Sanitation: How long does Star-San stay good for (mixed up)?

Searched the forums and Star San's website, but I could not find out how long mixed up Star San can sit for while still being effective. I'd like to keep a spray bottle of it on hand, but I don't want to sanitize something with it awhile later only to find gunk growing in my beer! Also, can I store stuff in Star San (such as transfer tubing so I don't have to mix up new sanitizer just to rack)?

Make it from de-mineralized water (reverse osmosis, distilled) and it will last for months and months. According to the manufacturer, as long as it is clear (not cloudy) and the solution is below a pH of 3.5, it is effective. According to these criteria, I have kept it stored for at least 6 months with no degradation.

Also, if you are sanitizing immaculately clean items, it can be reused over and over with very little degradation. I have a bottling bucket in which I mix up about 4 gals of Star San solution. The tap on the bottom of the bucket is good for dispensing (e.g., to a spray bottle) and the bucket is big enough to dunk most equipment. That stuff is pure magic!

I wouldn't recommend storing much in there (especially not vinyl tubing). Star San reacts with vinyl and nylon over time, and it will degrade the solution and cloud your tubing. It might also make nylon quite brittle. Having said this, some claim to do it with great success.

This is just what I was looking for. Somebody help me with this idea:

Bottling day - 5 gal Star San solution in bottling bucket, rinse everything, empty Star San into other bucket. After emptying fermentor, wash it out, pour sanitizer in, wait for next brew day.

Would this work? It would probably cut the money spent on Star San in half. And that stuff is expensive!

I have 3 buckets with with 4 gals of Star San in each. I brew 5 gals every weekend. All I ever have to do is top off the buckets from time to time. I use about 4 oz a year.

That sounds great! Any other opinions? (I'm sure somebody is going to try to shoot this down.)

millsware said:

That sounds great! Any other opinions? (I'm sure somebody is going to try to shoot this down.)

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You'll be fine doing it that way.

Personally I picked up a 5gal bucket at lowes to use for Starsan solution specifically. I prefer to have a separate bucket so that when I'm sanitizing my equipment I don't need to be cautious of scratching the bucket that the sanitizer is in.

arrowhead bottles work great. also keeps em sanitary when i get ro water from the machine.

I just use the plastic cat litter tubs/buckets.

Three buckets fills my cooler for sanitizing my bottles when time to bottle. I dump it in the cooler, submerge the 30 bottles and then wait one minute. I pull them out, drain them and do 25 more. More than enough bottle for 5 gallons in less than 10 minutes total.
Afterwards it goes back in the buckets and they are stacked in the brew room for the next time it's needed.

millsware said:

This is just what I was looking for. Somebody help me with this idea:

Bottling day - 5 gal Star San solution in bottling bucket, rinse everything, empty Star San into other bucket. After emptying fermentor, wash it out, pour sanitizer in, wait for next brew day.

Would this work? It would probably cut the money spent on Star San in half. And that stuff is expensive!

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I always wondered why people complained about the price of StarSan. You're mixing up 5 gallons of it on bottling day?!! Then just pouring it out?

Even before I started saving it, I found that 1 gallon is more than enough on brew day or bottling day.

Now I keep 2 gallon containers full, using one for rinsing and the other for topping up any losses and filling the spray bottle; whenever that 2nd one gets empty or cloudy, I buy another gallon of distilled water and mix up another gallon.

EDIT: Bottle sanitizing procedure: bottles are already clean. I put the gallon of starsan into the bottling bucket, with the wand attached. Take each bottle, fill it 1/2" or so off the wand, thumb over top, shake shake shake, pour it back into the bucket while dipping the neck where my thumb was in sanitizer.

I mix up a 5 gallon batch of Star-San with plain tap water, and keep it in a designated corney keg with just enough co2 pressure to keep the lid sealed. I have a picnic faucet hooked up, so when I need some... I just add a little pressure and dispense it into a bucket. It keeps well, and it lasts me a long long time. I probably use about a half gallon per brew day. If it is still pristine after I use it on brew day...meaning I didn't accidentally dump wort or something in the bucket...then I pour it back in the keg.

I was actually just wondering this - about storing Star San and other sanitizing products.

So if I'm going to be keeping a lot of Star San solution for long periods of time, is there anything wrong with keeping some of my brewing gear floating in it - to be ready-sanitized when needed? Like, my clear plastic siphoning tube?

Does bleach keep for months on end in this way as well? (I haven't quite managed to source any Star San yet.)

I have left clear tubing in star san before.... i think it was about a week or 2... out of laziness and it completely clouded up the tubing....so I don't do that any more.

