Sanitation

Brewing Processes
1

After I sanitize my bottles, they tend to have a slight film that tastes kind of salty.  Is this normal?  I use the one step sanitizer and bottle about an hour after cleaning them.

2

I’ve never tasted the film, but I know when I used one step it did leave a film.

3

Ditch the One Step and get some Star San.  You’ll find it more convenient and less expensive.  Don’t fear the foam!

4

+1 for Star San

5

+100 for Star San :slight_smile:

6

What about sanitizing the bag to dry hop in and sanitizing the wrap to put over the yeast when rehydrating?  Do you guys boil the bag or soak them?

7

I use heat for botles:

  • add a few drops of water. Moist heat sanitzes better than dry heat.
  • cap with aluminum foil.
  • put them in the oven
  • bake them at 250 F for 2 hrs. The timed bake feature helps a lot
  • let the oven cool w/o opening the door before removing them
  • fill with beer and keep the aluminum foil caps for future bottle sanitations.

It takes a bit more lead time than star san sanitiation but there is no rinsing or draining required. As for actual amount of work it might be the same amount.

Kai

8

I put dry hop bags in a cup or 2 of water in the microwave for a couple minutes.  I don’t sanitize either foil or plastic wrap if it’s right off the roll.

9

I find that Starsan doesn’t leave a film behind and is very practical.

…foam is good…never fear the foam.

10

except in bottling or kegging where it can trap air.

Kai

11

HA!

I should have figured that you would blow a hole in my happy theory Kai.  :smiley:

12

Exactly what I thought, too!  :smiley:

13

Sorry about that :slight_smile:

This concern about foam made me change the procedure for sanitizing a keg. I now rack StarSan into it instead of dumping it into the keg though a funnel.

Kai

14

Well, I guess this is your next experiment…figure out how much O2 a given volume of StarSan foam contains!  I’m sure you have nothing better to do!  :wink:

15

I’ve been using a spoon to scoop the Starsan foam off the top of the keg when I fill it.
Had a few people tell me it’s not necessary. Now I have an actual reason
for doing so.

16

I’m guessing that the effect of entrapped O2 in the foam is minmal.  FWIW, the foam stays on top of the beer and most of it is removed during the racking process and then you pressurize with the more dense CO2 and that forces the foam and air to the top of the keg.  You purge, and voila, no air or O2.  I wouldn’t and don’t worry about it.

17

And if you purge your keg with CO2 first and then dump in the Starsan, wouldn’t all your foam bubbles be filled with CO2 instead of O2 :slight_smile:

18

Exactly ;).

But its simple enough for me to avoid the foam and as a result I don’t have to worry about what impact the air trapped the foam might have. While it would be nice to know if there is a difference in avoiding the foam or tolerating the foam, such an experiment would have little value for me.

Kai

19

I haven’t noticed any off-flavors from the potential effects of O2 trapped in the foam. My beers are typically free of the common side affects of O2 contamination. So I wouldn’t concern myself with this alleged condition. YMMV.

I remove as much foam as I can by the effects of gravity only. Any remaining foam is happy…happy…joy…joy!  ;D

Cheers,

Ron