Star San

I looked around but can't find an answer (searched the forums and google). The question: How long does a batch of star san last?
Hopefully I'll be able to bottle my first batch in 3-4 weeks. I was thinking about mixing up a batch of star san in my bottling bucket so I can soak sanatize some euipment for my next batch and periodically dip/soak sanatize my thief and other testing and other random supplies. If I leave the starsan in the bottling bucket until I'm ready to bottle will the bottling bucket still be sanatized if I drain it and rack to it?

Oh, as long as it stays under a ph of 3.5 IIRC.

I got a batch of starsan going on 3 or 4 weeks now. Just keep it sealed from the air and it will last a good long time. I usually keep it until it gets discolored and/or lots of floaty material. Great stuff.

uuurang said:

Oh, as long as it stays under a ph of 3.5 IIRC.

I got a batch of starsan going on 3 or 4 weeks now. Just keep it sealed from the air and it will last a good long time. I usually keep it until it gets discolored and/or lots of floaty material. Great stuff.

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whats IIRC?

From what the bottle says, so long as it's not cloudy, it's good to use. Of course it'll be hard to tell with it in a bottling bucket.

Hard water will make it cloudy almost immediatly. The PH is the most important thing.

I make up 5 gallons in a carboy and reuse it. When I need to sanitize another carboy I pour some out into that one and then pour ot back. After a few brews I throw it out and start all over.

splat said:

whats IIRC?

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If I Remember Correctly

Brewsmith said:

Hard water will make it cloudy almost immediatly. The PH is the most important thing.

I make up 5 gallons in a carboy and reuse it. When I need to sanitize another carboy I pour some out into that one and then pour ot back. After a few brews I throw it out and start all over.

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Was talking to Jim at 5 Star the other day, he said a little hazy or cloudy and its still ok, if it gets milky cloudy its probably no longer effective.

Yeah. I've heard about the hard water and the haze. I just don't want anyone to think that the little bit of haze from the hard water is reason to throw it all out.

SuperiorBrew said:

If I Remember Correctly

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thanks...I just ordered some ph strips from ebay... 4 bucks got me 100 strips...thought it was a good deal..

Brewsmith said:

Yeah. I've heard about the hard water and the haze. I just don't want anyone to think that the little bit of haze from the hard water is reason to throw it all out.

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You are correct. Anytime I mix it using Omaha water, it's cloudy because we have such hard water. I was a little freaked about it until Malkore talked about having the same issue in Lincoln.

Thanks for all the responses.
We've got hard H2O here in Chicago so I'm glad I asked before I threw out a perfectly (or at least useable) batch.

Apparently if you really want to keep it a long time you can buy distilled water to mix it with and it will last a very long time.

I've got medium hard water here in the PNW. My Star San starts to get cloudy after about 6-8 weeks at which point I make a new batch.

GT