Stellar San and Star San

[Doctormcbrewdle]

I was going to try some of the (far) cheaper alternative Stellar San. The cheaper alternative seems a far better score but I'm not willing to try it after being so satisfied with Star San

What's the difference between these two products? I see two labels, an old one which could appear identical to Star San and a new one mentioning only phosphoric acid

 

[MHB]

Looks like there have been some changes to the Keg King product, but can’t tell what they are other than "New and Improved..."
About all you can do is contact Keg King and ask for the MSDS/SDS, should tell you enough.

Mark

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

Thanks Mark.

This reminds me of the lactic acid I was using in the early days, coffee machine cleaner. I was using our Delongi cleaner which stated ingredients being just lactic but started using the Coles brand which actually doesn't tell you what the ingredients are so I stopped.. tried writing to the company and looking for for a msds. Nothing

 

[mynameisrodney]

Stellar San is KegLand not Keg King. KK sells atomic 15 no rinse. I've been using starsan for years. Recently bought a bottle of stellarsan just because its easier to get. I've only used it for 2 or 3 batches so far. Havent had any infection issues. It's definitely not the same though. The stellarsan has a soapier smell to me. I also think the foam collapses quicker than starsan. I doubt either of these things makes a difference, but just commenting that the products themselves are slightly different.

I bought my bottle about 3 months ago, so not sure if its the "new and improved" formula or not.

 

[Hangover68]

Got some stellersan 2 days ago and it smells of hospital grade disinfectant to me, first time using it so will see how it goes.

 

[mynameisrodney]

I haven't been able to detect the smell in finished beer, but yeah it is a strong smell.

I'm interested on people's feedback on the atomic 15 too as I haven't used that. My original 1L bottle of starsan lasted a VERY long time.

 

[razz]

I’ve used Atomic 15 for CIP, it’s good stuff. Works as described.

 

[yankinoz]

I've used Stellarsan for several years. No infected batches or bottles. Starsan suds a bit more, but I'd call that more marketing than microbiology. The one flaw with Stellarsan was their caps fell apart, but that may have been corrected,

 

[zoigl]

The idea of "not fearing the foam" scares the hell out me. So I have been mixing 40% food grade phosphoric acid which I can buy locally in 5 litre containers with Stella San and Atomic. I find that about 20% of either of the sans blended with the Phosphoric acid gives me more than sufficient foam to do the sanitizing job. The phosphoric acid is less than $30.

 

[Paddy Melon]

I've been using Stellar San for two years now and so far never had an infection. At the time I did a bit of research and there wasn't much difference that I could tell except the price. Anyway its been good for me without any noticeable taste to my beers.

 

[BrewLizard]

Starsan isn't expensive, other than for the fact we live in Australia and you're paying for Starsan + retail markup + GST + customs + international shipping.

Hence, Stellarsan isn't a cheaper inferior product. It's the same thing with fewer middlemen.

 

[kadmium]

Starsan isn't expensive, other than for the fact we live in Australia and you're paying for Starsan + retail markup + GST + customs + international shipping.

Hence, Stellarsan isn't a cheaper inferior product. It's the same thing with fewer middlemen.

It's not the same thing as it has different ingredients, smells strongly of disinfectant and claims to be a new recipe.

Having said that, I wouldn't worry about using it but I use the KK stuff and really like it.

 

[BrewLizard]

Fair correction. While it has similar concentrations of phosphoric acid and DDB sulfonic acid, it’s not the same recipe. I was just trying to make the point that it’s not like Stellarsan is a diluted knockoff that doesn’t work.
Glad you like the KK stuff. Might try it once my sanitiser runs out circa 2028.

 

[kadmium]

Fair correction. While it has similar concentrations of phosphoric acid and DDB sulfonic acid, it’s not the same recipe. I was just trying to make the point that it’s not like Stellarsan is a diluted knockoff that doesn’t work.
Glad you like the KK stuff. Might try it once my sanitiser runs out circa 2028.

Haha yeah it just has a strong smell which I find odd.

It's all pretty much the same as far as I'm concerned. Agree on the longevity. I bought a second bottle cause I was "running low" at 1/2 a bottle of the first one then realised I had over 50 brews using the first one and probably had another 50 brews worth. Hahaha

 

[Paleman]

Ive used stella san for a long while. Never had an infected or odd beer. It must work.

 

[Nullnvoid]

The one flaw with Stellarsan was their caps fell apart, but that may have been corrected,

My Starsan caps did that as well. Very frustrating. The only noticable difference is the PET caps fit better on the Starsan bottle than they do on the Stellarsan bottle.

 

[mynameisrodney]

Yeah both my starsan and stellar San caps died very early on

 

[philrob]

I have been using Brewman's version of StarSan for some time now. Works fine for me, and it's a lot cheaper, plus the cap doesn't split.

http://www.brewman.com.au/web/showproduct.asp?prodid=931