what to do with cleaning and sani water?

hey guys,
i kinda feel bad when im cleaning and sanitizing my stuff with about 5 gallons each (oxyclean mixture in one bucket & starsan mixture in another) and then i just dump it down the drain.. is there something i can do with the either mixture after i use it for my purposes? washing the car? killing weeds? mop the floor?

thanks!

 

1. No need to make that much...especially Star San. It just needs wet contact time, not soaking. I usually do a gallon tops.
2. Excellent for cleaning...close the tub drain and pour it in; dissolves soap scum, etc. Good for toilets, sinks, floors, etc.
3. StarSan is phosphoric acid, so does it provide phosphate to plants when it breaks down? I usually dilute w/rain water and add to flower beds. Hasn't killed anything yet...
4. Not sure about acidic star san on your car, but oxy might be ok

 

The StarSan mixture is good for more than one use.
I have a 5g bucket that has StarSan and I just put a lid in it and use it for at least 2-3 batches.
I would think you could use pbw/oxiclean more than once as well.
If you are like me and want to get the most out of it, put a couple cups into every load of laundry.

 

I save my starsan in a gallon SunnyD jug. Even filter it once in a while.

 

I re-use a single gallon of star-san solution (mixed up with reverse osmosis water) for a couple of months. I toss the gallon into a fermenter and shake it up and then dump it into a long wall paper tray that has all my other gear in it. A spray bottle full of star-san is always handy as well. When I'm done I put the star-san back in it's jug. I keep an eye on it and when it starts to lose it's crystal clearness I dump it and make up a new batch. Star-san is very expensive here and I cringe sometimes when I see how some people use it on youtube videos.

By the time I'm done cleaning anything with an oxi-clean solution I wouldn't feel comfortable using it for anything else. I don't clean my gear before brewing or bottling. I clean all my gear as soon as I'm done using it and then store in a manner that keeps it clean. On brew/bottling day I just sanitize.

My source of guilt is the amount of hot water I use to rinse everything after washing with oxi-clean. I've recently come to learn that I was using way too much and it took a rediculous amount of water to rinse it all off.

Maybe (after all the crud is gone) I should be dumping my hot rinse water into the washer to do a load of clothes or something.

 

Starsan doesn't loose it's efectiveness just because it gets cloudy. Having a PH of 3 or less is what does it. Craigtube did a video on this very subject to prove it.

 

Put your StarSan into spray bottles with distilled water or reverse osmosis water and it will stay clear (the reason for DI or RO water) and usable for weeks and weeks. Just spray it on the surfaces it needs to sanitize and you're all set.

The only thing you need to know about StarSan's usability is the pH. If it's still low (I forget the range), then it's still good. The cloudiness you get from mixing it with tap water is chemical reactions with the ions in the water.

As for oxyclean, I usually buy the dollar store unscented variety. At $1/lb, I don't worry too much about using it up.

//Snipered by the above two posts!

 

Yeah, I've seen Craig's video and a few others on the topic and I'm sure the cloudy stuff is probably good to go but it just makes me feel safer to dump it. I mean just from being re-used so often and being transferred back and forth from one vessel or tray to another the liquid has got to be picking up at least a little dust and dirt.

That's the stuff in the gallon jug. The spray bottle however never gets dumped, just topped up.

 

I top off my spray bottle as well. Stays clearer than the jug. Weird. but the stuff in the jug gets filtered now & then with another jug,funnel & coffee filters. Helps keep pet dander,etc out of it.

 

I wonder if aeration has anything to do with the developing cloudiness. The stuff in the gallon jug gets shook up, splashed and poured a lot while the stuff in the spray bottle doesn't (not nearly as much anyway).

 

I wouldn't think so,since anything floating in it is dead. I thought it could be millions of tiny dead corpses floating around in it.

 

I thinking more along the lines of introduced oxygen contributing to some kind of slow chemical reaction like oxidation. Just a random thought I had, I'm no chemist.

Thanks for the mental image of millions of corpses in my star-san by the way.

 

If this was true then RO or distilled water would make no difference to my thinking.

 

I dont save my Oxy water, but I always save my Starsan. I have plenty of extra gallon jugs around since I use a lot of distilled water on brew day (my tap water isnt the best, so until I decide to get a water profile, I go 50/50 Distilled to Tap)

Sometimes I have as many as 3 gallons of starsan "on tap" LOL

 

I have been using the same starsan for 6 months, just get some ph strips and test it before each use. You also may want to check to make sure your drain pipes aren't copper (like mine are), starsan dissolves copper.