star san question

I'm using Star San for the first time, and I had a question about it. Once mixed with water, how long with the solution maintain its efficacy? If I mixed a batch of solution on Monday and submerged all my stuff in it, do I need to worry about re-sanitizing before I brew tomorrow?

You can always test with ph strips. I sterlize with a spray bottle for everything. It lasts for a few months before refilling. Highly recommend dedicating a bottle for star san

I do not know a actual recommended time, but I believe the star san should remain effective for several months. At least absent contamination from trying to sanitize products that are still dirty.

For your second question, are you saying it will be submerged from monday until now? Or you submerged it briefly, then removed it and it has been out since then? You should sanitize minutes before use, maybe push it out to an hour or two, but not days. For sure, make sure you sanitize the day of use.

It's been submerged since Monday. I wanted to know if I could just leave it in that solution for when I brew tomorrow, or if I should mix up a fresh batch. From what I'm seeing here, Star San solutions have quite a shelf life, so I should be fine, right?

It is best to sanitize right before you use the gear. The spray bottle is a huge help, just clean stuff ahead of time and spray it down anytime you use it before it goes in the wort/beer. Also don`t fear the foam, when you put it in a fermenter and mix it around it will cause it to foam, the foam is just as effective as liquid form and when your wort/ beer hits it, the Starsan becomes neutral because it raises the ph. Starsan will last a long time when mixed with distilled water, just keep it in a clean covered bucket and use ph strips to check it.

The guys on Brewing TV said that it should be good for several months. I believe they said that as long as the pH is below 3.0 it is okay to use.

You'll find that items that have been soaking in star san for a few days tend to be extremely slimy to the touch. While this might be fine(I really don't know) I've always washed and re-sanitized those items. There is just something about that overly slimy feeling that just doesn't seem right to me.

Also, if you want to mix a solution to keep for a longer period of time it is best to use distilled water for it.

Its good until it goes cloudy, per the manufacturer. If you use tap water it probably won't past long.

I hear with distilled water it lasts forever almost, although I never tried.

I think I heard all this from a interview with five star or maybe just jamil on brew strong.

doctorRobert said:

Its good until it goes cloudy, per the manufacturer. If you use tap water it probably won't past long.

I hear with distilled water it lasts forever almost, although I never tried.

I think I heard all this from a interview with five star or maybe just jamil on brew strong.

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I have somewhat hard water and my Star San solution is always cloudy....even when fresh. So far no issues though.

Phunhog said:

I have somewhat hard water and my Star San solution is always cloudy....even when fresh. So far no issues though.

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Same here. I use distilled water for spray bottle and hard tap water on brew days.

It will work with tap water, the thing is over a short time, a day or two, it will go bad. distilled is the best to use. the brew strong episode doctorrobert is talking about is the one on sanitation

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/469

they interview the owner of fivestar, everything you would need to now about starsan