Storing Starsan in a corny keg

[Shanna]

Hi there,

I recently made up a batch of starSan to clean some brewing equipment and I have died the left over starSan in a corny keg. I had a couple of questions. Is there likely to be a problem with storing this long term in terms of the efficiency being reduced our there being a reaction with the stainless steel of B-) the.keg.

Shanna

[Will_D]

Stainless steel is very resitant to acid attack - so storing Starsan in a corny should not be a problem.

However, Did you use distilled/RO water/de-ionised water to make up your Starsan?

Its important that you do! If you use tap water the Ss will go cloudy and the pH will change over a short length of time (less acidic i.e. wrong way !!)

Stainless Steel does NOT like Chlorine based cleaners like VWP!

Short term no problem but don't leave for more than an hour or so!

HTH

[Shanna]

Hi will

Unfortunately I don't yet have a source of deionised water so I can expect the star San to go cloudy. Other posts I had read suggested that the long term effectiveness of the star San was dependent on the water chemistry (assuming this is related to the levels of dissolved carbonates and sulphates in the water). My main concern is that the corny will not suffer from being filled (worried about the seals) . I will try pick up a reverse osmosis pump or maybe even get a rejoinder installed in the house. I might also get a ph testing kit out strips to see whether the ph is increasing much over time.

Thanks for the heads up vwp. Any issue with using things like icy that have.active oxygen in them?

Shanns

[Will_D]

RO water can be obtained from pet shops that keep fish. They use RO water and then add different salts for either fresh or tropical or cold salt water fishes.

Expect to pay abou €10 for 5 gallons for a fill(your container). Some will sell you the container full for the same price!

If you only want a litre or two for a Starsan spray bottle then they may just give it to you.

Pet shops are also good places to look for pH testers, hardness and calcium test kits.

For the oxy cleaners I use W5 Stain Remover from Lidl. It is the equivalent to Oxyclene but a fraction of the price and no perfume! Its good stuff and doesn't leave a residual smell of chlorine. Also cheaper than VWP!

If you use VWP in plastic vessels then a quick rinse with a couple of campden tablets in warm water will remove the chlorine smell. Then just rinse out the sulphur smell with cold water.

When storing plastic fermenters and the like I always throw in a campden tablet and a splash of water - keeps everything sweet.

[Greg2013]

TBH i think people (general terms) are over thinking this way too much. Agree with tub though, store in a cheap plastic container if possible, less chance of reaction etc.

Has anybody actually done a case study to determine if this supposed loss of effectiveness is real or an urban myth? I would love to see a time lapse video of a starsan sample made up with unadulterated tap water over say three months using ph papers(available and affordable to most).

Even at a ph of 4 unless you live in a faecal enviroment it will kill evertything it comes in contact with IMHO.

[Greg2013]

Oh btw that was not a dig at anybody here

[newToBrew]

TBH i think people (general terms) are over thinking this way too much. Agree with tub though, store in a cheap plastic container if possible, less chance of reaction etc.

Has anybody actually done a case study to determine if this supposed loss of effectiveness is real or an urban myth? I would love to see a time lapse video of a starsan sample made up with unadulterated tap water over say three months using ph papers(available and affordable to most).

Even at a ph of 4 unless you live in a faecal enviroment it will kill evertything it comes in contact with IMHO.

I watched a fairly interesting you tube or brewing channel vid on it @ a year ago - dude had different kinds of water mixed with star san - left in dofferent containers for a period of time came back did some ph tests - I cant remember all the details - but I came away wit hthe impression taht using tap water and storing in a plastic container was ok - even if it was cloudy

[Shane Phelan]

I watched a fairly interesting you tube or brewing channel vid on it @ a year ago - dude had different kinds of water mixed with star san - left in dofferent containers for a period of time came back did some ph tests - I cant remember all the details - but I came away wit hthe impression taht using tap water and storing in a plastic container was ok - even if it was cloudy

I remember seeing something similar so I don't worry about storing it at all. I usually fill a 1 gallon water bottle with tap water and add the tiny bit of Star San required for that. It gets cloudy after a month. I use it for around 3 or 4 brews until bits of crud and dirt start to show up in it then I just dump, rinse and repeat. Even at this conservative level of replacement I reckon my star san bottle will last me years!

