Newbie StarSan question

I've read a lot over at the appropriate forum, including the long sticky, but still wanted to get a take on this.

I santized my keg a week ago and saved the starsan in a 6 gallon fermenter bucket (with lid -- though one very adventurous fruit fly got in before I thought to stick a bubbler in the hole in the lid) for a week since then. Just cleaned the now empty keg and filled it with the same starsan. I'm a little behind in production so it'll be two weeks or so until I'm ready to fill the keg again.

I *BELIEVE*, based on what I've read, that the starsan was probably still fine for sanitizing again today, but if I just leave it in the keg for another two weeks, pressurized , would I still have a sanitary keg then?

Or does it make sense to brew up a fresh batch in a couple of weeks and re-sanitize.

And if it IS ok, is it fine to just leave it in the somewhat warm garage ?

Thanks for any opinions...

(My next question will be, how do I stop giving so much beer to my neighbors and friends that I go through a corny every single week )

I've reused StarSan over before with no adverse effects. Just make sure the pH is as low as a fresh batch to be sure it's still got it's sanitizing properties. Picked that up on BrewingTV over a year ago.

I make 5 gal pail of starsan sanitizing solution with RO water (this is important!) and I use that solution up to 7-8 months or until gets clouded.

I reuse my starsan over and over again too.

Amanda I love your Icon. I'm a cardinal's fan living in Idaho.

Thanks everyone! Next batch I'll buy some distilled water to make it with, the tap water is pretty hard here in San Diego.

Peace of mind is worth a half ounce of starsan to me. I make a new batch every time I brew. I also try to do multiple batches each weekend to maximize effectiveness.

kaconga said:

Peace of mind is worth a half ounce of starsan to me. I make a new batch every time I brew. I also try to do multiple batches each weekend to maximize effectiveness.

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Don't you use it between brewdays for sanitizing your sample taker and what not?

I replace mine when I feel like it's probably time, but making a fresh batch every brew day just adds another step to an already laborious process.

But anyway, peace of mind is subjective. Mine is at ease with my process, so whatever you need to do for the same is completely appropriate.

jbaysurfer said:

Don't you use it between brewdays for sanitizing your sample taker and what not?

I replace mine when I feel like it's probably time, but making a fresh batch every brew day just adds another step to an already laborious process.

But anyway, peace of mind is subjective. Mine is at ease with my process, so whatever you need to do for the same is completely appropriate.

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I keep a spray bottle that I fill each time I brew. Use that for on the fly sanitizing. My wife can get a little OCD about the beer. She once killed the heat and opened the basement Windows to ferment at 60*F. Only thing was it was 40 degrees for the high that day! A cold night for us while it slowly warmed up. So we do things a little overkill at times

If starsan is used with distilled water, it can last for 6 months or more. I believe if you go to their website, the guy that created it talks about how to make sure its still effective. A good rule of thumb is if its cloudy change it. I use distilled water and have had my starsan for 4 months. I brew at least twice a month and have never had an infection (knock on wood). This is why starsan is so awesome. The problem is hard water. The calcium reacts with the starsan and alters the chemical properties, but I think this mainly affects the surfactant property (I could be wrong). I would say as long as the ph is low, your probably fine.

Peace of mind is worth one pH strip for me, so I check it every time-if the strip turns red I'm good to go. I fill my spray bottles with "virgin" distilled solution, but the rest gets filtered tap water. Cloudiness is not a reliable indicator of viability, low pH (because it's an acid sanitizer) is key. Generally for me, I'll run out of a 2.5 gal. batch before I get a high reading.

kaconga said:

Use that for on the fly sanitizing.

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Haa, don't know if that was an intended pun or not. That fruit fly is so sanitized

I mix up a fresh 2.5 gallon batch of starsan for each brew day, which happens monthly. Fill a spray bottle to use for the intervening month. No infections so far.

I keep a 5-gallon batch for a few weeks or so. Before each use I check it's pH with a test strip just to make sure it is acidic enough to do the job. Likewise, I have not had an infection yet. ::fingers crossed:: ::knock on wood:: ::salt thrown over left shoulder::

I had a gallon jug made up from DI water that I kept for 6 months. pH stayed below 3, but I recently tossed it and mixed up a 4-gallon batch with fresh DI water; I stuck 1 gallon back in a jug and filled a spray bottle, and I'm using the bucket for dunking larger items.

I'll probably keep this one for about 6 months assuming the pH stays in the right range. All indications are that this works fine, and with my previous jug I never saw any signs of ineffective sanitation.