldn't taste very good if he had kept the batch but that it would likely be harmless and still ferment just fine. He also said you could drink the stuff straight, and has even demonstrated this fact. I believe that once the pH gets above a certain amount (3?), Star San breaks "turns off" and breaks down into some benign components, one of which is purported to be yeast food. Hence the phrase "don't fear the foam".

If it were me, I wouldn't worry about 12oz. Definitely keep it, and use the snafu to come up with a snazzy name.

 

[b-boy]

Well - you won't have to worry about an infection.

 

[BigFloyd]

No worries. Run with it. You're good to go.:rockin:

 

[woozy]

Well - you won't have to worry about an infection.

I realize you are making a joke but ... yes, s/he will.

12 oz. That's a *lot* but it is no rinse and it's conceivable to leave that much in puddles and crevices of a fermenter and it is biodegradible so I'm sure you are fine. The key active ingredient (other than phosphoric acid) is Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid which seems pretty harmless.

 

[b-boy]

I realize you are making a joke but ... yes, s/he will.

12 oz. That's a *lot* but it is no rinse and it's conceivable to leave that much in puddles and crevices of a fermenter and it is biodegradible so I'm sure you are fine. The key active ingredient (other than phosphoric acid) is Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid which seems pretty harmless.

I think you're fine. I leave a lot in my fermenters. It doesn't seem to hurt anything.

 

[woozy]

I meant, once it breaks down the wort is no more sanitized than normal wort. Actually, come to think of it, if it doesn't kill the yeast than it's almost certainly broken down enough for human consumption.

 

[rode_orm]

Okay great this is a relief. Thanks all...