I used Starsan for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that I was VERY impressed.
Of course you can't TELL that it's actually sterilizing everything but I have no doubt that it works and works well.
As posted earlier I had a curd knife made and there were a lot of "darkened" areas from the welding process. I'd used a wire brush, a brass bristle scrub brush, dish detergent, hand cleaner, three trips through the dishwaster and everything else I could think of to get this dark color off of the stainless.
Well I finally gave up, since nothing was coming off on a clean white cloth and figured I'd given it a good enough scrubbing.
My last step before using it was to soak it in the Star San solution and lo and behold, all of a sudden I was seeing the typical shiny color of the stainless steel come out of the previously burnt looking areas.
Once I saw that, I continued to soak in Star San....wash with dawn dishwashing detergent and then rinse with tap water.
After about 7 times of doing this, the knife looked absolutely pristine and I was not at all afraid to use it in my cheesemaking.
I figure that if this stuff will do what a dishwasher, brass bristle brush, hand cleaner and all other methods could NOT do then it must be something special.
In short, I'm sold.
Also, what's amazing to me is that the 32 oz. bottle I bought, should last a lifetime. I used 1 oz. per five gallon mix and according to Carter it is capable of lasting for over a year as long as it's in a sealed container.
That pretty much makes this the deal of the century!
Dave
