Sanitizer in spray bottle

[mark1765]

I see a lot of guys doing this to spray things down before bottling or transferring from primary to secondary. My question is how long does it stay active and does it hurt anything to leave it in there for extended amount of time?

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I usually keep it in there for 2-3 brews, which usually ends up being a month or two. At which point I use a dropper or small syringe to mix another liter or so of starsan solution.

It's good as long as it's ph stays below 3 I believe. Hard to tell when that is without a ph meter though. It'll stay good longer than I use I'm sure, but it's cheap and goes a long way. It'll stay even longer if you use distilled water.

 

[Slow_Day]

Generally, StarSan stays active on a surface as long as it is wet. No problems with extended contact time.

 

[Slow_Day]

As for storage life, it depends on the water source. Tap water solutions will lose their effectiveness after a few weeks. Distilled water extends the effectiveness much longer, if not indefinitely.

 

[gbx]

And this works with star san. It will stay good for months if you mix it with distilled or RO water. Do not even consider doing this with something like One Step.

 

[jdieter]

Just checked my Star San yesterdaay after 9 months in the spray bottle and the ph was 2.3, it made with RO water.

 

[danath34]

I usually keep it in there for 2-3 brews, which usually ends up being a month or two. At which point I use a dropper or small syringe to mix another liter or so of starsan solution.

It's good as long as it's ph stays below 3 I believe. Hard to tell when that is without a ph meter though. It'll stay good longer than I use I'm sure, but it's cheap and goes a long way. It'll stay even longer if you use distilled water.

This, except how long it stays effective in a spray bottle doesn't depend on the water. Given the mineral content of the water, it's either going to have a low enough pH or it isn't. As long as nothing is being added or removed from the solution, it'll stay at the same pH as when it was first mixed up.

It's pretty difficult to have water hard enough that the standard dilution of StarSan isn't acidic enough. However, StarSan made with hard water will not last as long if it's being used to dunk things in, as each time you dunk something you use up some acidity. But being in a spray bottle this won't happen, so as long as the pH is good, it should last indefinitely. Or at least longer than it'll take to use it up