Keeping Star San

[leftcontact]

Out of curiosity, where do you fine people keep your excess star San? I figured that I could keep a bottling bucket filled with it, and just fill up a spray bottle from the tap when needed, but the plastic valve on the bottling bucket cracked and I wound up with a really sanitary garage floor.

I got the bucket and valve second hand, so that crack could easily have been there before hand; before I go potentially wrecked another valve, is there something I am doing wrong? I know star Stan is acidic, could it have eaten through the valve?

 

[shoengine]

I keep it in the bottle it comes in. I only mix it fresh as I need it as I have no idea how it reacts over time.

 

[brandonnys]

I just bought a food grade bucket and lid from Ace Hardware and use that. No valves. When I fill up my spray bottles, I use an autosiphon, typically.

 

[IslandLizard]

Sorry about the mess.

If it's a regular plastic bottling bucket valve I doubt Starsan destroyed it. Did you examine the broken valve and where it cracked? That should give you a clue to what happened.

I ended up with 3 bottling buckets over the years, but since I keg, I never need one.
I'm leery of using them for keeping water or Starsan in perpetually. Too many times I've stepped on that little valve. One time one of them leaked very slowly, still enough to be a nuisance.

 

[Dcpcooks]

If you use distilled water and keep it covered star San will hold for several weeks or more.

Without distilled water the surfactant will drop out of solution and the water will cloud up and get slimy.

 

[flars]

I keep Star San solution in well rinsed one gallon vinegar jugs. Heavier duty than distilled water jugs and designed to hold a weak acid. As long as the solution remains at or slightly lower than a pH of 3.0 the solution is effective.

 

[leftcontact]

Sorry about the mess.

If it's a regular plastic bottling bucket valve I doubt Starsan destroyed it. Did you examine the broken valve and where it cracked? That should give you a clue to what happened.

I ended up with 3 bottling buckets over the years, but since I keg, I never need one.
I'm leery of using them for keeping water or Starsan in perpetually. Too many times I've stepped on that little valve. One time one of them leaked very slowly, still enough to be a nuisance.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1493311988.933566.jpg see image. Cracked near where my finger is.

 

[IslandLizard]

View attachment 398203 see image. Cracked near where my finger is.

That looks like it was caused by stress from the force exerted by the threaded nut. Sheered off cleanly.
Must have been a weak spot in manufacture. I'd expect the plastic threads to start stripping out way before cracking the housing.

BTW, the outer barrel wall looks really thin there on the bottom of the threads.

 

[bleme]

I keep mine in a 5 gallon PET water jug. I have noticed that the plastic cap on Star San concentrate always rots so the concentrate does affect some plastics.

 

[IslandLizard]

I keep mine in a 5 gallon PET water jug. I have noticed that the plastic cap on Star San concentrate always rots so the concentrate does affect some plastics.

Or more likely, those caps are crap!
I replaced mine with much sturdier ones.

 

[bajaedition]

I seem to always have a few gallons mixed up stored in plastic buckets, no prob, and have found a 3 year old bottle of the concentrate on its side in a plastic storage container in my garage a few years after I had moved, the top was fine.
I do not know the shelf life of it however, concentrated or diluted

I do remember an episode of Breaking Bad where they used a bathtub for an acid and it had a bad effect on that.

 

[EPbrew]

I normally mix it in a bottling bucket and then fill up a few growlers since I've normally got a bunch laying around.

 

[pshankstar]

I have two home depot buckets dedicated to holding Star San. They have been working great. I keep them labeled so I don't mix anything else in them when they are empty.

 

[jwelch1103]

I keep mine in the gallon distilled water jugs I make it from. It lasts a long time stored in my basement.

 

[Murphys_Law]

I mix 2.5 gallon batches using distilled and keep it in a homer bucket.

 

[TeamAshBrewing]

I start a fresh batch of star san when sanitizing a fermenter. Transfer that to a keg on brew day and a little for a spray bottle.
Transfer from keg to fermenter and this becomes a sanitized keg for the beer just made. Repeat until the star san is dirty or old.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

If you use distilled water and keep it covered star San will hold for several weeks or more.

