A bottle of star san i had sitting on shelf leaked over some plastic and metal items. Do i need to do anything to these items besides wash them off to stop further damage?
corrosion primarily, crust on the metal. I wiped off the plastic it appears fine but i was wondering if the star san ate thru the plastic bottle in the first place, causing the leak
It's acidic, but it shouldn't be reactive with most plastic items normally used as brewing equipment (although you didn't say that the stuff leaked on was other brewing equipment). Depending on what kind of metal/metal coating you are talking about, it could be etched by the acid, but if it is made of the right material to be used as brewing equipment to begin with, I would expect that anything leaked on could be cleaned up and maybe polished up again for normal use.
If you haven't already, I would contact the mfgr with your question and the information about the bottle leaking. They probably want to know if they have a batch of leaky bottles in the marketplace.
Most of my star san bottles I've had have leaked. I now keep them in a ziploc bag. Had a little spill on top of the fridge once and it showed rust and corrosion within a couple days. Definitely wipe it up and rinse it.
i was thinking of more along the lines of neutralizing the acid on the metal to stop corrosion. perhaps some sort of baking soda or washing soda solution.
Get some Barkeepers Friend. Make a thick paste with a little water. Put that on the metal, use a scrubby to scrub the area. Then let it set for a while. Rinse off. Dry it. The O2 in air will passivate it. I have done this with a rusty pair of scissors, looks fine now. What was the metal? The advice above is for Stainless Steel, not copper or aluminum.
Not stainless steel. Isnt the point of Star san that it wont damage stainless steel while it cleans. 2 old metal clocks, 1 prob some sort of generic steel, it is rusty. other one a lighter color, perhaps aluminum.
There's a difference between the starsan leaking out of a bottle and starsan solution that has been mixed at one ounce per 5 gallons. ETA: Damn It Betty
