StarSan - How it works

[klickcue]

http://books.google.com/books?id=lCRxcp ... sm&f=false

Pulled this from another forum.

acid anionic sanitizer mechanism

[JMcG]

It's also a good rust "converter" due to its phosphoric acid content.
jim

[Rob Martin]

OK - I've heard from a number of people that StarSan is a no rinse, but this article states that it does kill yeast. Why wouldn't that affect a yeast count for initial primaries, transfer hoses, secondaries, and bottle conditioning?

[JMcG]

I thought that section of the article was referring to peroxyacetic acid sanitizer not the phosphoric acid (Star San).
jim

[sam]

If I make any statement here, I am in way over my head, but I was reading a little about it. It appears that yeast require an amont of phosphorus in order to create new DNA. Starsan is phosphoric acid which is not the same. It is an interesting read for an unsophisticated garage brewer like me.

http://www.silveradohomebrew.com/pdfs/Y ... rticle.pdf

[klickcue]

It is an acid anionic (bottom of the page and right column). It is the surfactants that do the work. The acid is just used to lower the pH. Basically what this means is the StarSan causes an electron attack on the cell wall and collapses the cell.

By no-rinse, the part is drip dried or very low in liquid. The product does not leave a 'soap scum' or other flavor that you would taste in your food.

Assuming that you didn't leave a lot of sanitizer in the fermenter, the dilution rate would be so low that the sanitizer would have no affect on the pitched yeast.

Did I write this so all understand the workings of StarSan?