Storing sanitized kegs?

[marqoid]

After cleaning and sanitizing my kegs is it okay to leave a little star san in the keg and pressurize it for storage?
It seems that so long as they are closed they would stay sanitary and ready to use for the future.

 

[beerthirty]

once sanitized there is no reason to leave the star san in it, but it wont hurt anything.

 

[shortyjacobs]

I leave a bit in it just to make me feel better. Then I give it one last shake before forcing the last starsan out the out-tube, and fill-er up with beer. Works fine for me, although I've only gone about 5 weeks before I've filled again.

 

[Hammy71]

After my kegs are clean I dump about 1.5 gallons of star-san solution into them. Put on the lid and shake. I leave the solution in them and store them in a corner of the 'man room'. When I need a keg to fill. Pull one out (sometimes after several months....), shake, dump into laundry sink and fill. Every time I've dumped the keg the star-san foams up like the day it was poured in. Get the snake climbing the racking hose, etc.... With nothing to contaminate in a sealed keg, it should last quite a while.

 

[marqoid]

I was concerned because I had read on some other forums that starsan is corrosive to stainless steel and will pit over time. One account said that it had eaten through the keg so far that it wouldn't hold pressure.
It sounds like everyone here think this fear is unfounded.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Ha, yeah, that's bullcrap....Starsan, correctly mixed, will never eat through a keg. Starsan is at pH 3.0-3.5. Coke, which these kegs were DESIGNED to hold, is at pH 2.5-4.2. If Coke doesn't eat through it, Starsan won't.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I was concerned because I had read on some other forums that starsan is corrosive to stainless steel and will pit over time. One account said that it had eaten through the keg so far that it wouldn't hold pressure. It sounds like everyone here think this fear is unfounded.

I read that somewhere too. I don't believe it either.

I always have a 5 gal batch of SS on-hand in a primary bucket. I dump it about every 2 months and make another batch to keep it fresh.

I've been using the same bucket over 2 years now. You would think it would eat through the plastic before stainless steel.

 

[Edcculus]

Ha, yeah, that's bullcrap....Starsan, correctly mixed, will never eat through a keg. Starsan is at pH 3.0-3.5. Coke, which these kegs were DESIGNED to hold, is at pH 2.5-4.2. If Coke doesn't eat through it, Starsan won't.

Great point. I know bleach is bad for stainless, but I really don't see Starsan being an issue. Its really just acid and soap, and when mixed properly, not even a strong acid.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Great point. I know bleach is bad for stainless, but I really don't see Starsan being an issue. Its really just acid and soap, and when mixed properly, not even a strong acid.

And starsan is Phosphoric acid, which IS the acid in coke...so we're talking apples and apples here...