Without distilled water the surfactant will drop out of solution and the water will cloud up and get slimy.

The cloudiness of Star San doesn't really tell you anything about it's effectiveness. You have to measure the pH to determine if it's still effective or not. I use my tap water and the Star San turns cloudy immediately.

The manufacturer states that once mixed it's good for 3-4 weeks when stored in a sealed container and the pH remains below 3.0.

I mix up 5 gallons at a time, store it in an old fermenting bucket with a drum tap, and fill my spray bottles from the tap.

I've actually probably stored some for over a month, but I've never had to dump it because the pH got so high it was no longer effective, more just that stuff had collected in it over time.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I just keep a couple of spray bottles full of it for quick sanitizing when I need it. I know it has a shelf life once mixed, so I refresh those bottles whenever I mix up a new batch whether they're empty or not.

 

[flars]

I haven't seen any data from the manufacturer of Star San that the solution has a shelf life. Effectiveness is pH dependent.

 

[alexnova]

I keep mine in an old corny and mix 5gal at a time. I check the pH every time I draw some off. So far it has kept very well.

 

[Dcpcooks]

The cloudiness of Star San doesn't really tell you anything about it's effectiveness. You have to measure the pH to determine if it's still effective or not. I use my tap water and the Star San turns cloudy immediately.



The manufacturer states that once mixed it's good for 3-4 weeks when stored in a sealed container and the pH remains below 3.0.



I mix up 5 gallons at a time, store it in an old fermenting bucket with a drum tap, and fill my spray bottles from the tap.



I've actually probably stored some for over a month, but I've never had to dump it because the pH got so high it was no longer effective, more just that stuff had collected in it over time.

Your correct, regarding the ph is the absolute judge of effectiveness of star San and 3.5 is the number.

You sent me down the rabbit hole today. I was always suspect of the slim that's created by star San once it got cloudy. I assumed it was bad. It's actually iron binding with the detergent in star San. So it's actually a concentrated iron soap. It's also a food for yeast.

I woke up with a taste for ramen so I've been at the market or in the kitchen all day. I was waiting for the pork belly to finish and I found the old brewing network podcast of the owner of five star. It's a cool listen.
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/post1827/

Gonna go eat some belly ramen and drink a few. Cheers!

 

[DurtyChemist]

I store mine in spare kegs. It's pretty easy to rack it to a bucket as needed then rack it back after. It minimizes the amount of foaming so the 5.25 gallons lasts a long time. I can also fill my spray bottle while racking or take some straight from the keg if I want to.

I also keep a small mason jar of StarSan with my 0.5 micron oxygenation stone in it too after reading about doing that here. It's pretty handy to have a small amount near by for small sanitation jobs or having a keg for larger jobs. I just sanitized my wine thief and hydrometer in a keg before taking a sample. Almost no loss of StarSan back into the keg when draining the wine thief.

 

[Summers]

I have used a few different spray bottles for my left over star san and I have found these work out very nice,

 

[passedpawn]

^^ this guy. I've been doing this a long time and I brew a lot, and I have never mixed up a bucket of starsan. Been spraying forever.

BTW, that sprayer he posted is $6 at home depot. I have several.

One more thing: add a few drops of red food coloring to it if you also use identical spraybottles full of bug killer and Roundup. When mixed, they all look the same. I keep a food coloring kit by the utility sink just for this purpose.

 

[Summers]

I keep a roll of these stickers around, my wife thinks it a little much, but I am an EHS officer. I tell her ya but you never have to ask me what is in this bottle.

 

[leftcontact]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1494377748.139186.jpgthose stickers are awesome, but I feel I've got my labeling sufficiently covered, thanks. I went ahead and got a new valve for the bucket, and all is presumably well; I was just worried that the acid of the star san was going to eat through the rubber and plastic. Sounds like I'm good. Thanks, everybody.

