Does Star San expire?

[Leeds1]

A buddy of mine gave me a small bottle of Star San a few months ago, no idea how old it is. I finally ran out of the bottle I was using and mixed up a 5 gallon batch back in Ocotober, but I noticed that the water wasn't clear like it normally is and thought this was quite odd.

I brewed a pumpkin and went ahead and used the star san mixture to sanitize everything for the brew session. Fermentation seemed fine (admit to not taking gravity readings...one too many if you know what I mean) and I bottled the beer 3 weeks ago. I tasted it at bottling and it had a slight sourness to it, like a vinegar/cider smell and taste. I hoped it would fade after three weeks in the bottle so I opened one yesterday. Smell and taste still there.

I brewed up a batch of Bug Eaters oatmeal raisin cookie at the end of October. Dumped that original star san mix and made a new one. Same cloudy issue. Fast forward to tonight when I took a sample for a gravity reading. It was down to 1.011, which is way lower than I expected and I thought I could pick up the same smell. Took a swig and the same vinegar/cider taste was there again, though not as strong.

Could the cloudy star san have something to do with this? Does star san expire? And yes, I mixed it at 1oz per 5 gallons. I'm going to be crushed if I have to dump these beers. My sanitation has always been very good. Clean with oxy free, sanitize with Star San. Is it possible that this is some sort of infection?

 

[Zamial]

Cloudy does not = bad. Starsan is good for a LONG time. Also as it breaks down inside your beer it will turn into yeast food.

 

[Jester]

I am using a bottle of Star San this is closed to 3 years old. I bought the huge bottle and then took a 2 year break from brewing. So far, so good!!!!

 

[Airborneguy]

When I first started brewing I bought a bottle of StarSan. I subsequently went through a divorce, and lost my house. I bounced around for a few years and picked up the mash paddle again in 2009. In all that time, I never held on to that trusty old bottle of StarSan. It was a sad day about 8 months ago when that 6 year old bottle of StarSan spit out its last drop. Sniff.

Oh yeah. I've never had an infected batch.

 

[jusware]

I've never heard of a bottle of star san going bad. I don't see how it's possible to be quite honest. I've heard of guys mixing up water/starsan mixtures and using the same mixture for 6 months or longer. You can test the mix with a pH meter and see when it goes bad by a drop in pH. If you're getting a vinegar/cider smell/taste I would suspect an acetobactor or lacto infection.

 

[rico567]

No. Star San is stable if mixed according to directions in water that doesn't raise the ph >3. Testing the pH is the only test for Star San approved by the manufacturer. Cloudy doesn't do it, any more than bubbles are a measure of æration as opposed to using a hydrometer to get some actual numbers.

My own experience is that I can leave Star San mixed up over the Winter (starting about now, I'm done brewing until late March - early April) and it'll be just fine (I check using pH test strips available from finer brewing outlets everywhere) come Spring when I get the pipeline flowing again.

 

[BamaRooster]

I mix up 5 gallon batches and store in a cool place with a lid and have had no issues. I have read that cloudy starsan mixture may have gone bad but the only way to be sure is to check the ph with a test strip or other method. If it's cloudy I would test it.

 

[Leeds1]

The cloudy mix is just odd to me, I've mixed star San plenty of time prior to this with my water and it has always been clear. I've also let it sit for months at a time with no problems either.

I think I'll get a new bottle of Star San, toss all of my soft plastic gear and hit my fermenter with some oxy free, bleach and then sanitizer. If it is an infection I'm hoping this will knock it out.

 

[unionrdr]

You don't need to toss the bottle of starsan. Nothing could live in concentrated phosphoric acid. If they could,we'd all be in serious trouble. Clean the plastic stuff really well,no need to toss it either. Don't make it expensive when you don't have to.
But keep in mind,it is the time of year for the furnace to be on. Dusty duct work can blow nasties all over the house. So keep buckets covered,smaller brewing stuff put away. And sanitize with a spray bottle as you go this time of year especially.