sanitizing

I have had a contamination problem with my last two brews. I have cleaning my plastic PET carboys that I use for fermentors with PBW and then Star san as soon as they are empty. I have then been putting Star San and some water in them and closing them up until I am ready to brew which is usually 2 weeks to a month. My question is should I be leaving the Star San in them for the extended time or dry them out and simply sanitize them before use? I appreciate any help u can offer. Dennis

It should not make a difference leaving StarSan in the Carboy. Are these BetterBottles or water jugs from the store. If from the store, return them in case they have scratches/pits inside that are harboring bacteria.

Replace all your plastic tubing is your next/1st thing to look at.

Don’t leave Star-San for an extended period of time it will eat through the plastic just sanitize them before you use them.

I’ve kept a StarSan solution in a 1 gallon water jug for extended periods, 2+ months. They never sprang a leak. Certainly that plastic is thinner than a BB or Culligian water jug.

It would be fine to dump the sanitizer and put a piece of plastic/AL foil over the opening to keep bugs out.

No need to store them with Starsan in them. I would just clean well and sanitize just before use.

FWIW I also have kept premixed Starsan in a gal water jug, spray bottle, or pump up sprayer for months with no issues.

+1 to replacing tubing. Spigots on buckets or better bottles??? If so, do you take them apart when you clean and sanitize?

I’ve had a number of plastic 1 gallon water jugs that after a few months leaked so that’s why I said not to do it but it’s not going to happen over night maybe never as the plastic is heavier. But it has to weaken the jug based on what I’ve seen.

Just clean it and wait until you need it and sanitize it.

StarSan bottle is HDPE, gal water jug is HDPE.

Star-San bottle is a thick bottle a water bottle is very thin no comparison in my opinion plus there is no water in the Star-San bottle…
I’m just saying over the years I’ve had most of them leak after a few months I have since just changed them out every 3 months so I don’t have the mess.

+1 to changing all your tubing and generally anything plastic.

Strange with the Star San. I’ve used the same spray bottle for two years and the same bucket for at least a year to store star san (changing both every so often) with no issues. I think I might e-mail 5 star tomorrow and ask, be interesting to see what they have to say.

I got thinking that at my last house I used to keep them on a wire shelf may they were getting damaged by the wires.

I’ve only had one leak in the last 2 years in this house as I store them on the top of a fridge and I could have some how weaken it.

Maybe I’m just gun shy.