Star-San Spray Bottle

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Picobrew

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I keep a few bottles full of star san around, and so far i have had them for a few weeks. I just saw this line in a description of a spray bottle on more beer, and it had me a bit worried/confused:

Sanitizer will last up to 1 week before it is ineffective.

It was my understanding that in the spray bottle, it would last considerably longer than that. What is your experience?

On another note, does anyone find that Star-San takes on a strange "mesquite" like odor when you spray it from a spray bottle? I thought it was the bottle but I cleaned and tried other bottles and notice the same thing. It is quite curious.
 
I was told my the guru at my LHBS that Star-San in a bottle with distilled water will last for about a month.
 
Why would it "go bad" at all? How long does it last as concentrate? What in a spray bottle and/or water will cause the acid to neutralize to a point where it doesn't perform as intended?

This doesn't ring true with my BS meter... but as everyone who knows me (especially my ex-wife) will attest to, I have been wrong at least once before.
 
Star-San will remain effective as long as the pH remains below 3. Even if it rises above 3 you can "sweeten" it back up with some concentrate to drive the pH back down below 3. Minerals in the water have nothing to do with how long it remains effective. Mineral in the water are what make go cloudy though, which is harmless. Organic matter getting into it, from insufficient cleaning of equipment before sanitizing, will lessen its life.
 
I use a spray bottle of star san and it's been at least a couple of months in there. Also, I keep a 5 gallon pail of it in my ghettorator that I refill it from which I mixed up at least 4 or 5 months ago. Haven't had any infections yet.


Watch...now my latest batch will be infected.
 
I just mixed up a fresh bottle of it last night. I poured out the inch or so that was left and it hadn't clouded up or anything. I can't speak for whether or not it was still killing germs, but it looked fine. I use it until I empty the bottle and have had no infection issues. My spray bottle is pretty much all I used for sanitizing.
 
Could they have been talking about the Iodophor? And then just put it as a blanket statement to make sure and cover both of them...

B3 Website said:
Add 1/2 tsp (2 ml) of Star San or Iodophor sanitizer and fill with water. Sanitizer will last up to 1 week before it is ineffective.
 
Never noticed a woody smell. Hehe...you said... never mind.

The only thing I've ever noticed was a pail of it got this layer of filmy gunk in it. I'm pretty sure it was ok but I chucked it anyway.
 
Star-San will remain effective as long as the pH remains below 3. Even if it rises above 3 you can "sweeten" it back up with some concentrate to drive the pH back down below 3. Minerals in the water have nothing to do with how long it remains effective. Mineral in the water are what make go cloudy though, which is harmless. Organic matter getting into it, from insufficient cleaning of equipment before sanitizing, will lessen its life.

THIS. There is no magic or sales-associate generalization that determines when Star San is effective. It is an acid. Its action depends on pH (a measure of alkanlinity / acidity, just like a thermometer measures degrees F, C, or K). If your Star San solution is at ≤3, you are good to go. If is is >3, toss it and mix another batch. The easiest and most convenient way to measure pH is to buy a little tube of pH test strips from a homebrew supplier, which is what I use, and I have never had a failure to sanitize.

Go forth and brew a beautiful batch, my son.
 
pH aside, StarSan potentially can last indefinitely if mixed with distilled water and stored in a cool dark place.
 
i converted the 5 gals to ounces, then converted the 2 ounces of Star San to ccs, and after dividing each measurement in half, i came up with 2 ccs (or 2 ml, or 1/4 tsp) of Star San to a 32 oz spray bottle of distilled water.

My bottle is 28 oz, so i just don't quite fill the 1/4 tsp.

Here are my measurements (be kind, i'm dyscalculaic)

Star San to Water
30cc to 640 oz. (5 gal)
6cc t0 128 oz. (1 gal)
3cc to 64 oz (1/2 gal)
1.5cc to 32 oz (1/4 gal)
 
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