So I just upgraded my cleaning/sanitizing equipment". My question do I rinse bottles with tap water after using the star san?
no, do not rinse.
Do not rinse after star san, don’t fear the foam!
And as long as the surface is wet, the star san is still keeping the equipment sanitized.
PBW- yes, rinse thoroughly
Star-san- no, it’s tricky to let go of your fear of the foam but you must be strong.
Don’t Fear The Foam!!! ;D
I know not to fear the foam, but I always wonder. How much foam is OK? Is there a point where I should begin to fear it?
When I empty a carboy, I can wind up with LOTS of foam left inside.
I like to empty the carboy initially, then put the stopper in and leave it sit for another 10-15 minutes. Most of the foam will turn back into liquid and can then be dumped before filling.
Try this little experiment sometime. Put some StarSan in a bucket and whip it around such that you generate a cr@pton of foam. Then open the bucket reach in and pull out the biggest handfull you can and bring your hands together. Observe how quickly the foam dissipates to non-detectability. That’s what convinced me that as long as you don’t have standing fluid you’re good to go. During a transfer having some foam in a carboy for example is helpful to keep oxygen from entering the head space.
DFTF.
+1 if you are worried about it.
I like to add about 1 gallon of starsan into the carboy and then just lay the carboy on its side. I will turn the carboy every so often to make sure that the entire inside of the carboy gets contact time w/ the starsan. Then when I need to use the carboy, I turn the carboy upside down to empty the starsan. This way the carboy is sanitized and there’s very little foam. Before doing this, I would shake up the carboy causing a ton of foam.
Ok so don’t rinse the star san, and rinse the PBW
second question- with a bottle drain tree and bottle washing attachment do i first use the PBW, then run tap water, then run the star san?
It depends. If you are starting with clean bottles, just rinse with Star-San. If you still need to get the gunk out, then PBW, rinse and then run the Star-San through. I put my empties away clean so I don’t have to work so hard on bottling day. 
Paul
i believe most are empty of gunk, so i ill just go with the Star San, thanks for all the input
Clean first, then sanitize.
Rinsing is not cleaning.
For a carboy, I try to get most of it out but don’t worry if there is some still in there. The guy from Five Star said the foam actually breaks down and is beneficial to the yeast. For bottling, I let the drain on the tree but again don’t worry if there is a lot of foam.
When I keg, it’s actually fun to watch the huge foam snake come out of the top as I fill. ;D
Even though I put them away clean, they may sit on my shelf for a while before I need them (I usually keg ), so I’ll blast them with hot water first then sanitize. With new bottles, I’ll do a quick rinse just to get rid of the dust that collects in them from the homebrew store.
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For a carboy, I try to get most of it out but don’t worry if there is some still in there. The guy from Five Star said the foam actually breaks down and is beneficial to the yeast. For bottling, I let the drain on the tree but again don’t worry if there is a lot of foam.
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One the guys at the LHBS said he left a carboy over night with the star san and has no issues
so i have another question in regards to cleaning dirty bottles. With the PBW if i put the bottles in a bucket of hot water and let them sit for about 30min will that work, then after the sit i will rinse them and then sanitize. My buddy gave me some bottles that he didn’t clean out the sediment on the bottom so i wanted to clean them first then sanitize them.
You can also reduce the initial foaming during mixing by adding water to your container first and then adding the appropriate amount of star san. Careful rocking will mix the solution completely. The maker of star san said in an interview on The BN to always add the chemical to water, never add water to the chemical. Then you can reduce the foaming again when you empty the container by either racking (which also sanitizes the racking cane and tubing) or pouring SLOWLY. Don’t fear the foam, yes, but also play nice with star san and there won’t be as much foam.
If your water is piping hot, I think a 15 minute soak is normally good enough. It also depends on what you are cleaning. Bottles clean easier then carboys.