When filling my carboy with water and Star San, it creates a lot of foam that remains in the carboy after I pour the water out. I'm assuming that, being food safe, it's not necessary to be foam free to avoid any off flavors. Is this a correct assumption?
The catch phrase here is "don't fear the foam". It won't harm a thing, nor add any off flavors. Most of it will come flowing out the top when you fill your carboy with beer anyway.
On the subject of star san, be very careful with it on your counter tops...it will F them up big time if any of the concentrate gets on there and isn't wiped up quickly. My wife would kill me if she knew what those "stains" were from...I just let her think they were caused by something she did.
Taste test: Star San by itself: God aweful Star San in beer: not a hint of it. Don't accidentally get that stuff anywhere near your mouth... you will certainly know it. However, it gets neutralized in beer and you can't taste it at all.
I don't fear the foam, but when there's a lot of it I will rinse first with pre-boiled water. The accidental tasting of it haunts me, so I'd rather minimize the amount in my beer.
Once it's diluted in your beer, it's actually nutritious for the yeast (lots of phosphorous) and they'll eat it up, or something like that. It's probably not a good idea to dump a whole lot of it in your beer, but there's no reason to fear the foam -- it sounds like you fear the foam a little
I always thought starsan had kind of a citrusy kick to it. Pretty strong stuff, but maybe good for a Mexican Lager or a wheat beer It's also said that starsan breaks down into yeast nutrient. I don't know if I buy this, but I've never had off tastes from foam. You can also presumably add over 10% to beer without a flavor difference.
Hmm, I've tried it and found it to be taste-free. In any case all agree the foam is harmless to beer, don't rinse!
