Sanitizer question

[cfleisher]

How long can sanitizer stay 'potent' after it is mixed with water? Is there an expiration date on this stuff? I'm going to be a lot of beer stuff over a series of days and don't want to have to mix up a fresh bucket every time.

[dbeechum]

Depends upon which sanitizer and what sort of water.

Star-San / Saniclean - is good until it goes cloudy (which is an indication of a pH rise). Best life span you can get out of that stuff is by mixing it with distilled water and sealing it up in a container between uses.

Iodophor - basically when it loses color. Haven't really worked with it though.

[dee]

I keep my StarSan in a covered bucket or keg for weeks and have never had a contamination issue.  I always have some mixed in a clean keg to sanitize my thermometer probe and wine thief.  If you use distilled water, I'd suspect it could last for months.

[kramerog]

Depends upon which sanitizer and what sort of water.

Star-San / Saniclean - is good until it goes cloudy (which is an indication of a pH rise). Best life span you can get out of that stuff is by mixing it with distilled water and sealing it up in a container between uses.

Iodophor - basically when it loses color. Haven't really worked with it though.

If you have hard water, Star San will quickly become cloudy, but can still be effective.  I use it for making 1 batch of beer from brewing to packaging before I toss it out.

[euge]

I measure my starsan and RO water out. It has lasted in the spray bottle for years so far but about six months reuse in a bucket and it gets a bit dingy. Still works though.

Now I make starsan solution by the half-gallon so I end up using it all in a few months.

Iodophor is one time use and more difficult. I don't like it.

[ccfoo242]

Interviews with Jon Herskovits of Five Star Chemicals:

Discussing cleaning: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Brew-Strong-11-10-08-Cleaning
Discussing sanitation: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/469

[mabrungard]

This is the one case where softened water from a typical home softener is useful.  That water is nearly free of any calcium and it will not cloud when StarSan is added.  I mixed up a batch and put a glassful on my workbench, open.  It eventually dried up, but it never clouded.  RO water is excellent for StarSan use also since it has very low calcium.

[Slowbrew]

I mix up 5 gallons of distilled water and Starsan in a bucket and keep it sealed between uses.  I only replace it when amount of "stuff" sitting on the bottom of the bucket starts to bother me.  It's lasts as least 6 months this way and often longer.  At the rate I've been using it, the bottle of concentrate I have will last longer than I will.

Paul

[hopfenundmalz]

Depends upon which sanitizer and what sort of water.

Star-San / Saniclean - is good until it goes cloudy (which is an indication of a pH rise). Best life span you can get out of that stuff is by mixing it with distilled water and sealing it up in a container between uses.

Iodophor - basically when it loses color. Haven't really worked with it though.

If you have hard water, Star San will quickly become cloudy, but can still be effective.  I use it for making 1 batch of beer from brewing to packaging before I toss it out.

The cloudy issue is with water with high alkalinity also, which results in raising the pH.  I know this to be true.  I now use RO water for my star san mix.