So sanitizer solution will last several months, no? So I got one of those big rubbermaid roughneck tubs, put 10 gallons of water and 2 ozs of StarSan in, and voila, sanitizer solution whenever I need it. Genius, I though. So I went down to the basement to drop some bottles in to get ready for a bottling day, popped the lid off and got hit with a wall of sulfer, rotten eggs smell. Bad news, right? Anybody have any idea where that came from? Disclaimer: I’m a new brewer, so I apologize if this is an easy one.
Not a problem, it just smells like that after it sits a while.
I couldn’t tell you where the smell came from, but the mineral content in your water will affect the effectiveness of the solution. As long as the pH is 3 or lower it is still effective. I have to use distilled water if I want a Starsan solution to last, because of the mineral content in my tap water.
A cloudy solution may also be a visual indication it’s no longer effective. Ideally it should be clear, which is what I get with distilled water.
Check out the Mar 29 podcast here:
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?p ... radio-2007Sooooo what you’re saying is, post the question and wait for a reply BEFORE dumping stuff down the drain. Noted.
It never hurts to wait a couple hours or even a day or two to get a couple responses. The worst that can happen is your issues is beyond correction and all is lost. The best is it can be corrected. Usually there is no “golden hour” like if medicine where if you act now all will be fine.
http://www.sanitationtools.com/Products ... ategory=65I make mine in batches of 5 gallons and store them in gallon jugs. Mine gets cloudy and smells like sulfer but have never had any problems. I have some PH test strips that you can quickly dip in to make sure it is okay. Never hade any go bad on me
If it is StarSan you will want to make sure your pH is below 3. I’ve also had it leave a white sediment on the bottom of the bucket that is hard to see and takes a bit to wash out.
I mix up 2.5gal at a time with distilled and store in jugs. Stays good for quite some time.
I mix up 1.25 gallons of StarSan at a time and most of the time throw it away within the week after the session.
The cost per gallon is so low why spend any extra time storing it and worrying about anything such as storage and shelf life?
I think people make way too much sanitizer and think that they have to make enough to submerge everything all the time and that is just not the case. A cheap spray bottle takes care of anything that can’t be submerged. The contact time for modern sanitizers like StarSan is so short that misting works great.
