Star san - good for how long?

[mdawson9]

New brewer here. Using star San for the first time. Made a 5 gal bucket on brew day. Will it last the 3 to 4 weeks until bottling? I planned to use it for siphon, hydrometer, etc. Right now the 5 gal is in my bottling bucket.
Thanks for any insight! So excited about my first brew in almost a decade!

 

[cincydave]

I never had any luck saving it. mine would always get a bunch of minerals in it. I think it may depend on your water. I know others have saved it successfully. I just ended up buying the quart size. much cheaper if you buy a larger bottle.

 

[raven1a]

Put some in a spray bottle for the hydrometer and resanitize the siphon and bottling gear when you're ready to bottle. It's not that expensive and resanitizing the bottling gear will only take an ounce.

 

[oakbarn]

Use distilled water and it will last.

 

[thargrav]

Breweries use it until it turns cloudy then they "bump it" by adding more undiluted StarSan or dump it.

 

[Maltose]

Rule #54: Always use fresh sanitizer.

 

[quick5pnt0]

The rule of thumb I've heard is once it gets cloudy it is time to mix a new batch.

 

[TheBrewinator]

Personally cloudy or not, i just check the pH and if its where its supposed to be, i use it, if not, i make a new batch.

 

[davis119]

Put some in a spray bottle for the hydrometer and resanitize the siphon and bottling gear when you're ready to bottle. It's not that expensive and resanitizing the bottling gear will only take an ounce.

You use an ounce? For 5gl?

 

[Surly]

I mix 1/4 Oz with 1.25 gallons of water and that is all I need for brewing ten gallon batches, kegging, hydrometer checks etc. I use a PH strip to check that my solution remains acidic enough.

I do need to move to distilled water and I will be fine for a long time. I purchase Star San in bulk through my brew clubs buying club and it is cheap, cheap cheap.

 

[Yooper]

I mix 1/4 Oz with 1.25 gallons of water and that is all I need for brewing ten gallon batches, kegging, hydrometer checks etc. I use a PH strip to check that my solution remains acidic enough.

That's what I do- mix up 1.25 gallons at a time, use it and then pour it into my "sanitizer jug"- a jug that distilled water used to make up the sanitizer came in. I keep it and reuse it until it's gone, since I usually manage to spill some of it pouring it back in.

That 1 gallon jug of sanitizer lasts for ages, and I use it all the time for 10 gallon batches. Everything just has to get wet with sanitizer, so a dunk and making sure it's wetted is all that is needed. I also have a spray bottle of sanitizer mixed up- I use it to check the seals on my kegs when kegging, spraying my faucets now and then, spraying my turkey baster for a quick SG check, and for sanitizing scissors when I add my dry hops.

The star-san, once mixed up, will stay effective as long as the pH remains in range, and until it gets cloudy. With distilled water, that is indefinitely.

 

[Markd27]

Hmm, the comments on cloudiness are interesting. Starsan has always been cloudy for me since the second I mix it up, I just use tap water. I will test it with ph strips every once and a while to make sure it's good, but never have had any I've had to dump.

 

[thargrav]

Whenever I mix StarSan it mixes clear but it goes cloudy when the PH starts to rise. I've asked several I know in the microbrewery business and they said that it goes cloudy when the PH starts to rise and they bump the PH back down by adding a little more undiluted StarSan to the mix. They do this a couple of times before throwing the batch out and mixing new.