I started making wine a year ago and have been using Star San as a sanitizer for all of my equipment. I thought that it was doing well, but recently ran across some articles that suggest that Star San may be a poor choice for sanitizing my glass containers.
The information that I found was on the resource section Daniel Pambianchi's website
In particular Mr Pambianchi has written an article "The Definitive Guide to Washing and Sanitizing Winemaking Equipment" (on the above page) which notes that Star San is a poor choice for sanitizing glass carboys. The reasoning is that phosphoric acid will wear the surface of the glass. I believe that he draws data from a paper published by the Better Bottle company: http://www.better-bottle.com/pdf/WashingSanitizingStudy.pdf
I understand that Better Bottle has an interest in saying that glass carboys cannot be cleaned, but if this info is not correct, I would hope that I could find something countering such a statement. Also, if Mr Pambianchi is right, I have to be concerned as I have been sanitizing my carboys with Star San and even storing excess mixed diluted Star San in my unused carboys.
Anyone know how accurate this is? I can see that it is not recommended to use phosphoric acid on soda lime glass: http://www.udel.edu/chem/GlassShop/PhysicalProperties.htm
but is this what carboys are made of? and how bad is it to apply dilute Star San to the carboy if it is made of soda lime glass?
I sent a message to to Five Star asking them if Star San is safe in my carboy. If I get a response, I will post it in this thread.
The information that I found was on the resource section Daniel Pambianchi's website
In particular Mr Pambianchi has written an article "The Definitive Guide to Washing and Sanitizing Winemaking Equipment" (on the above page) which notes that Star San is a poor choice for sanitizing glass carboys. The reasoning is that phosphoric acid will wear the surface of the glass. I believe that he draws data from a paper published by the Better Bottle company: http://www.better-bottle.com/pdf/WashingSanitizingStudy.pdf
I understand that Better Bottle has an interest in saying that glass carboys cannot be cleaned, but if this info is not correct, I would hope that I could find something countering such a statement. Also, if Mr Pambianchi is right, I have to be concerned as I have been sanitizing my carboys with Star San and even storing excess mixed diluted Star San in my unused carboys.
Anyone know how accurate this is? I can see that it is not recommended to use phosphoric acid on soda lime glass: http://www.udel.edu/chem/GlassShop/PhysicalProperties.htm
but is this what carboys are made of? and how bad is it to apply dilute Star San to the carboy if it is made of soda lime glass?
I sent a message to to Five Star asking them if Star San is safe in my carboy. If I get a response, I will post it in this thread.