My spray bottle is made of aluminium and the star san has corroded the inside of the bottle....

[Will_D]

But why store Starsan?

It is a contact steriliser:

Two things required:

2 litre spray bottle for the small odds and ends like:
  Your hands, thermometer, trial jars and hydrometers, measurings jugs etc. The 2 litres will last you a few months!

And for the big stuff:
  So you have a mash tun, 25 litre fermenter and boiler. Do you need to waste 25 litres of diluted Starsan by steeping a fermenter or boiler or the tun?

Rember that for contact sterilisation the Starsan needs 20 or 30 seconds - that's all.

It will NOT remove dodgy infected crud/gunk from the corners. For that you need VWP or W5 oxy cleaner.

So if your FV/Mash Tun/Boiler/ and the like are CLEAN (i.e. NO Gunk lurking) then a 30 second slosh with a litre or two of Starsan will do the job.

The one or two litres will last the brew day ( in conjunction with the spray bottle ) so there is no need to keep it.

People who make up 5 gallons of dilute Ss and try to keep it for re-use are mis-informed.

[Ciderhead]

I watched a fairly interesting you tube or brewing channel vid on it @ a year ago - dude had different kinds of water mixed with star san - left in dofferent containers for a period of time came back did some ph tests - I cant remember all the details - but I came away wit hthe impression taht using tap water and storing in a plastic container was ok - even if it was cloudy

I remember seeing something similar so I don't worry about storing it at all. I usually fill a 1 gallon water bottle with tap water and add the tiny bit of Star San required for that. It gets cloudy after a month. I use it for around 3 or 4 brews until bits of crud and dirt start to show up in it then I just dump, rinse and repeat. Even at this conservative level of replacement I reckon my star san bottle will last me years!

My spray bottle is made of aluminium and the star san has corroded the inside of the bottle....

That was immolateus "immo" nice guy that gave up brewing for personal reasons

I'm with Will plastic buckets and kegs get elbow grease then  a litre of water and Stan Stan and do the Harlem Shake(Will check it out on YouTube), which gives me a cracking idea for either the FW or the B&C

[Shane Phelan]

I watched a fairly interesting you tube or brewing channel vid on it @ a year ago - dude had different kinds of water mixed with star san - left in dofferent containers for a period of time came back did some ph tests - I cant remember all the details - but I came away wit hthe impression taht using tap water and storing in a plastic container was ok - even if it was cloudy

I remember seeing something similar so I don't worry about storing it at all. I usually fill a 1 gallon water bottle with tap water and add the tiny bit of Star San required for that. It gets cloudy after a month. I use it for around 3 or 4 brews until bits of crud and dirt start to show up in it then I just dump, rinse and repeat. Even at this conservative level of replacement I reckon my star san bottle will last me years!

My spray bottle is made of aluminium and the star san has corroded the inside of the bottle....

That was immolateus "immo" nice guy that gave up brewing for personal reasons

I'm with Will plastic buckets and kegs get elbow grease then  a litre of water and Stan Stan and do the Harlem Shake(Will check it out on YouTube), which gives me a cracking idea for either the FW or the B&C

Ahhhhhh yeah, that's who it was. Yeah its pretty sad that he has given up brewing. It seems his wife divorced him and now he is travelling across the states but calls into people for brew days along the way . I am still subscribed to his feed and watch his videos. He has a serious beard....

[Greg2013]

Ah no poor immo, i was wondering what happened to him. Lets hope he gets sorted soon cause he had some cracking vids on kegging etc.