Starsan Questions.

Ali · Sep 13, 2017

Morning all.

Couple of quick and probably daft questions;-

1) How long does Starsan keep in its undiluted form?

2) What is the best contact time for plastic and stainless steel equipment?

Have had my bottle long enough for the slugs to eradicate the label! Seem to remember that contact time was short. In fact thinking about it, I'm not sure that it would have had time to worked given the short contact time (I think) I remember.

Slid · Sep 13, 2017

Ali said:
Morning all.

Couple of quick and probably daft questions;-

1) How long does Starsan keep in its undiluted form?

2) What is the best contact time for plastic and stainless steel equipment?

Have had my bottle long enough for the slugs to eradicate the label! Seem to remember that contact time was short. In fact thinking about it, I'm not sure that it would have had time to worked given the short contact time (I think) I remember.

1) Indefinitely, for practical purposes.

2) Measured in seconds. Count 1 - 2 - 3 pretty slowly if bottling. Since it is a no-rinse sanitiser, nothing much is going to go wrong if it lingers too long.

Also, Star-San forms foaming bubbles which lengthens the contact time. Give it a shake and "don't fear the foam".

Fore · Sep 13, 2017

Going back a year or so, I listened to a pod cast from the creator. He said they advertise it as a 2 minute action, but "insider information" is that it does the job in about a minute. I've heard many talk about almost instant sanitation, but I'm not sure from where that originated. Even if I'm pressed, I give 1 minute minimum.

And "don't fear the foam", like the manufacturers of asbestos saying don't fear the snow. I'm not suggesting for a second that there is anything seriously dangerous about Starsan, but there is no harm in letting as much foam drip free as possible.

Fil · Sep 13, 2017

+1 dont fear the foam.. its all good

google 5star starsan instruction pdf
http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/StarSanTech-HB2.pdf ok i did it for you..

get a cheap book of ph indicator papers to test the viability of your long term stored diluted sanitiser, as long as the ph is 2.5 or lower its viable. the water going cloudy is an indicatoir of iy being spent but its not reliable, if in doubt check the ph.

Sbond10 · Sep 14, 2017

My recent batch or ash beck. And starsan fresh mixed went cloudy at top and clear at bottom even shaking didn't help used it as seems to be working ok.
Tbh the more recent batches of ash beck and starsan seems to have all been slightly cloudy.
Wonder if ash beck has changed in ph

Spapro · Sep 14, 2017

I use starsan with tap water and it always goes a little milky once mixed. As long as your PH is 3 or below for your mixed solution then its all good, cloudiness per se isn't an issue - its all about the ph.

Worth getting a little booklet of ph test papers, couple of quid off ebay, so you can keep an eye on the PH of your mixed solution.

Starsan is great, I can't imagine using anything else.