 

[kh54s10]

I keep mine in a 5 gallon water bottle. I top it up a couple of gallons when it gets low. It has never been totally emptied. I just check the pH with test strips before use. It has never gone bad. I also just use my tap water.

 

[IslandLizard]

I keep mine in a 5 gallon water bottle. I top it up a couple of gallons when it gets low. It has never been totally emptied. I just check the pH with test strips before use. It has never gone bad. I also just use my tap water.

Does the Starsan in your water storage bottle get cloudy?

After a week or so I get a white "powdery" precipitate on the bottom of my buckets, and also on everything in it. It rinses off easily, but I'm still clueless as to what it consists of. I expect it to be minerals from the water binding with some agent in the Starsan. The cloudy Starsan still seems to work fine.

I use regular tap water too, our water is fairly soft.

 

[kh54s10]

Does the Starsan in your water storage bottle get cloudy?

After a week or so I get a white "powdery" precipitate on the bottom of my buckets, and also on everything in it. It rinses off easily, but I'm still clueless as to what it consists of. I expect it to be minerals from the water binding with some agent in the Starsan. The cloudy Starsan still seems to work fine.

I use regular tap water too, our water is fairly soft.

My town water seems to be incredibly good both for brewing and for Starsan. It has never gotten cloudy. What I have in the bottle now was mixed at least 5 months ago and it is perfectly clear.

I have only made water adjustments 3-4 times out of 93 batches and experienced no big differences.

 

[IslandLizard]

My town water seems to be incredibly good both for brewing and for Starsan. It has never gotten cloudy. What I have in the bottle now was mixed at least 5 months ago and it is perfectly clear.

I have only made water adjustments 3-4 times out of 93 batches and experienced no big differences.

Lucky you!

I noticed when I let the Starsan sit longer (say, a month or more) it becomes crystal clear as the precipitate collects on the bottom. There's a short period within that month (after ~1 week) where it becomes weirdly slick, but that slickness disappears after another week or so. Maybe more agents precipitate out, leaving a solution of mere phosphoric acid behind. It still seems to sanitize well I never found anything growing in it. I've become less frugal with Starsan after buying a gallon jug of concentrate last year. Only used about 12 ounces of it so far.

 

[kh54s10]

Lucky you!

I noticed when I let the Starsan sit longer (say, a month or more) it becomes crystal clear as the precipitate collects on the bottom. There's a short period within that month (after ~1 week) where it becomes weirdly slick, but that slickness disappears after another week or so. Maybe more agents precipitate out, leaving a solution of mere phosphoric acid behind. It still seems to sanitize well I never found anything growing in it. I've become less frugal with Starsan after buying a gallon jug of concentrate last year. Only used about 12 ounces of it so far.

WOW! I guess you are less frugal with it. I am still on my original 16 ounce bottle that I bought in the summer of 2011!!!

 

[rbkohn]

I mix mine in a gallon glass jug that previously held apple cider and a 32oz spray bottle. I don't worry about the cloudiness, I check the ph before I use it if it's been sitting for awhile.

 

[dcbw]

And then a house centipede sneaks into the bucket and it gets all cloudy but you can't tell if it was the water or time or what and then you're fishing around for a stopper and you pull up a slimy gray shrimp thing and throw up a little in your mouth and dump the bucket and make another.

Repeat forever.

 

[leftcontact]

And then a house centipede sneaks into the bucket and it gets all cloudy but you can't tell if it was the water or time or what and then you're fishing around for a stopper and you pull up a slimy gray shrimp thing and throw up a little in your mouth and dump the bucket and make another.

Repeat forever.

Oddly specific, but will keep an eye out for centipedes.

 

[Bradlo]

I store mixed starsan in the plastic LME bottles. Those things are pretty handy, I also use them as ice packs for cooling wort and maintaining fermentation temp.

 

[suzuki98]

how do you check the ph of star san?

 

[ChefRex]

how do you check the ph of star san?

With a PH meter