Making water for starsan vs buying it

[simco999]

Mmmm - not convinced - my beer doesn't taste of bleach and I like to keep things simple. Also I enjoy Ditch's expletives.

Edit - ok the economy argument might swing it. If its really cheap I might be convinced.

[Kev888]

Probably worth having a go before deciding - I'm sure its not for everyone or everything, but I find that its different enough to have its uses. If you cleaned your kit properly after use then before use the next time around all you need to do is spray the starsan on it or give it a swish around, give it a minute and tip out/off the excess; job done, no soaking, rinsing etc. I find it really excellent to have in a squirty bottle for all those incidentals - tap spouts, spoons, hydrometers etc. - if they're clean you can pretty much just squirt and a few moments later use them.

The cost is interesting; when I first started with it I thought it seemed expensive but bought three to be going on with - you only need a couple of ml per Litre though (I can't remember the exact rate without looking), and about a year and a half later I'm still on the first one! You can re-use it as well, as it keeps well even when diluted and tells you by going cloudy when its PH gets too high for it to work properly.

The one and only downside I can see is it needing low PH water, but thats not really a problem for most people, even asda do RO water for car batteries at £1.50/2L or something - and that is actually a fair amount of solution when you don't need to fill and soak things, just cover the surface by spraying or swishing around, and you can collect it again afterwards. I realise Ditch hasn't got anywhere handy to pick up that sort of stuff though, so its not always going to be great for everyone. But yes, at least we get 'sanitised' expletives out of that

i'll get me coat..

Cheers
kev

[tim99]

If anyone wants deionised water living close to pe8 6xr will give you as much as you can carry (free) just pm me

[Naich]

I had a quick look at some DI water from Tescoids and it states that it's not for human consumption. Is this a worry, given that it's not going to be rinsed off? What sort of things could it be contaminated with?

[Kev888]

Hmm, I've seen that elsewhere too, and have always assumed its just because they don't want to get (unnecessarily) into food hygene in its production rather than because there's likely to be anything dodgy in it. I'm not too concerned because theres a fairly minimal amount making it into any beer, but now you raise it I realise it is only assumption on my part and I'd also be keen to hear if anyone knows of any potential issues with it..

Cheers
kev

[koomber]

the deionised water was not prepared in a facility that is rated for the preperation of food/drink, as such they would need to stick this on the bottle to make it clear that it is not for drinking. The only sources of contamination (realistically) are due to poor hygene controls during manufacture.

[EoinMag]

I think, like the others have mentioned, that that label is necessary as it's a chemical preparation and not coming from a place that is makign it for human consumption, at the end of the day it's water so if it's deionised there is nothing in it that could cause you issues, especially not once you add the phosphoric acid mix in the star san.

[boingy]

It's probably a whole load cleaner than the stuff you get from dehumidifiers.
I think it will be fine, especially as you are not going to be drinking it.

[OldThumper]

Still no reply from Five Star Chemicals chaps. Poor service on that front....

Since switching to Starsan a few months back I have not had one infection/problem and made some cracking beers. I started off with Milton tablets and then occasionally had what seemed like some sort of infection (I posted last year some time), switched to diluted bleach which was OK but a pain when santising bottles and now I am on StarSan and won't look back. It is well cheap as long as you reuse the water/StarSan solution. I have a 16Oz bottle and after many many brews it is still 3/4 full.

Question. Does anybody keep using their StarSan solution even when it goes cloudy? My solution made using Asda table water (16p for 2L) went cloudy after the 2nd brew of using it AND the PH is well below 3.0 still. As I have not experienced any infections I am assuming the cloudiness does not matter if the PH is fine. Doubt we will get a definite answer from Five Star though......

StarSan and a Bottle Tree/Rinser unit works a treat when it comes to sanitising 40 bottles......

[EoinMag]

Still no reply from Five Star Chemicals chaps. Poor service on that front....

Since switching to Starsan a few months back I have not had one infection/problem and made some cracking beers. I started off with Milton tablets and then occasionally had what seemed like some sort of infection (I posted last year some time), switched to diluted bleach which was OK but a pain when santising bottles and now I am on StarSan and won't look back. It is well cheap as long as you reuse the water/StarSan solution. I have a 16Oz bottle and after many many brews it is still 3/4 full.

Question. Does anybody keep using their StarSan solution even when it goes cloudy? My solution made using Asda table water (16p for 2L) went cloudy after the 2nd brew of using it AND the PH is well below 3.0 still. As I have not experienced any infections I am assuming the cloudiness does not matter if the PH is fine. Doubt we will get a definite answer from Five Star though......

StarSan and a Bottle Tree/Rinser unit works a treat when it comes to sanitising 40 bottles......

The cloudiness can be simply a result of washing stuff that made it cloudy, nothing to worry about once the pH is right.
For your average punter with no means of testing pH they say that to mix it and immediately have it turn cloudy is a good sign that it's not going to be in the effective pH range and must be treated with mistrust, that said I have used mine a few times from the tapwater which turns it cloudy and is as high as pH 3.4 but I won't use it repeatedly and throw it out after one use, but it was always effective at stopping infection and doing what it is supposed to do.
The cloudiness referred to is a definite white milkiness as if you poured a glass of milk into a container of water, you will see it.