VonMessa said:
Star San works well, but it sterilizes NOTHING.
What it does do, is lower the pH of the environment(or surface) that it is used upon to the point where critters can't infect it.
Have you listened to the recording from that link ( http://cdn4.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbr03-29-07.mp3?nvb=20100105210914&nva=20100106211914&t=024b279c5390ec6a49b7b ) where Charley Talley is talking about his product Star San?
Unless he's lying, Star San is as effective as Water, Bleach, & Vinegar.
( here is an older one: http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/dwnldarchive03-19-06.mp3 )
It's a long dialog and takes some time and patience because the guy seems never to get to the point, but get there he does.
Here is something he said that I found hard to swallow at first:
He said that Bleach does not kill and does not sanitize or sterilize. He says that you must adjust the Caustic acid (hypochlorous acid) content with a little vinegar to get the proper solution for sterilization and provides the mix ration of Five gallons water and one Teaspoon of bleach and one teaspoon of Vinegar. He says this gives you 80 PPM Chlorine and the correct caustic adjustment. He says that the manufacturers of bleach are all about denaturing chromataphores (making things white) as opposed to sterilizing things. He claims that bleach makers don't adjust the caustic correctly. Adding a bit of vinegar brings the pH down to 8 where it's lethal to organisms. This, he claims, will kill on contact.
Charlie Talley is a Chem Eng from 1968 who was in the commercial bleach business for some time (Penwah Chemical Company ? making Purex brand bleach)
Here is my take on why bleach in water kills even while Charlie Talley says it won't: My water is acidic. The acid in my water must make up the caustic adjustment in the bleach.
But he claims that Star San kills everything too and is edible to boot once the solution titration is altered appropriately.
His contention is that it's all in the titration and resultant pH.
Mind you I'm not too keen on the distinction between sterilization and sanitization.
It seems a fuzzy distinction to me, but maybe I just have the wrong dictionary.
The Second link above has some guy insisting that STERILE is the absence of all life.
OK That works for me. But what then do I get from Chlorine and hypochlorous acid or Star San?
The makes of Star San says it Kills spores, viruses and gram neg and gram positive all bacteria and others.
He says it's a stone cold killer of everything. Isn't that sterile?
((((as an interesting aside: Dictionaries are not a good place to find any "official" or "authoritative" definitions. This is simply because in the U.S.A. there is no official language and hence, no authoritative source. So at best, a Dictionary is a lexicographer's effort at keeping up with colloquial usage and little more.))))
But I digress
Back to Sterilization and sanitization ( I still don't know the difference).
** If I use Oxy Clean (or Spic & Span) and water I will have cleansed it. But that's all.
** If I put a thing in an autoclave ( and it does its job) some will say that I sterilized the contents. But there are yeasts that can survice two autoclave cycles.
** If I flame a thing with a torch or alcohol flame I'm pretty sure I sterilized it so long as it got red hot.
** If I use a bleach vinegar and water solution of the right PPM I will kill everything and that's sterilization isn't it?
** If I use Star San the maker claims it kills everything. If this is true is not this the same as using bleach and vinegar in water?
Then the only difference between the flame and the chemical is that the flame reduces everything to carbon~??
Proper cleaning practices are the key. No matter what you use, if the item is dirty, it is harder to sanitize.
Charley Talley agrees with this and even says that using bleach and getting no infections is largely the result of having done a good job cleaning.
Not that my way is best, etc. but I use bleach on anything not stainless steel, star san, on anything that is stainless.
I always have done it with chlorine too. I am converting to Star San.
Cleanliness is next to godliness........
A phrase that must have originated with the Trappist Monks.
