BrewCraftUSA kit question....? Or any extract kit question..

[Ozwald]

Congrats. I would highly suggest picking up a large spray bottle - Target sells the heavy duty Rubbermaid 32oz'rs for a decent price. I have a couple that have held up really well. I keep 1 filled with StarSan & use it constantly.

[spiderwrangler]

Congrats. I would highly suggest picking up a large spray bottle - Target sells the heavy duty Rubbermaid 32oz'rs for a decent price. I have a couple that have held up really well. I keep 1 filled with StarSan & use it constantly.

This brewtip is approved.

[TheHamNerd]

Congrats. I would highly suggest picking up a large spray bottle - Target sells the heavy duty Rubbermaid 32oz'rs for a decent price. I have a couple that have held up really well. I keep 1 filled with StarSan & use it constantly.

+1 for the tip!!!

Thanks Ozwald! How long does it last in a bottle? I have some StarSan that I bought just for my copper chiller due to the acidic properties in cleaning copper. I also use Easy Clean for my supplies. Both are high, but I guess it is the price you pay to keep things clean, which is fine by me.

Any thought on the Easy Clean? One of my local brew shops pushes it, but they also sell the StarSan among others. I guess it really doesnt matter as long as you keep things sanitized. I have about a gallon of the Easy Clean that i mixed up last night in a Home Depot bucket with a lid on it, on standby. I will get a spray bottle very soon!

Thanks

[Ozwald]

Congrats. I would highly suggest picking up a large spray bottle - Target sells the heavy duty Rubbermaid 32oz'rs for a decent price. I have a couple that have held up really well. I keep 1 filled with StarSan & use it constantly.

+1 for the tip!!!

Thanks Ozwald! How long does it last in a bottle? I have some StarSan that I bought just for my copper chiller due to the acidic properties in cleaning copper. I also use Easy Clean for my supplies. Both are high, but I guess it is the price you pay to keep things clean, which is fine by me.

Any thought on the Easy Clean? One of my local brew shops pushes it, but they also sell the StarSan among others. I guess it really doesnt matter as long as you keep things sanitized. I have about a gallon of the Easy Clean that i mixed up last night in a Home Depot bucket with a lid on it, on standby. I will get a spray bottle very soon!

Thanks

It depends.

I find I use it faster than it has a chance to go bad. If you have hard water it probably isn't going to last as long. Personally, I make up a 5 gallon keg of it at a time & keep it under just enough pressure to use a tap or cobra to fill the bottle. It's not exactly carbonated, but I like to think that under CO2 pressure there's at least the tiniest amount of carbonic acid to keep the pH down. I don't know for sure, but I have had a keg sit around for several months, tested the end of it & the pH was still just fine. For eliminating beer stone I keep 2 buckets of extra strength (~3-4x) and never had a problem with the pH rising in those either, but since they get run through my system I top them up for line loss every time or 2 & add a touch more concentrate. If you're uncertain, grab some wine pH strips (lower range than beer) & test it. You can't judge StarSan on it's cloudiness like a lot of folks claim; as long as it's under 3.5 you're good to go. I'd recommend setting some aside (preferably in an identical bottle, scientific process & all) and testing it every week or two, charting the change. When it rises above 3.5, start over (& make sure you test the water first & note that as well - sources change in most areas depending on season). After a couple times you'll know exactly how long it'll last with your water in your environment. And you may learn other things as well.

StarSan is a sanitizer, not a cleanser. EasyClean is a cleanser, not a sanitizer. Those 2 things are never interchangeable. And there is no product that can do both effectively. StarSan is 50% phosphoric acid, which can be used as a cleanser for specific things at higher concentrations, but don't confuse that with being a cleanser in general. I have no personal experience with EasyClean, I've always been happy with my PBW. From what I hear, they do about the same job at the same cost, but I can't confirm that since I've never tried them side-by-side obviously. I'm sure it's a fine product to clean with but, as with PBW, be sure to rinse thoroughly (rule of thumb (and strippers): hotter and longer, when you think you're done, you're starting to get close) then sanitize with the correct concentration of StarSan (or other good sanitizer).

EasyClean/PBW are made for longer contact times, so I wouldn't recommend putting them in a spray bottle - it's just not going to be effective. My personal cleaning regime is 122F/50C PBW soak or recirc (depending on what I'm cleaning), 158F/70C rinse. A money saving tip: PBW (and possibly EasyClean) works like a caustic. When it starts to get dirty, don't dump it. It can be black & still retain it's cleaning properties. I only dump my PBW when I can't stand the smell of it anymore (the last batch I used for 10-11 months... it was still working great, but I couldn't stand to be in the same room as it anymore for the smell). It's pricey if you make up a batch & dump it every time, but reuse it properly & a $20 jar will last you years if not more than a decade (I'm running just shy of a 1bbl system, so you won't go through it as fast as I do & I still rarely have to buy it).

One last tip: cleansers like PBW don't need to be that precise. I just make sure I make mine at least a little too strong & make up for it in the rinsing. Sanitizers, especially no-rinse sanitizers, need to be mixed precisely. Too thin & they're not sanitizing, too thick & they're not no-rinse anymore.

[spiderwrangler]

StarSan is a sanitizer, not a cleanser. EasyClean is a cleanser, not a sanitizer. Those 2 things are never interchangeable. And there is no product that can do both effectively.

This. So much. I work at the LHBS and when people aren't clear on the need to clean before sanitizing, I ask them if they would be happy with just a squirt of hand sanitizer if their hands were covered in dog shit. No, you need to clean them first, then you can sanitize.

[TheHamNerd]

StarSan is a sanitizer, not a cleanser. EasyClean is a cleanser, not a sanitizer. Those 2 things are never interchangeable. And there is no product that can do both effectively.

This. So much. I work at the LHBS and when people aren't clear on the need to clean before sanitizing, I ask them if they would be happy with just a squirt of hand sanitizer if their hands were covered in dog shit. No, you need to clean them first, then you can sanitize.

That's an awesome analogy!!! EPIC!!! +1

[TheHamNerd]

So....

Since we have had this nice little talk about cleaning and sanitizing, and now I understand how it all works now. My batch from this recipe, has been bottled as of this past Wednesday....I am anxiously waiting to try it out! As far as cleaning I got some oxyclean FREE, after first buying the regular and reading all the post about the scent and how bad it could be for your gear and induce sent into your beer. So I also got some Bar Keepers friend for my stainless kettle, and will NOT be using OxyClean on it as I have also read the horror stories there. All this cleaning will be followed up with a nice StarSan sanitizer after all the shit is removed from the various gear....this has all been right after the brew day with hot water, now I have the tools to do the job Also there is some level of common sense when using the OxyClean Free...as I have read it leaves a film, but I think this is for those who soak over night, which I would never do, or leave it sitting in your glass. Again, common sense goes a long way....

Just an observation and my 2 cents...

Cheers

[Ozwald]

I never got the OxyClean argument. It may be cheaper by weight, but not by cleaning power. People just dump perfectly good PBW way too soon. I can brew every single weekend & not go through a $20 jar of it for years. Not that I really care, to each their own.