Sanitizing and cleaning with hard water

[BWN]

I have brewed 2 batches so far and thought I was being super careful about sanitizing. I have been using star san and mixing it according to the directions. My water is super hard and it turns cloudy after just a few minutes, which I now know means it is ineffective. What is a good sanitizer to use with hard water? Or cleaner for that matter. I hope the batches i have sitting in the fermentors are not ruined

 

[snowveil]

I use a 5 gallon food-grade bucket and fill it with RO filtered water from the grocery store. 30 cents a gallon and my starsan stays viable for a long time.

 

[theredben]

Remember that when cloudy, star-san's effectiveness is only diminished. It still is somewhat effective, so if you don't have any softer water around it still works. Just make sure things are clean before sanitizing.

 

[BWN]

that looks like the route I will have to go.

 

[theredben]

You can also up the dosage, Palmer states in "How to Brew" that it does not leave any off-flavors even if you increase the amount. I am not sure how much though.

 

[BWN]

everything was cleaned before I sanitized so hopefully everything will be ok. I just bought some RO water for next time.

 

[Hugh_Jass]

I have brewed 2 batches so far and thought I was being super careful about sanitizing. I have been using star san and mixing it according to the directions. My water is super hard and it turns cloudy after just a few minutes, which I now know means it is ineffective. What is a good sanitizer to use with hard water? Or cleaner for that matter. I hope the batches i have sitting in the fermentors are not ruined

StarSan sanitizes by its Ph not its clarity. I, like you, have hard water. StarSan becomes translucent almost immediately after mixing. I've used it the better part of three years with this same water. I also have stored the solution for weeks and tested it with a meter. Solution was still in the sanitizing range. So long as the solution remains below 2.5 it's doing its job.

 

[BWN]

I was assuming that the clarity was an indicator of increased PH. I had read that on the forums. I guess I should get some test strips.

 

[Sarrsipius]

I too have extremely hard water (21 grains hard which is basicaly crunchy) and I have used star san for 2 years with not a single contaminated batch. I use the recomended amount per gal without any problem. I've never tested the Ph but would love to see how long it stays in the effective range.

 

[shortyjacobs]

People get confused on this. Here's the truth:

If it's no longer effective, it will be cloudy.

If it's cloudy, it MAY or MAY NOT still be effective.

Cloudiness does not mean it's not effective, however it's impossible to have uneffective starsan (read: starsan over pH 2.5), that isn't cloudy.

Make sense?

 

[samc]

People get confused on this. Here's the truth:

If it's no longer effective, it will be cloudy.

If it's cloudy, it MAY or MAY NOT still be effective.

Cloudiness does not mean it's not effective, however it's impossible to have uneffective starsan (read: starsan over pH 2.5), that isn't cloudy.

Make sense?

Why that's perfectly clear!

 

[jaythebassist]

If yours is cloudy and you're concerned, then take a small sample and dip a pH strip in it to see where it falls in the scale. Needs a pH of 3.0 or less to be effective, I believe.

 

[TStMartin]

If you're that worried about it, I use iodophor with extremly hard water and never have an issue.