Star San in spray bottle
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thehaze
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It's good for at least a couple of months. I havenøt kept for longer.
specialkayme
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When I use tap water, it lasts for a month or two. Then the solution breaks down the spray bottle and it won't work anymore.
When I use distilled water, it lasts until I run out. Sometimes a few months, sometimes six, sometimes longer. I would bet it would last longer, but it's all used up in that time frame.
When I use distilled water, it lasts until I run out. Sometimes a few months, sometimes six, sometimes longer. I would bet it would last longer, but it's all used up in that time frame.
teesherv
Well-Known Member
Another vote for distilled water. I buy a gallon, add 6mL to the jug, shake, and use. Pour some into a spray bottle, use the rest to sanitize larger items. Lasts months until I use up the gallon jug.
Tap water it gets cloudy after a while. Ro water it stays clear for months . I haven't tried distilled water yet . I'll use distilled next time .
I use the same star san for months - my tap water is very nearly RO water so I'm lucky in that regard
With a spray bottle, I will caution you to buy a high quality bottle. I've gone through about 5 cheap ones because the acid eats away the spring inside the spray nozzle plunger and it'll stop spraying after just a couple weeks.
With a spray bottle, I will caution you to buy a high quality bottle. I've gone through about 5 cheap ones because the acid eats away the spring inside the spray nozzle plunger and it'll stop spraying after just a couple weeks.
Yep. There's a $1 sprayer and the $4 sprayer at Home Depot (might have been Lowe's). I went through ALL of the cheap ones until I started buying the better ones. Spend the extra money.
Also, if you use these spray bottles for other stuff around your house, add a couple of drops of food coloring to make sure you're not spraying window cleaner or RoundUp in your beer.
I used to mix about 2-3 gallons at a time and keep in a 5 gallon water bottle. I just topped up when getting low. I used tap water. Where I lived the water was very good and the Starsan stayed clear. The bottle was never fully emptied for over 6 years. I filled my spray bottles from the water bottle. I got some pH strips and checked the acidity periodically. It never changed significantly.
I recently read an article that was posted in Homebrew Finds (I think) on Facebook. It said to buy the 8 ounce bottle because the shelf life was 1-2 years. I got 7+ out of my 16 ounce bottle and zero infections.
Spray bottles are not precision instruments, I had one bottle that gave up in about 2 weeks, one bottle lasted 5 years and the present one is pushing 2 years. YMMV.
I recently read an article that was posted in Homebrew Finds (I think) on Facebook. It said to buy the 8 ounce bottle because the shelf life was 1-2 years. I got 7+ out of my 16 ounce bottle and zero infections.
Spray bottles are not precision instruments, I had one bottle that gave up in about 2 weeks, one bottle lasted 5 years and the present one is pushing 2 years. YMMV.
+1 on the Zep bottles--had mine for years and they're still good. The dollar store bottles are junk. Use RO or distilled for Starsan, the mix will last years.
Soulshine2
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quite a long time. As long as it holds its pH (~3?) its good.
Soulshine2
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as a carryover from a couple decades of work related OSHA training, I label everything with a sharpie as to its contents.
jack13
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Yep, distilled water and a quality spray bottle.
LittleRiver
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A 5gal bucket of StarSan made with distilled water is one of my most used brewing tools.
I put a gamma seal lid on it, so the lid can be opened/closed quickly and easily.
I put a gamma seal lid on it, so the lid can be opened/closed quickly and easily.
Try tap water, if it doesn't work then distilled. A quality spray bottle, but be prepared to buy another one, none are precision instruments.
I just mixed Starsan and our regular tap water and haven't had any issues. My understanding is to pitch it once it gets cloudy, but I've had a spray bottle at the ready for years now and haven't seen any cloudiness or had any problems with sanitization.
Cloudiness is a factor of what is in the water. My Rhode Island tap water never got cloudy. Here in Florida it is a bit cloudy straight away. As long as the pH is 3.0 or lower it is still good regardless of cloudiness. That is unless the cloudiness is brewing debris.
I use a spray bottle of Starsan to kill ants! Very effective and can spray it on anything, but usually it is the kitchen counters. For brewing I always just kept a 5g bucket half full and threw the equipment in.
lewandowski46
Well-Known Member
I make 1 gal at a time with RO then fill two Zap spray bottles. I keep one in the brewery and the other in the kitchen with the left over kept in a glass growler under the sink in the brewery for refills. My wife uses it to sanitize the kitchen counters and equipment after processing raw meats or cooking and what not. I brew once a week a 1 gallon batch never lasts more than a week or two.
