Is star-san on stainless bad?

Brewing Processes
1

I’m new to home brewing and I’m still bottling, but I plan on switching to kegging in the near future. I was at a local home brew store this weekend, and while talking with the guy who works there about kegging, he mentioned that once I start using stainless that I shouldn’t use star-san to sanitize because it’s an acid and it will eat the metal a little and give my beer a metallic tastes. While it makes sense, I am a little suspicious. I would think that for that to happen you would have to really leave it in  the keg for a long time and use a high concentration.

Is that really an issue, especially if you are keeping the star-san in the keg for only the 2 minutes it takes to sanitize?

Is there a better product that I should check out when I switch to kegging?

2

Sounds bogus to me. I’ve even used star san mixed to a higher concentration than normal to passivate my stainless stuff at times.

I think he was getting star san and bleach confused. Bleach should never be used on stainless steel, it’ll corrode the metal.

3

+1. It’s made for this. The guy was confused.

You can always call Five Star if you want to put your mind at ease. They’re great about answering questions.

FWIW - After PBW and rinsing I use StarSan on my kegs and then dump out all except a gallon. Then I push that out with CO2. Then I have a sanitized, pressurized keg that can sit for a while and will remain sanitary. It’s also a good opportunity to clean your keg lines and taps.

4

Breweries use acids on their SS equipment. No problems.

Star San on Aluminum is another story.

5

I often keep kegs filled with StarSan solution for weeks and maybe months without problems.  Concentrated acids are another story.

6

Yes, do not store undiluted star san in stainless. Not sure why anyone would, but don’t.