I'm not sure on the bleach. I only used it once when I first started. The contact time is high....I think like 30 minutes, and you have to rinse....so I don't use it anymore.

SumnerH said:

I always wondered why people complained about the price of StarSan. You're mixing up 5 gallons of it on bottling day?!! Then just pouring it out?

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Hey man, don't freak out on me, I'm new to this. You're right, 5 gallons is way more than needed at a time, I get that now. Reducing volume + reusing = much less sticker shock.

SumnerH said:

I always wondered why people complained about the price of StarSan. You're mixing up 5 gallons of it on bottling day?!! Then just pouring it out?

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At 50 cents for 5 gallons I'm not sweating using it and dumping it.

I had a gallon jug left from last Fall when I quit brewing. When I started again this Spring, I tested the pH using a strip, and it was fine. I mix all my Star San solution using RO (reverse osmosis) water from the grocery store. When judging some Star San solution, clear is good, but a pH of 3.5 or lower is the standard, as its operation is based on acidity.

HSM said:

At 50 cents for 5 gallons I'm not sweating using it and dumping it.

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i bought my quart of stansan to support my "local" hbs (only one in 300 miles) for twice what it goes for at NB or the likes. even so, i have still only used 3oz's in the year i have been using it.

I'm sorry to resurrect this, but I'm so glad to those who wrote it!

I just happen to have an RO filter at home and decided to give it a try. WOW! My solution used to get cloudy in a matter of moments, now I have a 1 gal solution that's crystal clear several days later.

I bought a bunch of distilled water (store didn't have RO at the time) and I made some StarSan solution out of it. I've had it stored for about 6 months...with no ability to test PH (well...not really).

It isn't crystal clear, but it isn't as cloudy as with tap water. It still foams up when I shake it.

Anyone have experience with plain distilled water. Also, does anyone know where I can get bottled R.O. water in Chicago that is actually good...not from bulk machine in Whole Foods, etc.

Thanks!

The spray bottle was a little cloudy and foamed medium. A gallon jug I had was clear and foamed a ton...just like new. I used that.

Still, I'm looking for good, RO bottled water in Chicago area so I can make some up and keep it for awhile.

Any suggestions?

Sorry to revive this ancient thread, but I had a related idea, today.

I was trying to figure out how best to push sanitizer through "picnic" style taps, and it occurred to me that I could just dedicate a keg to StarSan, keep it at "serving pressure", and just tap it when I want to run through the hose.

(Obviously, I'd still take everything apart and give it the bucket treatment; I'm talking about for the actual inside of the length of the hose.)

Has anyone does this? Is this "brilliant" or "ridiculous" (or somewhere in between)?

Thanks!

olie said:

Sorry to revive this ancient thread, but I had a related idea, today.

I was trying to figure out how best to push sanitizer through "picnic" style taps, and it occurred to me that I could just dedicate a keg to StarSan, keep it at "serving pressure", and just tap it when I want to run through the hose.

(Obviously, I'd still take everything apart and give it the bucket treatment; I'm talking about for the actual inside of the length of the hose.)

Has anyone does this? Is this "brilliant" or "ridiculous" (or somewhere in between)?

Thanks!

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Not a bad idea!

You can't sanitize something that isn't clean, and Star San is definitely not a cleaner.
Got two spare kegs? You could load one with BLC/LLC cleaner and the other with Star San, both mixed with at least RO if not distilled water, and they should maintain their respective strengths.

Otherwise, running Star San through beer-stone/biofilm coated lines/shanks/faucets is probably not worth tying up a keg...

Cheers!

Jaybrinks said:

I mix up a 5 gallon batch of Star-San with plain tap water, and keep it in a designated corney keg with just enough co2 pressure to keep the lid sealed. I have a picnic faucet hooked up, so when I need some... I just add a little pressure and dispense it into a bucket. It keeps well, and it lasts me a long long time. I probably use about a half gallon per brew day. If it is still pristine after I use it on brew day...meaning I didn't accidentally dump wort or something in the bucket...then I pour it back in the keg.

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I also keep a keg of it on hand.

mux11 said:

I also keep a keg of it on hand.

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Interesting thread. My LHBS says as long as the stuff foams up during use, it is good. And mine always starts out cloudy! He lets his keg and carboy washer run for minutes. Not sure how long. I do know that using kmeta for sanitizing is good only momentarily.

olie said:

Sorry to revive this ancient thread, but I had a related idea, today.

I was trying to figure out how best to push sanitizer through "picnic" style taps, and it occurred to me that I could just dedicate a keg to StarSan, keep it at "serving pressure", and just tap it when I want to run through the hose.

