Longevity of StarSan

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pwndabear

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I've lurked a bit but maybe stupidly missed it:

What is the shelf life of a spray bottle of starsan?
 
Quite awhile. Once is starts to look cloudy you might want to think about pitching it (it's from a pH change I believe). Though, it could look slightly cloudy as soon as you mix it depending on your water chemistry. Should be fine for a couple of months, though. The following thread is a pretty good look at Star San longvity: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/star-san-cloudiness-lab-report-103337/ it deals with the cloudiness issue.
 
I save whole buckets of star san mix and re-use them for about 2-3 brews, including my kegging days in between. Never had a problem. I usually dump it once I start seeing stuff floating in it.
 
As noted above, the cloudiness is just the mineral reaction with the water. The pH is what really matters.
 
Some rep from the company that makes StarSan was on BrewStrong a while back. He said that it is in fact the PH that matters - but that cloudy StarSan is an indication that the PH is off.
 
Get some low pH-range (2-5ish) test strips. They're cheap - a lot cheaper than more StarSan. As long as they're testing in the low-3 range, you can keep using it.

At the rate I'm going (4 batches plus bottling since i mixed it up last?), I'm thinking my 32-oz bottle of Starsan will last me many years...

-g
 
I mix 3 gal at a time in a bucket, with distilled water from the grocery store, and measure with a syringe. It never gets cloudy or stops killing. I end up dumping the last galllon or so because it ends up with particles of "junk" floating in it--probably due to the drunken dishwasher waving his arms madly over the open bucket. I have kept it for 3 or so months.
 
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