I've made 5 gallon batches in a corny keg made with RO and kept it sealed up for months and it was still good to use.
I've made 5 gallon batches in a corny keg made with RO and kept it sealed up for months and it was still good to use.
postalbunny
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Everyone mixing 2-3, or 5 gallon batches is on point... but if you don't have a bucket to keep 5 gallons around you can just pickup a $1 jug of distilled or RO water at grocery store. Put the starsan in the top, mix it up. Then refill your spray bottle from that.
Many of us keep a bit more than 5 gallons of Star San mix on hand for purging kegs.
Can't do that with a spray bottle...
Cheers!
Can't do that with a spray bottle...
Cheers!
homebrewfinds
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6 ml of star san in a gallon of distilled water. Loads of info here... http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2011/09/tip-using-star-san-in-spray-bottle.html
postalbunny
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Ditto... usually only remake it every 3 months or so. But just wanted to throw that out there for people that may have issues fetching 5g of RO water, or justifying the $1 for water if they can't keep a 5gallon bucket of it around.
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Try just plain tap water first. If the pH stays at 3.0 or lower it will work even if it gets cloudy.
postalbunny
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Not gonna lie.. I've used normal tap water and kept the batch over a period of time. But I've also done things with no starsan and not had an infection (dropping random adjuncts into the fermenter, pulling something out of a fermenter with my hands and not sanitizing the fermenter again).
But if you want to be sure you're sanitizer is working i'd suggest pony up the $1 for a gallon of DI water at the grocery store. It's good insurance to be sure. If you have room for a 5 gallon bucket or corney most of the DI water stations charge only $1 for 5 gallons. That's my preferred method... and i push the sani inbetween kegs and store in a keg or 5gallon bucket. I also keep a spray bottle around and refill it .. but always from DI water so i know i'm good to go.
Supposedly from a 5star rep:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/3w3aqf/how_long_does_star_san_hold_up/
"The cloudy solution could be okay, but it could be bad. The cloudiness is the surfactant coming out of solution. It has reacted, or is reacting with the metals in the water. I don’t know if it is still good, because I don’t know how much surfactant has reacted. I error on the side of caution and suggest that you don’t even mess with it. Use DI water.”
homebrewfinds
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The cloudiness issue comes up again and again. I relayed that quote and it is indeed from Star San. Recently they modified this a bit saying if it is slightly cloudy it's probably okay. The current info is all detailed in my post What's the Shelf Life of Star San. That whole post has been vetted by 5 star. The bigger issue that I got during that whole back and forth with them was a stated shelf life of about two years. Because of that, it makes about 0 sense for me to buy the 32 ounce size. Probably the case for a lot of brewers... IF they use the spray bottle technique.
With my tap water, the star san turns cloudy. Items I take out of it feel slimy. I don't want this slime to dry on the equipment - could be hard to clean off, and probably even harder to tell if it's clean or not. So I use distilled water.
My tap water turns the solution slightly cloudy, I get no slimy feel from it. When I lived in RI the water did not turn the Starsan cloudy. I had a 16 ounce bottle and used it for 7 years. I checked the pH of the solution through out the whole time and by the 3.0 or lower criteria it stayed good the whole time. In fact for 6 1/2 years I just topped up my bottle. One infected 12 ounce bottle in that time.
I hope the shelf life is longer than 2 years because I bought the 32 ounce bottle before seeing the mention of a shelf life...... At any rate I am going to use it for years unless I detect any problem with it.
I hope the shelf life is longer than 2 years because I bought the 32 ounce bottle before seeing the mention of a shelf life...... At any rate I am going to use it for years unless I detect any problem with it.
I've been using my bottle of Starsan for years. And I always use tap water. The thing is I haven't brewed in almost 3 years now and got the itch to start again in retirement. Maybe I'll buy a fresh bottle, and a few other fresh things, like some new buckets and tubing and such. These things don't last forever.
tegman
Well-Known Member
I keep a 5 gallon batch of Star San in an old priming bucket. When I hit the four gallon mark I add a gallon of distilled and 6 mL of Star San. I check the ph periodically and filter the solution when it's running from the spigot into my fermenter.