(Obviously, I'd still take everything apart and give it the bucket treatment; I'm talking about for the actual inside of the length of the hose.)

Has anyone does this? Is this "brilliant" or "ridiculous" (or somewhere in between)?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I use a spray bottle to squirt S-S down the hose before use. Also spray the buckets and other tools.

My LHBS keeps theirs for about a month. This is a light production environment where they brew a few batches a week.

As has been said here before, probably, It will keep for a long time IF you use distilled or RO water.
If you mix it with tap water, the minerals will neutralize it in days (massive variables, so there's no telling how fast yours will last).

So here's an interesting twist to this thread.

What if I've had a couple gallons of starsan in a bucket for, say, two years roundabout. Is the BUCKET still ok? Smells good, looks good. ???

Has anyone tried using dehumidifier water for Star San solution? This is basically distilled water, minus anything growing on the coils/tubing, right. Any bugs should be killed by the Star San.

Ugh. I would not count on Star San killing an entire biological stew that is condensate. It's not even clear it kills wild yeast, never mind mold spores, etc...

Cheers!

ChandlerBang said:

What if I've had a couple gallons of starsan in a bucket for, say, two years roundabout. Is the BUCKET still ok? Smells good, looks good. ???

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StarSan (acid) does not harm plastic. It slowly eats away at metal. So it depends on what your bucket is.

Yeah, that's actually not true. I don't know what kind of plastics Star San (or perhaps more on target - phosphoric acid) will consume but the plastic spigot I use on my Star San bucket will reliably be eaten up over a couple of years of constant soaking exposure to the point that the nylon lock nut will slip over the reduced spigot threads.

Also, years ago there was a practice of stuffing Delrin "mixing sticks" down corny keg dip tubes to compensate for too-short beer lines. One curious HBT member left a couple of sticks in Star San and noticed they were getting eaten up...

Cheers!

skeeterman said:

Interesting thread. My LHBS says as long as the stuff foams up during use, it is good. And mine always starts out cloudy! He lets his keg and carboy washer run for minutes. Not sure how long. I do know that using kmeta for sanitizing is good only momentarily.

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That are not accurate. If it is cloudy and mixed with tap, you have to check ph. Distilled/StarSan mix will last an unknown time. Mine is over a year and still unchanged ph.

olie said:

StarSan (acid) does not harm plastic. It slowly eats away at metal. So it depends on what your bucket is.

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Bottle bucket. That one bottle bucket everyone has.

day_trippr said:

Yeah, that's actually not true. I don't know what kind of plastics Star San (or perhaps more on target - phosphoric acid) will consume but the plastic spigot I use on my Star San bucket will reliably be eaten up over a couple of years of constant soaking exposure to the point that the nylon lock nut will slip over the reduced spigot threads.

Also, years ago there was a practice of stuffing Delrin "mixing sticks" down corny keg dip tubes to compensate for too-short beer lines. One curious HBT member left a couple of sticks in Star San and noticed they were getting eaten up...

Cheers!

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Well it isn't leaking yet, I'll inspect all components carefully.

I have a bunch of sanke kegs and I'm considering making about 10 gallons of sanitizer and using an old keg coupler and CO2 to extract it as needed. I would only need to invest in a regulator.

I'm planning on brewing minimum of 8 times this year. Bad idea?

FWIW, this is what we do, and it seems to work quite well. If nothing else, it's a convenient way to rinse-out bottling gear and similar.

I drive my sanitizer at pretty low pressure and bleed the keg, but sometimes still end up with mild carbonation, which I find annoying (bubbles in the line means sanitizer isn't touching that spot. Easy work around, but I'm lazy ).

I stumbled onto this thread and it hit upon an issue I've been thinking about. I keep my starsan mixture in a 6 gal food grade bucket and I've noticed the bucket gets a bit sticky on the inside and hoses and beer line get foggy. Is this eating away at my buckets and hoses?

Brewbuzzard said:

I stumbled onto this thread and it hit upon an issue I've been thinking about. I keep my starsan mixture in a 6 gal food grade bucket and I've noticed the bucket gets a bit sticky on the inside and hoses and beer line get foggy. Is this eating away at my buckets and hoses?

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I think it imparts an off flavor to hoses if they’re left to soak for extended periods. I’d wash, run thru Star San and remove to drip dry.

LokiM4 said:

I think it imparts an off flavor to hoses if they’re left to soak for extended periods. I’d wash, run thru Star San and remove to drip dry.

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Yeah I don't let them set anymore.