Star San Question

After I clean my kegs, I rinse them really well then add 1/2 and ounce of Star San and fill the keg half way with water. I put the lid on the keg and give it a good shake to make it really foamy and cover all the inside of the keg. Finally, I blast the keg with CO2 and check for leaks. Sometimes the Star San stays in the keg for a few weeks. I have read that Star San is no longer working well when I becomes cloudy, but I can't tell if it's cloudy by looking in the keg. Should I re-sanitize when I keg from my carboy?

I also need to sanitize my racking keg normally at that time, so I generally make a new batch of sanitizer in the keg, but I feel as though I am wasting water and Star San.

If the keg is clean - free of debris and such - you shouldn't need to sanitize until it's time to put beer in it. Just clean the keg for storage and then sanitize when it's beer time.

If you mix Starsan with distilled water it will last for a very long time.
I buy 2.5 gallon containers of distilled water, pull the top off, add Starsan and close the container. I then fill spray bottles from this container to use.

When I clean my kegs, I will add 2 or 3 ounces of Starsan made with the distilled water, pressurize to seal the keg, purge and re-pressurize with co2.

When it comes time to use a keg... I shake and swish the Starsan, then dump. I still spray the posts, lid, inside (then dump again), etc... with fresh Starsan immediately before filling.

Sounds like a lot, but I probably use less than 6 oz of Starsan per keg.

Ohio-Ed said:

If you mix Starsan with distilled water it will last for a very long time.
I buy 2.5 gallon containers of distilled water, pull the top off, add Starsan and close the container. I then fill spray bottles from this container to use.

When I clean my kegs, I will add 2 or 3 ounces of Starsan made with the distilled water, pressurize to seal the keg, purge and re-pressurize with co2.

When it comes time to use a keg... I shake and swish the Starsan, then dump. I still spray the posts, lid, inside (then dump again), etc... with fresh Starsan immediately before filling.

Sounds like a lot, but I probably use less than 6 oz of Starsan per keg.

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+1 I do much the same, but I only mix up 1 gallon at a time and I use tap water in lieu of the distilled. You only need to wet the surfaces with the Star San for it to work. I typically put about 1/2 pint in kegs or fermenters then shake and invert them to insure thorough contact with all exposed surfaces. This is for the final sanitizing step prior to use. I break down all equipment when cleaning and spray the individual parts with Star San before re-assembling. A little Star San goes a long way IMO, and I use it quite liberally.

I put 1/2 gal starsan in each keg after cleaning, shake it up, and let it sit. When it comes time to keg, (sometimes months later), I just dump out the starsan and go.

My theory is, yes, starsan in tap water loses "power" due to the minerals in the water over time, but if the keg is initially sanitized, there's no reason to think it will get infected. The cloudy starsan I dump out after months of sitting may not be good enough to sanitize NEW kegs, but since the keg was originally sanitized when I put it into storage, it should still be good to go.

I've yet to have a problem.

I also mix SS with Distilled, usually 2 gal at a time and use it for weeks, some of that goes into a spray bottle. I also save used PBW and use it to pre-clean dirty kegs and dirty fermenters (all that gunk in a fermenter renders the solution spent so carboys are the last stop for used PBW).

But I go overkill on kegs/carboys I'm about to use. They are already 'pre-cleaned' (from when I last used them) but I still use fresh, hot PBW solution to clean just before filling (kegs fully disassembled). Then rinse well with hot water, dry upside down for a bit, then Starsan. Assemble wet with Starsan.

IIRC, this is what 5-Star recommends; i.e. a light cleaning after use and then another cleaning just before use, followed by a hot rinse, then Starsan.

I try to time/stage things such that I get several uses out of a hot/warm batch of PBW. Often I'll assemble the keg wet with PBW and then push hot PBW through a beer line in the keezer. Then do same with the hot water rinse and Starsan. Every few months I put old PBW solution in a kettle and let it soak, rinse, then use old Starsan. The combination of the two makes it all perfect shiny stainless again (no brownish stains whatsoever).