Star San and distilled water

[LewisA]

Hello All,

Just a quick question on StarSan and using distilled water. I've read online that diluting Star San in distilled water means that it will last for months diluted. Is there any truth in this?

The second part of the question was on a whim I picked up 1gal of distilled water for cars and irons etc but now in hindsight I was wondering (in general) if this is foodgrade? and whether there are any strange chemicals added to water for these purposes? I know in theory distilled water should be (99.9%) pure water but thought i'd check.

 

[RichardM]

Diluted Starsan last a long time diluted with tap water. If you are concerned then check the pH. If it is under 3:it is good. Don't worry if it has gone cloudy.
If distilled water had anything added then it wouldn't be distilled water anymore.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I use distilled water with starsan and it does last months. I don't have a biology lab so I can't do a rigorous test on it, but

• It doesn't go cloudy, even after months
• I've been brewing like this for 3 years now and never had an issue with a contamination
• In theory, it could have lost its effectiveness and sanitisation was unneeded all of this time after all/I got lucky - but it's more likely that the starsan was still working as intended

I would expect distilled water to be contaminant free as Richard says. There is no reason to add anything to it. Even in the tiny probability that it contains contaminants, the starsan will kill any pathogens, bacteria anyway. Anything that remains that could potentially be harmful would be

• In trace quantities, because it's distilled water
• Further reduced because you don't drink the starsan, you just pour it away, and then whatever is left is diluted down again with 5 gallons of beer

In short, don't worry about it!

 

[Druncan]

Mine goes cloudy if I use our hard tap water. Cheap bottled water is sterile and = no cloudiness!! Just check the minerals though

 

[sifty]

I'm on rainwater supply, essentially very pure water, no chemicals and low minerals, and it seems to last months...

 

[RichardM]

Mine goes cloudy if I use our hard tap water. Cheap bottled water is sterile and = no cloudiness!! Just check the minerals though

The cloudiness doesn't matter. What matters is the pH

 

[MashBag]

Absolutely. The cloudiness is just a precipitatant.

 

[Druncan]

Strange, our water is 7.85 the bottled is 8.2 with a calibrated PH meter.

Maybe it is some other ion or anion that causes precipitation?

 

[LewisA]

Thanks all for the responses, good to know. I realised after looking at the bottle again it's technically demineralised rather than distilled but any biological impurities left behind in the process should in theory be solved ty the Stan San I presume.

 

[hoppyscotty]

I just use tapwater and always have a big bucket of it ready made from purging kegs and things....keep it for months and ph is always low enough for it to be effective. Usually only refresh it when it gets a bit mucky.

 

[MrJay83]

Does daylight/UV affect it? I've just recently made up some in bulk and I can't find anything regarding that.

 

[lancon]

According to Fivestar the cloudiness is normally caused by hard water. And the test is pH 3.5 or below for effective use.

 

[Davegase]

The cloudiness doesn't matter. What matters is the pH

Crystal clear makes me feel better and there's a much cheaper alternative to bottled or distilled water, less than 4p per litre. ( IF There's A Dispenser Near YOU )

 

[aolcot]

Using distilled or RO water also helps stop that slight "slimeyness" that you can get on things if you use hard water, especially if you leave bits in the solution for any period of time. But as above with the cloudiness, the slimeyness doesn't affect the product, its just a thing that happens with hard water.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Yeah, I like to leave parts in my handy bucket of Sanitizer. Over time they do develop a slimy film but a spray with sanitiser from a spray bottle easily washes that off.

 

[peebee]

Pah, "Hard Water" my hairy a***. The cloudiness is caused by "bicarbonate" which is not "Hardness"! It's why I rant (incessantly) about flippin' "Hardness"! Hardness (now-a-days) is mostly Calcium and Magnesium cations. Bicarbonate (and Carbonate but there won't be any of that) is an ANION.

There is a passing "association" in that the carbonate/bicarbonate may have been associated with Calcium, but that is not an excuse to get it wrong! Carbonate/bicarbonate is Alkalinity. In the olden days ... very olden days ... there was no calcium, magnesium or carbonate. Just "Hardness", formed from the element "Earth" I think? So, if anyone insists on this "Hardness" twaddle, can they please teleport back a few hundred years to when they were understood.

Grrr

 

[Davegase]

Pah, "Hard Water" my hairy a***. The cloudiness is caused by "bicarbonate" which is not "Hardness"! It's why I rant (incessantly) about flippin' "Hardness"! Hardness (now-a-days) is mostly Calcium and Magnesium cations. Bicarbonate (and Carbonate but there won't be any of that) is an ANION.

There is a passing "association" in that the carbonate/bicarbonate may have been associated with Calcium, but that is not an excuse to get it wrong! Carbonate/bicarbonate is Alkalinity. In the olden days ... very olden days ... there was no calcium, magnesium or carbonate. Just "Hardness", formed from the element "Earth" I think? So, if anyone insists on this "Hardness" twaddle, can they please teleport back a few hundred years to when they were understood.

Grrr

Calm down, calm down

 

[Agentgonzo]

<Rant/>

So in the UK water supplies, calcium in the water is normally from the water dissolving calcium carbonate. And carbonate/bicarbonate in the water is normally from dissolving calcium carbonate.

So if hardness is a measure of calcium/magnesium, and alkalinity is the measure of buffering and how resistant to acidification it is due to the presence of ions like carbonates/bicarbonates, doesn't hardness/alkalinity/bi/carbonates/calcium all boil down to the same thing for brewers? I know that technically they are different things, but if they are all basically intrinsically linked (something that is high in hardness will also be high in alkalinity/carbonates/magnesium and vice versa) does it really matter?

 

[RichardM]

According to Dwr Cymru my water is very soft, but my Starsan solution goes cloudy

So in the UK water supplies, calcium in the water is normally from the water dissolving calcium carbonate. And carbonate/bicarbonate in the water is normally from dissolving calcium carbonate.

So if hardness is a measure of calcium/magnesium, and alkalinity is the measure of buffering and how resistant to acidification it is due to the presence of ions like carbonates/bicarbonates, doesn't hardness/alkalinity/bi/carbonates/calcium all boil down to the same thing for brewers? I know that technically they are different things, but if they are all basically intrinsically linked (something that is high in hardness will also be high in alkalinity/carbonates/magnesium and vice versa) does it really matter?

 

[peebee]

... does it really matter?

You've asked for it! So (from only last month):

I've never understood the difference between alkalinity and hardness given that they are both measured in the same way, tend to be highly linked (high hardness goes with high alkalinity) and the same ions in the water contribute to both

Apart from "never understanding", the last two comments are false. And "measured the same way" is wrong too (although "Hardness" freaks must measure Alkalinity "as CaCO3"). So ... "does it really matter" ... I guess it does

And make sure you answer @RichardM .

Calm down, calm down

No.