Star-San Question

[talleymonster]

I have a bunch of Stone and Rogue 22oz bottles that I want to clean and remove the "labels" from. I was just going to soak them for a day or two in my bottling bucket with Star-San. But now that I think about it, if Star-San will peel the paint off the bottles, what will it do to my bucket over prolonged direct contact? Should I use a different vessel?

Also, I've read about people storing and re-using their Star-San solutions. This would be nice considering the price of Star-San. How do you guys go about doing this? Does the solution lose strength at all over time?

 

[Barley-Davidson]

Just leave it in a bucket and put a lid on it. As long as it still makes bubbles when you agite it, it's still effective.
It doesn't hurt the bucket, nothing to worry about.

 

[FlyGuy]

If you want it to last a long time (i.e. months) you are going to have to use mineral-free water, like distilled water or reverse osmosis water. My LHBS sells RO water for something like 35 - 50 cents/gal, so it is really worth it. If you have your own RO system at home, even better!

Watch for two things to see if it is still good to use:
1. it should be clear, not cloudy
2. the pH should be below 3.5 for it to remain effective (pH strips come in handy) -- if it rises above 3.5, just add a few drops of undiluted StarSan until it comes down and it is good to go again.

 

[malkore]

one comment, if you have harder water, the solution will ALWAYS be cloudy, but it still works.
it won't preserve as long though. use FlyGuys' pH info to make sure your star-san is still usable.

 

[hmpitags2006]

If you have harder water just throw some distilled white vinegar in there and that will get your ph to where you need it.

 

[malkore]

i forgot to mention, star san in a spray bottle...works great and really makes a little go a long way. i use it on the outsides of my auto siphon, thief, bucket lid...anything that requires a lot of sanitizer to clean because of size.

in the interview with the inventor of star san, he states it only really takes 30 seconds of contact time to sanitize. the EPA makes them state 2-3 minutes. i was bored at work last week and listened to the entire 2 hour show.