StarSan pH

[KernelCrush]

I've heard StarSan effectiveness is only pH-dependent on 2 different interviews with a rep from Five Star.  One said its still good below 3.5, the other said 3.0.  You can find the interviews

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Sunday-Session/The-Sunday-Session-03-19-06-Sanitation-w/-Charlie-Talley

http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/08/02/beer-cleaning-and-sanitation-with-jon-herskovits-beersmith-podcast-62/
I found this one a bit of a (sales hat) stretch, the interviewee fell just short of claiming it cures cancer.

Below is a snip from an email received from them late last year.


First of all, thank you for contacting Five Star Chemicals and for bringing this matter to our attention. The head chemist and I looked over the information you sent and we want to replace the new bottle of Starsan you purchased. Starsan has a shelf life of about 12 months, which may account for the cloudiness from the older bottle of Starsan. However, based on your water profile, nothing indicates that the newly acquired bottle of Starsan would produce cloudy solution as well. Because of this we want to ship out to you a replacement bottle; please let me know the size of the bottle and your shipping address. We can include in the package a return label if you don't mind sending us back the bottle we're replacing for the chemist to run some tests and quality control checks. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. You are correct that as long as the solution maintains the pH of 3.5 or below, it is working as intended. But since this case seems to be a bit of an anomaly we are more than happy to replace your Starsan which should eliminate the cloudy solution problem. We greatly appreciate your business and I look forward to hearing back from you so we can get your product replaced!

[MaltLicker]

I thought I had read 3.0 somewhere, and when I mix it, and have bothered to test it, it's usually under 3.0. 

First time I've heard of a shelf life for the original container though. 

[KernelCrush]

Yeah, mine is usually in the low to mid 2's.  It really never climbs with time I find.  Only have to discard when I get lazy and forget to cover it or chuck something in there with debris on it.

[merfizle]

Correct, replace if lower than 3.0.  I keep a bucket full and just dip a pH strip in there.  If yellow then I know it's still good.  One of  those medium starsan bottles last me well over a year.

Mark

[drb1215]

Yeah, mine is usually in the low to mid 2's.  It really never climbs with time I find.  Only have to discard when I get lazy and forget to cover it or chuck something in there with debris on it.

Same here.  I've never seen it climb about low to mid 2's and only throw it out when I get crap in it (typically from leaving it open and I get the occasional bug landing in it)

-Dan

[Baron Von MunchKrausen]

Yeah, mine is usually in the low to mid 2's.  It really never climbs with time I find.  Only have to discard when I get lazy and forget to cover it or chuck something in there with debris on it.

Same here.  I've never seen it climb about low to mid 2's and only throw it out when I get crap in it (typically from leaving it open and I get the occasional bug landing in it)

-Dan

Which brings the next question.....
How much crap is too much crap?
I continue to use my star-san with debris sitting on the bottom of the bucket. Sanitized crap to be sure, but what is the rule of thumb to chuck it and start fresh?
I've never really seen anything on the subject.

[Maine Homebrewer]

I use a spray bottle. Fill 'er up, and mist the equipment down. That way the bucket is only used to refill the bottle. It last a long time that way. I found some wine PH test strips that I must have picked up fifteen years ago, long before I started using StarSan. They measure 2.8 to 4.4.  I test the bucket contents from time to time, and it always registers near 3.2. Now that I think about it, I've never misted a test strip. But I don't reuse the stuff, so I see no reason why it would deteriorate.

[KernelCrush]

How much crap is too much crap?

I understand tolerable levels are about 10 bpppg.  Depends if your talking thorax or abdomen.  If they are in the bottom and the pH is right I don't worry about it too much.

Old Starsan repurposing.  It takes off the ink labels real good with a 1 week soak.  Come off with a rag. Like the Stone IPA bottle.

[MaltLicker]

I have an old gold-screen coffee filter that I will run recently-made StarSan through to de-crapify it, and I keep that liquid in a smaller closed plastic cup.  That is what I use to  rinse with before putting stuff away.  And that is what I will rinse with to remove Oxyclean residue first, before using "primary" StarSan for the final prep rinse.  And it is what goes in a spray bottle like Maine mentioned.