Is it really OK to not rinse OneStep? The product states “No Rinse”, but I’m not sure I trust all my hard work to it. It makes the water solution very slimy feeling and dries leaving a white residue. It also has a chemical taste in solution but perhaps that goes away when it is dry. I currently am rinsing my bottles after OneStep and then I use the oven to do final sterilization. I would hate for the product to add a chemical taste or have an affect on the yeast that is bottle conditiong my beer. Any one know for sure it’s OK to not rinse?
Chemically, I can’t tell you.
Experience, it’s fine.
Of course I am wondering whether it will hurt the BEER, not me… ;D
Switch to Starsan and have nothing to worry about.
I never liked it because of the residue and found myself asking the same questions. Starsan is excellent and I use it almost exclusively. The exception is that when I bottle I use Iodophor.
I’ve been using it for years - it’s what Mr.Beer teaches you to use.
I have for the past year or so been additionally using iodophor or starsan, mostly out of paranoia.
Found this out there.
"One-step: One-step releases oxygen into solution in a way that
forms hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria and other
infectious organisms. Hydrogen peroxide then degrades into water
and oxygen and the only residue is a thin film of minerals that are
naturally found in most water supplies. One-step is not labeled
as a sanitizer because the producer has not chosen to apply with
the FDA for that designation. One step is mixed at one tbsp. per
gallon of warm water. One-step should not be used with hard water
One-Step is the only product I have ever used to sanitize (without rinsing). I’ve brewed 90+ batches since 2005 without any sanitation issues (knock on wood). The key is not using too much. The residue is the result of oversaturating the sanitizing water.
I use one-step. Drain/shake out any excess. No problems.
+1
I used it for years with no issues. I haven’t bottled in a few years (use kegs for everything lately) but would use it again if I started bottling.
Paul
I have used onestep and starsan and like them both.
My thought is that if you are using heat as a final sanitizer, and are rinsing the one-step… you may consider using a “better” clenser that needs to be rinsed to get the full benefit of the cleaning step. However, if you are considering moveing away from the heat step, then keep useing either One Step or Star San (and don’t rinse after) and you will be fine.
Good luck!
This jogged some memories. Scroll down to the post by Rick Theiner.
http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/5471.html#5471-4
I’ve used one step and it worked fine. I’ve use other no rinse sanitizers. One step ends up costing much more.
I make five gallons of starsan with RO and it will last for months. I prefer iodophor over starsan for bottling due to the foam. I use it only for a few hours. It’s still more cost effective than one step.
The only reason I tried one step was to see how effective it was as a cleaner. Generic oxi-clean with a little TSP substitute works better and are very inexpensive.
So is it okay not to rinse out the bubbles left by starsan from bottles? And i might have to try this iodophor next time.
Oh, and what is a TSP substitute?
Yes, leaving the starsan bubbles in the bottles is fine. There is some question I guess whether those bubbles contain enough oxygen to be detrimental to the beer (Kaiser). But that’s what I usually do.
I did try baking some bottles though recently for this reason. I haven’t used them yet but it was pretty painless and I may do that again in the future.
The foam just makes it more difficult to see when the bottles are full.
TSP is trisodium phosphate and once was used in dish soap and laundry detergent. The phosphates over fertilized lakes and streams. The substitute is sodium metasilicate. It is defiantly is not a no rinse cleaner, but it is very effective. It’s widely used to prep for painting.
Baked bottles a couple times. Both times at least two bottles broke in the oven. Maybe I was putting too many in there (filled it up). The loss of bottles is no biggie, but I hate cleaning up broken glass. The good thing is that it absolutely works to sterilize the bottles.
You put them in a cold oven and then heat them up, right? Cheap bottles . . . :
Yup and warmed up slow too.
You’re right. Cheap bottles.
I put two cases in the oven after it had been pre-heated to 250 and let them go about 45 minutes. I didn’t have any casualties.

Yes, leaving the starsan bubbles in the bottles is fine. There is some question I guess whether those bubbles contain enough oxygen to be detrimental to the beer (Kaiser). But that’s what I usually do.
I did try baking some bottles though recently for this reason. I haven’t used them yet but it was pretty painless and I may do that again in the future.
Sweet thanks. That will save me tons and tons of time.
My dishwasher has a “sani-rinse” setting that heats the water to near boiling. I have started putting the bottles in there with no soap and letting it run. Seems to work okay.