So if I get a PH test jar and drops...I'm good to go! Sweet!
honestly, I went through almost 3/4 of my iodophor on my 1st 2 batches. Mind you I was meticulous about making new sanitizer every single time I would test my wort, transfer, etc.
I have heard it is good for up to a month, but I have no way to prove/disprove that
I went to a homebrew class at my LHBS and they had the brewmaster from Port Jefferson Brewing company doing the class. He didn't mention how long Star San stays viable but he keeps buckets of Iodophor laying around the brewery so he can just toss something in if it needs to be sanitized. He said it will stay viable for quite some time.
If you use distilled water, star-san will last a LONG time. Months.
What I do is mix up one gallon, using the jug the distilled water comes in. You use 1/4 oz of star-san, and then just give it a shake. Use it, and then pour it back into the jug. One gallon will easily last me over a month, and I put some in a spray bottle to give my turkey baster (my "wine thief") a spray inside and out. I end up spilling most of it before it becomes ineffective!
You can't save other sanitizers, though, like Iodophor. They lose effectiveness fast.
If you use distilled water, star-san will last a LONG time. Months.
What I do is mix up one gallon, using the jug the distilled water comes in. You use 1/4 oz of star-san, and then just give it a shake. Use it, and then pour it back into the jug. One gallon will easily last me over a month, and I put some in a spray bottle to give my turkey baster (my "wine thief") a spray inside and out. I end up spilling most of it before it becomes ineffective!
You can't save other sanitizers, though, like Iodophor. They lose effectiveness fast.
I do this with my star-san too, but I notice that after one or two re-uses, it starts to get cloudy, and I read that cloudy is bad. So as soon as I see it turn cloudy, I pitch it (I don't have ph strips or a meter or anything)...Am I overreacting?
Excellent info. Do you think if I have a bucket with lid I can keep 5g. of starsan solution for this long as well?
I do this with my star-san too, but I notice that after one or two re-uses, it starts to get cloudy, and I read that cloudy is bad. So as soon as I see it turn cloudy, I pitch it (I don't have ph strips or a meter or anything)...Am I overreacting?
I've also heard that. If you use distilled water, it shouldn't turn cloudy. If you don't have a pH meter or strips, I wouldn't save it once it turns cloudy.
I've also heard that. If you use distilled water, it shouldn't turn cloudy. If you don't have a pH meter or strips, I wouldn't save it once it turns cloudy.
Hmmm..Ok thanks. Weird that mine (using distilled) turns cloudy so quickly. Perhaps Pocono Springs Distilled Water is hoodwinking me
That is curious. A quick google confirms for me that the clouding is a reaction to CaCO3. Which is also responsible for the hardness of the water.
Another quick Google finds a 1990 Recall where Pocono was involved because the water had Kerosene and Benzene contaminates. So, Pocono does have a history of hoodwinking.
IIRC, Iodophor has an 8 hour solution "life".
Several posters have said that a Star San solution remains good so long as the pH remains low. I listened to an interview of Charley Talley, creator of StarSan, and it's not clear to me that this is correct. He says in the interview that the killing power of StarSan comes from the combination of the acidic aspect and the anionic soaping aspect (he had a different name for the soaping aspect--detergent, surfactant?--I can't remember). He specifically says that either alone is inadequate, and if I heard him correctly, he says that what's degraded by hard water is the ionic soaping aspects. He said that using distilled water, which lacks the minerals that degrade the anionic properties, would result in a very long-lasting solution. Me, I don't know, but if I heard him correctly, it is not the case that you can assume effectiveness of a low pH StarSan solution. I should go find the link to that interview, but it's on here somewhere. Anyway, my takeaway was cloudy solution = ineffective sanitation.
It bothers me that I used distilled water and no matter what, by the time my brew process is up, the water is cloudy, so I dump it. That shouldn't be happening.
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