Leaving StarSan in Kegs??

Does anyone have experience in leaving StarSan in a keg for extended periods of time?

I'm cleaning kegs and I sanitize them by putting in about 3 quarts of StarSan solution and rolling them and turning them upside down for a period of 10 minutes.

I only need one keg today, but I was wondering if it is OK to leave the others till I needed them or would it damage the kegs.

Happy Brew Year!

I wouldn't do it - Star San is mildly acidic and will "etch" the inside of the kegs after a while.

Ok, I guess I'll drain & drip, close up, charge with CO2, and set them aside.

Thanks.

This is one reason I use metabisulfite for sanitizing, I can leave it in the cornies without any problem.

I keep in in one of my bottling buckets and use it as I need it, if it gets weak I just sweeten it up..

david_42 said:

This is one reason I use metabisulfite for sanitizing, I can leave it in the cornies without any problem.

Click to expand...

Metabisulfite works by generating SO2 which disolves in water to produce sulphurous acid.

I wouldn't like to leave this in contact with SS for a prolonged period either.

-a.

Sulphurous acid doesn't bother stainless. Think about all of the wineries that use metabisulfite for yeast control in fermentation tanks.

why charge with co2 and then set them aside? does it keep you from having to sanitize again?

Maybe I've been told incorrect information.... but for the past year I've been told it was ok to leave starsan in kegs... I was under the impression that starsan was only harmful to plastics... Has anyone actually had starsan etch the inside of a keg or are we just saying this because its an "acid" based sanitizer..??

Jester

I've left starsan in my kegs for up to a month or more with no troubles.

Its weakly acidic--remember that Soda (the stuff the kegs were designed for), also has phosphoric acid in it (same stuff as starsan).

Personally, I doubt starsan will do anything to the kegs.

Now, bleach. . .. that's another issue altogether.

I clean my kegs, then sanitize with Star San, then charge them with CO2 to store. I let the Star San dry out for a bit, but I'm sure it's still wet when I store them and I haven't noticed any damage.

Biermann said:

I've left starsan in my kegs for up to a month or more with no troubles.

Its weakly acidic--remember that Soda (the stuff the kegs were designed for), also has phosphoric acid in it (same stuff as starsan).

Personally, I doubt starsan will do anything to the kegs.

Now, bleach. . .. that's another issue altogether.

Click to expand...

I use bleach and have not had any problems so far. Bleach (1/4 cup) and 5 gal of water in a cornie for a month or so and no problems. Plus bleach smells like "clean" to me. Is this weird???

67coupe390 said:

I use bleach and have not had any problems so far. Bleach (1/4 cup) and 5 gal of water in a cornie for a month or so and no problems. Plus bleach smells like "clean" to me. Is this weird???

Click to expand...

I've jsut heard that bleach can promote the corrosion of metals...

Bleach is about the only thing that will hurt stainless steel. If you leave it in long enough, it will cause some corrosion.

Biermann said:

Bleach is about the only thing that will hurt stainless steel. If you leave it in long enough, it will cause some corrosion.

Click to expand...

I'll have to keep an eye on that. Thanks!

If anyone can help me out here, I'd appreciate it.

I needed a temporary container for starsan when I was racking to secondary. Unfortunately I decided to use my enamel stock pot. I thought that 10 minutes on enamel would be ok but I was wrong. I rinsed the pot and when it dried I noticed that from the water line down the pot is very discolored and slightly rougher.

Anyone have any thoughts/experience on this?

I too had heard that it was okay to leave starsan in kegs. I had one keg filled with starsan to sanitize dip tubes before I started to use CO2 to push cleaner and sanitizer through the keg.

I will have to look through my books, I am pretty sure I read it in one of them