Sanitizing jars for cellaring

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gnatjulio

Lifer
Mar 22, 2012
1,945
937
56
New York
After reading some posts on cellaring I'd like to take a crack at it. My concern is the possibility of mold. In homebrewing we use a product called "StarSan" to sanitize the bottles, caps, kegs and anything else that touches the beer after the boil. You basically add a cap full to 5 gallons of water and soak the equipment in it, no rinsing as that might just add bugs that you just killed off. Doesn't have any flavor and it's a no rinse sanitizer (you can drink it). Does anybody know if this product might have any effect on the aging process or flavor of the tobacco??

 

nsfisher

Lifer
Nov 26, 2011
3,566
20
Nova Scotia, Canada
Or if you felt you need to sanitize your bottles you can just boil them in a pot of plain water for a few minutes. That is all we used to do years ago before bottling preserves.

 

shawn622

Lifer
Jul 22, 2012
1,081
2
Mount Sterling, Ohio
I brew up some mean porter, and stouts. Took a crack at barley wine once, but i didn't care for it like i do Old Nick. Actually i haven't drank in 6 years. I just can't handle it and when i had my second son i stopped. The reason i checked out this post was because i was wondering if tobacco gets bad over time, of if it ages like wine or scotch. Any feedback would be great!!!

 

gnatjulio

Lifer
Mar 22, 2012
1,945
937
56
New York
Boiling is an option but I'd rather not take out a huge pot and risk a burn injury if I can help it, with my little guy running around like a maniac. StarSan is in a spray bottle already for a quick spritzzzz.
They say the baccy matures with age. That was what I was wondering, would the StarSan effect the baccy in a way that would interfere with the aging process.

 

strave19

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 13, 2011
249
324
Another brewer here. I'm not sure that I would use starsan personally, it does leave a bit of a film when it dries. I doubt it would really have an effect on the smoke but I personally have had no problem with tobacco in jars molding after 4 years with only rinsing the jars before hand. I would just wash with soap/water and let it dry. If you truly want to sanitize or sterilize I would boil or steam the jars to sterilize them as you would when canning, thats the only way to be 100%. Our tobacco doesn't have the benefit of alcohol and alpha or beta acids to help keep fungus at bay.

 

steyrshrek

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 1, 2012
252
1
Dishwasher on their own with the heated dry cycle will do too. If it has a heated booster wash cycle use it too.

 

choch

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 10, 2011
128
0
Cincinnati, Ohio USA
+1 for the dishwasher. Mine has an extra heat "sanitize" setting. I take my jars and lids directly from the dishwasher while they're still good and hot. I've never had a problem with mold or nasties in my aged tobacco.

 

pufferissimo

Might Stick Around
Jan 20, 2012
92
0
my take :
1. First stage = hot water and dishwasher soap. Wash as usual.

2. Second stage = cotton balls soaked in bleach, lightly swab the entire jar. Dried the jar until you can no longer smell the bleach.

3. Third stage = took cotton balls soaked in alchohol, swab the entire jar.

To dry, you can either dry it by air or burn the remaining alcohol by gas lighter.
Note if you wish to apply flame :
Make sure that the alcohol in the jar is in relatively safe quantity. We are trying to sanitize the jar by temperature, not makin molotov cocktail eh ?
I learn this the hard way, during my first try, I burn almost 1/3 of a pint of alcohol in a jar.

The result ? It gave out a mini explosion, fracturing the jar.
Good luck !

 
Jul 15, 2011
2,363
31
Between you and me, I saw a video on the smokingpipes.com channel on Youtube about this, and the guy said that when he fills the jars, he just buys them at the store, rips open the package and starts stuffing the tobacco in, no sanitizing, no washing, no boiling. Half of my cellar is stored in jars that I opened up right out of the package and they are still in top shape. This, like many things in pipe smoking, is one of those Your Mileage May Vary kind of thing. I have also run jars through the dishwasher before and they hold tobacco just as well as the ones that I didn't wash.

 

damnyak

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 14, 2012
292
1
Northern, Ontario. Canada
I am with Pipe Novelist, I just rip and use, But if I am switching tobaccos, just a good hot wash and rinse. and take a whiff, if you can smell the old tobacco, wash again. Worst case, a alcohol wipe down. Its glass, It shouldn't harbor any nasties, at least any that can affect tobacco.

 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,149
32,917
Detroit
All I do with mine is run 'em through the dishwasher. Jar gets emptied, goes into the dishwasher again for reuse.

 

spyder71

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 14, 2011
693
2
I am on the side of the folks who run them through a wash cycle. I figure if it worked for my kids baby bottles it's good enough for my leaf.

 

sjpipesmoker

Lifer
Apr 17, 2011
1,071
2
I read on here once, if the jars are new and sealed in the plastic...threre would be no use to sanatize...but when i re use the jars, i always boil them for a few minutes and let dry...
On the other hand...I put some aro's in some jars and they didn't age too good...had to throw a bunch of tobacco out...

 

mluyckx

Lifer
Dec 5, 2011
1,958
3
Texas
Brewer as well and wouldn't use StarSan on my tobacco jars. Actually.. the thought hadn't occurred to me. Might be an interesting experiment.
I'm like most of the guys. I just run them through the dishwasher on "sanitize", but I've also been known to just rip open the package and stuff the jar. Granted I have little that's over a year old, but I haven't had mold or any nasty effects (yet). Knock on wood.

 

crpntr1

Lifer
Dec 18, 2011
1,981
156
Texas
This reminds me of one time I was a kid and my dad cutting up an apple with his pocket knife, the same knife he could have done almost anything with an hour before, mom asks him if its clean, without a second thought he said "I wiped it on my shirt, that sterilized it."

 

wayneteipen

Can't Leave
May 7, 2012
473
221
I've boiled mine, washed them in the dishwasher, microwaved the glass part, and just filled them straight from the package and have never had problems with mold in the last three years. I wouldn't fret too much over it. I don't know anything about StarSan but my gut tells me it's a bad idea. Why risk it if it's not necessary?

 

mluyckx

Lifer
Dec 5, 2011
1,958
3
Texas
Wayne: StarSan is a sanitation solution used to clean brewing equipment. If there's anything that's prone to go bad because of bacteria, it's beer brewing. Unclean equipment can really, really create some funky flavors in beer. StarSan is used to clean your kettle, transfer hoses, fermentation vessels, etc. It works really well for that. The alternative is a very mild bleach solution.
PS: You do great work !

 
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