The one thing to improve your brewday and quality of beer....

[laxation]

Buying some starsan now

So 1.5ml for 1L... do i just use a L in my keg and rinse it around? or do you fill the keg and put in 19x1.5ml?

 

[Grott]

Use 250 to 500 ml and put keg lid on. Shake keg, take off lid, drain and retain the starsan (it's reusable whilst pH is 0-3). Make sure you remove the lid seal and star San lid and seal.

I rinse the sodium perc. out with water as this will give longer life to reusing the starsan

 

[pcqypcqy]

Buying some starsan now

So 1.5ml for 1L... do i just use a L in my keg and rinse it around? or do you fill the keg and put in 19x1.5ml?

I make up 5 litres at a time and use a bunnings $10 garden sprayer to spray everything with. Lasts a few brews this way and doesn't seem to lose it's magical powers.

If I'm bulk sanitising something that's already crystal clean, I'll pour/transfer the star san back into the sprayer to re use.

 

[Camo6]

*snip* Don't drink. I start early in the morning so I'm on coffee until I'm done.

^This above all others. Too easy to have a few and throw that proven recipe to the wind while you toss in a plethora of random hops. I brew awesome beer when I don't drink on brewday. But I've brewed a lot of average beer.

Plenty of good advice given above, like yeast health and temp control. One I might add that I all too often do is leave the beer on the yeast cake too long, especially if dry or cube hopping. Give it a day or two after FG and then either keg it or secondary it.

My 2c

 

[mtb]

or do you fill the keg and put in 19x1.5ml?

I fill mine to the top, but not for sanitising purposes. I fill and purge the starsan via the beer out line, and in doing so I ensure almost no oxygen is present in the keg - just the CO2 I used to purge the starsan. I can then transfer from fermenter to keg using a silicon hose attached to a MFL disconnect, further minimising O2 exposure.
Not sure how much evidence there is to suggest the fill-purge method is more effective in purging oxygen than the ol "connect CO2 and pull the PRV a bunch of times", but someone smart on here vouched for the method so it's got my vote

 

[manticle]

^This above all others.

You guys ohs reps or something?

That rule, if I might grace it with such an undeserved ephitet, should be burned.

Utterly.

The beer gods are not pleased with the lack of appropriate sacrifice and libation.

 

[mtb]

Yeah I did wonder that myself. Like everything, just do it in moderation.

 

[Camo6]

You guys ohs reps or something?

That rule, if I might grace it with such an undeserved ephitet, should be burned.

Utterly.

The beer gods are not pleased with the lack of appropriate sacrifice and libation.

Curse your Gods. I can out drink them all. And damn their opinions about hop imbalance.

 

[Matplat]

I drank 3 longnecks before I mashed in on saturday night, it's pretty much my favourite thing to do while brewing

 

[laxation]

I fill mine to the top, but not for sanitising purposes. I fill and purge the starsan via the beer out line, and in doing so I ensure almost no oxygen is present in the keg - just the CO2 I used to purge the starsan. I can then transfer from fermenter to keg using a silicon hose attached to a MFL disconnect, further minimising O2 exposure.
Not sure how much evidence there is to suggest the fill-purge method is more effective in purging oxygen than the ol "connect CO2 and pull the PRV a bunch of times", but someone smart on here vouched for the method so it's got my vote

What is a MFL disconnect? To put my brew from fermenter into keg I had just planned on using the bottle filler tube. Is that not how to do it?

Do you reuse the starsan using your method?

 

[Mardoo]

I drank 3 longnecks before I mashed in on saturday night, it's pretty much my favourite thing to do while brewing

Do you even keg, bra?

 

[mtb]

What is a MFL disconnect? To put my brew from fermenter into keg I had just planned on using the bottle filler tube. Is that not how to do it?

Do you reuse the starsan using your method?

MFL disconnect is one of these. I use it because a silicon hose will attach nicely to it (maybe with a zip tie to hold it in place) with the other end connected to the fermenter's tap.

Bottle filler tube is probably fine, the only reason I do what I do is to minimise oxygen exposure at every step. I can't say from experience how much better my method works than yours so you may not be missing out on anything :lol:

 

[mtb]

Also - yes I reuse the starsan. Since I purge it from one keg into another, I always have a keg full of starsan. One could argue it's a waste of a keg but one would need to not own an unnecessarily large number of them

 

[laxation]

MFL disconnect is one of these. I use it because a silicon hose will attach nicely to it (maybe with a zip tie to hold it in place) with the other end connected to the fermenter's tap.

Bottle filler tube is probably fine, the only reason I do what I do is to minimise oxygen exposure at every step. I can't say from experience how much better my method works than yours so you may not be missing out on anything :lol:

So your tube goes from the fermenter, into the MFL and straight through into the keg? That sounds simple enough...

I don't have a method I haven't kegged anything yet! Still waiting for it to ferment trying to figure out how it all works... there is a lot more to it than I thought. Easy enough if I watched someone do it once - but trying to figure it all out is difficult.

 

[mtb]

I know what you mean. Take it slow, use the AHB search function or ask a question if you can't find the answer. Plenty here about kegging/bottling methods, reducing oxygen exposure, etc. Better minds than mine are very elaborate in explaining the reasoning behind some of their techniques and it's very valuable info.

 

[manticle]

Curse your Gods. I can out drink them all. And damn their opinions about hop imbalance.

**** yeah let's raid their liquor cabinets and spew on their carpets.

 

[klangers]

I was always of the understanding that sodium percarbonate breaks down into carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. It's a great cleaner, classified as non toxic and is mildly alkaline.
I think the issue here is separating cleaning and sanitation into two distinct processes. Clean first and sanitise afterwards and Star San is the most widely used sanitiser in home brewing.
With reference to using caustic soda, it might do a great job but being so very alkaline it is also a heavy oxidation agent. Dissolves aluminium and can make even the best stainless steel go rusty - something which I would avoid. It is also toxic.

Caustic is like the hot wort that we're making - if you come into contact with it you'll have a bad time. Keep some sensible precautions with your procedure and be sensible with some protective equipment (glasses and long sleeves, be aware of how you will be able to flush your eyes etc) just like you do with boiling wort and you'll be fine.

It won't make stainless rust at all. In fact it actually dissolves the rust/oxidation layer off the steel (but not the chromium passivation layer). Acids will make metals corrode. It's used all throughout the food and bev industry as an effective cleaner. Yes it's dangerous but let's not elevate it to mystical-level.

 

[laxation]

MFL disconnect is one of these. I use it because a silicon hose will attach nicely to it (maybe with a zip tie to hold it in place) with the other end connected to the fermenter's tap.

Bottle filler tube is probably fine, the only reason I do what I do is to minimise oxygen exposure at every step. I can't say from experience how much better my method works than yours so you may not be missing out on anything :lol:

Sorry one more on this... if you connect the hose to the MFL and then put it on the keg, does the beer run freely from the fermenter into the keg or is there another step somewhere?

 

[mtb]

As long as the fermenter is higher than the keg, and the keg's PRV is set open (most of them allow you to pull & twist, locking them in OPEN position), the beer will feed into the keg. The higher your fermenter is compared to the keg, the faster it'll flow in. Just make sure the top of the fermenter allows air in the top, to displace the out-flowing beer