Star San question

[eriktlupus]

i buy 1 gal bottles of water in a #1recyclable bottle and mix SS in it, it will usually keep for 3 mo before i'm out or need to make more

 

[bull8042]

I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but..... If you are trying to store a little mixed StarSan for convenience like the wine thief scenario, then that makes sense. But financially speaking, it doesn't make much sense. $16.99 for 32oz (AHB) equates to $0.53 per oz which makes 5 gallons of solution. Use it then dump it out. Why spend $5.00 for distilled water plus $0.53 for StarSan, store it..... hopefully in the proper conditions to preserve its effectiveness and risk pissing away $30 or $40 plus a whole brew day because you infected your brew?
Then again, that is just my opinion.....

 

[JesseRC]

Just a noob putting in my new 2 cents: Buying 5 gallons of distilled water at walmart at 60 cents a gallon is worth it if your gonna save it. I've had mine for 2 weeks stored in a corny and have used it for 2 brews and transfering to kegs. Before this i had mixed results with it being immediately cloudy when mixing. What I found is that you should not use hot or warm water from TAP, since the water heater is going to give concentrated levels of minerals and hard water and will contribute to your cloudy star san. When I used cold water, the star san mixture came out pretty clear, but if you want a sure thing use distilled water. Another reason to use distilled water is if your gone mix up some star san to use in a spray bottle for like sanitising the corny post and connections, for this scenario you really want star san to remain as clear and viable as possible.

 

[conpewter]

I have a water softener and when I mix star-san it never gets cloudy, so if you have hard water you may be able to bum some water off a neighbor that has a water softener and that way it is more convenient and cheaper

 

[Dagatris]

I made 2.5 gallons with distilled water a few weeks ago. Picked up some PH testing strips (like $2 for a pack of 100) and will just check the solution in the future.

I was so happy to already have some Starsan mixed up when I started a batch of Apfelwein last week.

 

[pinkfloyd4ever]

does anyone know what kind of shelf life straight, unmixed/undiluted Star San has? I'm about to place an order with AHS. I'm sure 8 oz would last me awhile, but when an 8 oz bottle is $10 and a 32oz bottle (4x bigger for those mathematically impaired) is $17....

However, I don't have time to brew nearly as often as I'd like, so will straight Star San last a couple years?

 

[reddskinnfan]

I did a search here on the shelf life or Star San after you make a solution. The thread I found was one where the maker of Star San himself chimed in. He said that Star San should maintain a PH level of 3 to be working. He said that once the solution turns cloudy it isn't working anymore.

I have used Star San on my last 3 batches and I find it is cloudy as soon as I mix it and remains that way. As far as I'm concerned Star San is always cloudy... What's up with that??

good? bad?

Just use distilled water. Your chlorine level may be high.

That may be good for your beers, but not your sanitizer!

 

[pinkfloyd4ever]

oh cool thanks for answering his 1.5 year old question that already has 4 pages of answers...

does anyone know what kind of shelf life straight, unmixed/undiluted Star San has? I'm about to place an order with AHS. I'm sure 8 oz would last me awhile, but when an 8 oz bottle is $10 and a 32oz bottle (4x bigger for those mathematically impaired) is $17....

I don't have time to brew nearly as often as I'd like, so will straight Star San last a couple years?

....anyone?

 

[mordantly]

does anyone know what kind of shelf life straight, unmixed/undiluted Star San has? I'm about to place an order with AHS. I'm sure 8 oz would last me awhile, but when an 8 oz bottle is $10 and a 32oz bottle (4x bigger for those mathematically impaired) is $17....

However, I don't have time to brew nearly as often as I'd like, so will straight Star San last a couple years?

why wouldn't it? most chemicals last indefinitely.

 

[pinkfloyd4ever]

really? Why do medications all have expiration dates then? And why does the octane in gasoline break down after a few months?

 

[mordantly]

and it's sorta frowned apon to

yourself.

 

[conpewter]

It's anecdotal but I've had my bottle of star-san for a couple of years and it still seems to work fine.

 

[Brew-boy]

RO water works very well too.