Making a small sanitizer

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Kassad

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If I wanted to check gravity after a couple days how would I make just a small amount of sanitizer solution? Could I mix a little bit of hydrogen peroxide with distilled water, or just use some distilled water?
 
I would take a look at StarSan if I was you. You can mix up a spray bottle and just spray things that you need sanitised and it is no rinse so it is super convenient.
 
Does the liquid eventually need to be emptied (ie. when does it lose its effectiveness)?
 
Does the liquid eventually need to be emptied (ie. when does it lose its effectiveness)?



I can’t speak for how long it will last. I go through about 1/2 qt on brew day sanitizing fermenting buckets, lids, stirring spoon, Thermopen, and I fill my air locks with it.
On bottling day I go through about a whole quart on bottling bucket, racking cane, wine thief, bottles etc. I also let my caps soak in some until I go to cap the bottles.
 
+1 for StarSan in a spray bottle.
1.5ml/qt water.
I do this too. For my particlar bottle its 1.15ml star san to the bottles 25 fl oz fill line.

Does the liquid eventually need to be emptied (ie. when does it lose its effectiveness)?
You can read on posts in this forum or google all about star san shelf life, it's good until the pH comes above a certain point... I don't remember what that is off the top of my head.

If you mix with distilled/ro water it will last a very long time. I also store it away from light.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sta...HUnTD0AQrQIIMygEMAA&biw=1760&bih=847&dpr=1.09
 
+1 for Starsan, the best of both worlds- cheap and effective, a rare combination!

I use distilled water to make five gallons, buying 5 gallon jugs. I make that much so I can sanitized cleaned cornie kegs usually doing 10 or more kegs at a time. After the last one is sanitized I put it back into the gallon jugs, usually ending up with 4 3/4 gallons, Then use these to fill spray bottles, sanitize bottles, etc.

This is not exactly on post but I bring this up because I recently found a forgotten jug of used starsan that was almost 15 months old. It was clear so I checked its pH and it was under 3, about 2.7 iirc.

So if it is made right, and stored right its efficacy will last a very long time.+1 for Starsan, the best of both worlds- cheap and effective, a rare combination!

I use distilled water to make five gallons, buying 5 gallon jugs. I make that much so I can sanitized cleaned cornie kegs usually doing 10 or more kegs at a time. After the last one is sanitized I put it back into the gallon jugs, usually ending up with 4 3/4 gallons, Then use these to fill spray bottles, sanitize bottles, etc.

This is not exactly on post but I bring this up because I recently found a forgotten jug of used starsan that was almost 15 months old. It was clear so I checked its pH and it was under 3, about 2.7 iirc.

So if it is made right, and stored right its efficacy will last a very long time.
 
Wow I can't believe how efficient you guys are with your sanitizer. I mix up a full 5 gallons for dunking and soaking parts on brew day, rinse out my fermonster with about 2 quarts, then dump it all down the sink when I'm done. I feel like such a jerk. Bottling day will be a different story, thanks for setting me straight.
 
Does the liquid eventually need to be emptied (ie. when does it lose its effectiveness)?



I’ve had the same solution of Star San for the past three years in a spray bottle. It will be obvious when you need to make a new solution; it will start to be cloudy. Otherwise you’re good to go.
 
I’ve had the same solution of Star San for the past three years in a spray bottle. It will be obvious when you need to make a new solution; it will start to be cloudy. Otherwise you’re good to go.

It's my understanding that cloudiness isn't really a good indicator of its efficacy, to really know you need to check its pH.
 
I had a bucket of Star San go cloudy after just a little over a week. Since I don't have a way to check pH (yet) I added a bit more Star San to the bucket but the cloudiness did not go away.
 
Wow I can't believe how efficient you guys are with your sanitizer. I mix up a full 5 gallons for dunking and soaking parts on brew day, rinse out my fermonster with about 2 quarts, then dump it all down the sink when I'm done. I feel like such a jerk. Bottling day will be a different story, thanks for setting me straight.

I almost do the same... I mix up about 5 gallons on brew day to sanitize everything, store it until bottling day and use it to sanitize everything, then dump.

It's not high enough $$ for me to bother storing it long term.
 
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