How long does sanitizer last

[kb6m]

Hi all,
I will be doing quite a bit of brewing in the next 6 weeks, or so. I have a week long fishing trip (with 12 other guys) coming up and I need to lay in a decent stock. I was wondering how long IDOPHOR sanitizer will last. If I bottle on a Tuesday, will it still be usable Saturday when I brew the next batch?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[amandabab]

if you make it with distilled water and keep it cold, forever.
If you have cloramine/clorine in your water or hard water and store it at room temps, 24hours. stored in the dark maybe 48


The iodine is much more stable in high concentrations (above contact sanitizer levels)

 

[gmcastil]

I keep a 5 gallon batch of Star-San for a month or so in a Home Depot bucket. Before each use, I verify that the pH is in the appropriate range using some pH test strips.

 

[BigBlueDog]

Monitor the color of the solution. If it no longer has the brownish tint, it's time to make a new batch because the iodine has come out of solution.

As no-rinse sanitizers go, Starsan generally has a longer shelf life in dilute form.

 

[ACbrewer]

I've kept mine over 2 or 3 months, but it's 1 Sealed and 2 in the dark. I made it with tap water. I do check the color as BigBlueDog said (and the instructions). I also mix a little heavy, instead of a 1 tsp/1.5gall, probably 1tsp/1gal.

Anyhow, still looks amber on Sunday you should be ok. I also 'dump' when I bottle, meaning I rinse about 6 or so bottles and the dump that out. But I also only use about 1oz per set.

 

[kb6m]

Thanks for all the answers. If it's going to be more than a day, or two, I'll just go ahead and make a new bucket full.

Thanks again,
Greg