Starsan for sanitizing?

sptucker · August 2020

I'm wondering if anyone has used the Five Star Chemicals product "Starsan" for sanitizing their T@B fresh water system.

I have used it for years in my home brewery. You use a relatively small amount (1oz) per 5 gallons of water. Run it through the system and drain. No rinsing needed, which makes it much easier to use than bleach. It does leave behind a plethora of bubbles/foam, but these bubbles are 100% safe to mix with fresh water (or wort) afterwards and impart zero taste or odor. The slogan "Don't fear the foam!" is commonly used when Starsan is utilized for this reason.

Sharon_is_SAM · August 2020

Not sure if this is Alde approved, so make sure you bypass the Alde.

sptucker · August 2020

@Sharon_is_SAM For sure I will bypass Alde in any case!

cottonmouth · August 2020

I use Star San for homebrewing too. I don't see why it wouldn't work. You might contact five star chemicals to get their input. It does foam quite a bit. I'm not sure if that would be an issue with the pump. It's also acidic, so any soft metals like aluminum shouldn't come in contact with it. Stainless I think is fine. At 1oz/5gal it might get pricey compared to bleach. But no rinsing and no taste is a huge plus.

sptucker · August 2020

I will gladly pay the extra cost to avoid dealing with bleach! I’m guessing that the amount of time the pump and other parts would be exposed to low concentrations of Starsan is not enough for any appreciable damage to occur, so I’m going to go for it in the next week or so. I’ll report back...

cottonmouth · August 2020

I was thinking more with the foam and cavitation for the pump. It may burn it up or shorten it's life.

sptucker · August 2020

Ah. I will let you know if I have any issues with foam and cavitation, etc., once I am able to try it. I have not used sanitation/siphon mode before so I will probably do a short “dry” run with just water first and/or to get it primed.

pthomas745 · August 2020

I would find out how phosphoric acid reacts with the pex pipes in the trailer.

MarkAl · August 2020

The thought of even a weak solution of acid concerns me and any aluminum parts. If it isn't rinsed to some lower level after using it, the impact with unknown metal joints and structures is unknown and won't show up immediately.

Denny16 · August 2020

Just stick with the bleach solution... It works, and does the job.
cheers

Jake_Elwood_and_us · June 2022

Here are the Safety Data Sheets of the chemicals listed on the label of Star San.

One is Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, sodium salt 15%

The other is phosphoric acid 50%

I included chlorine just as a comparison.

I have some Star San left over from my brewing days.

I will do some testing on pex, aluminum and other items which make up the T@B plumbing.

cottonmouth said:

I was thinking more with the foam and cavitation for the pump. It may burn it up or shorten it's life.

This is interesting, I will try to do a test with it as well.

For the time being I will stick with bleach to protect the investment we have in the T@B but just as I did the switch over with brewing it will be interesting to see if Star San can possibly work. More later.

CharlieRN · June 2022

I too am a homebrewer and use Star San almost exclusively to sanitize my brewing equipment. It is an excellent, highly effective sanitizer that is relatively safe, and superior to iodine and bleach in many ways.As My brewing equipment is stainless steel, glass or food-grade plastic, all of which Star San can be safely used on. The few items not of those materials, like my copper immersion chiller, are sanitized in other ways.

Most of the plumbing lines on the 320 are PEX, but some are aluminum and while Star San should be fine in the PEX, the aluminum may be a different story. I think it's likely that Star San may be OK for aluminum, particularly if rinsed, but at this point the jury is out. I hadn't thought about the foaming issue and its implications regarding cavitation at the water pump, but that's yet another reason Star San may not be appropriate in our T@B's. For the time being then, I too will stick with bleach.

Will be interested to see what your testing determines @Jake_Elwood_and_us.

AnOldUR · June 2022

Another homebrewer using Star San who’s been contemplating using it in my T@B. If not letting it flow through the entire system, I thought about adding it to what’s left in the fresh water tank before departing a campground to allow it to bounce around and then drain once home. Might keep the tank sanitized until the next trip.

Jake_Elwood_and_us · June 2022

AnOldUR said:

Another homebrewer using Star San who’s been contemplating using it in my T@B. If not letting it flow through the entire system, I thought about adding it to what’s left in the fresh water tank before departing a campground to allow it to bounce around and then drain once home. Might keep the tank sanitized until the next trip.

I had the same thought but would also like to sanitize the piping and avoid the pump and Alde but I'm not sure it would completely. Would just like to not use bleach. I'm looking for an old pump and some stainless to start the testing on. Might be a while.

db_cooper · June 2022

Another homebrewer here, but I don't use the Star San in the T@b. What I use is the chlorinating granules we keep for the hot tub. I use a big pinch with our well water to superchlorinate the tank each spring. Let that sit for a few hours. Then I fill again with a small pinch (about 15 grains for our 12 gallon tank). Brings the level up to about what city water smells like. We don't drink from the tank, but don't hesitate to brush teeth or rinse.

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