Malt miller Starsan

[quixoticgeek]

I bought a bottle of the malt millers non rinse cleaner. It mentions that I shouldn't use hardwater with it. Given I live in Kent, and our water comes out on the high end of hard, I'm thinking I'm gonna need to use bottled water.

Can anyone think of a reason not to use sainsburies basics bottled water with this stuff? Are there any bottled waters I should avoid?

Julia

[Pinto]

The cheapest bottled waters tend to be just filtered tap water so may still be high in mineral content. Most use Tescos Ashbeck spring water as it is known to be quite soft water. Look on the bottle label - there should be a mineral analysis on there

[orlando]

I bought a bottle of the malt millers non rinse cleaner. It mentions that I shouldn't use hardwater with it. Given I live in Kent, and our water comes out on the high end of hard, I'm thinking I'm gonna need to use bottled water.

Can anyone think of a reason not to use sainsburies basics bottled water with this stuff? Are there any bottled waters I should avoid?

Julia

My water is circa 250 ppm alkalinity so goes a little milky when diluted, some have said this means it is ineffective. This is not necessarily true. Starsan becomes effective at a pH<3. If you try a little at the appropriate dilution level and can measure the pH you may find you are under this so can use ordinary water. You could even acidify the water to bring the pH down, all of which is cheaper than bottled.

[BenB]

I've used waitrose stuff and although it went cloudy the pH remained good and low. Ashbeck does seem to be a good choice. Sainsburys is Grampian and is pretty hard. Tasty but perhaps too high in bicarbs- I just used that to make a starter.

[Dennis King]

+1 for ashbecks.

[Wonkydonkey]

Hi,
There are many ways you can over come this. IMHO

rain water collected, this time of year there's plenty. So just boil it and let cool maybe pour it trough a paper filter.
RO water. From a fish shop. That's a shop that does not sell chips at the same time. And the fish are alive not dead.
Or if you know anyone that has a marine setup or keeps discus. ( special water requirements) should have an RO unit, swap a few beers for a gallon or two.

At the mo I use the first option, from shed roof-200lt plastic drum. I don't take water for a day after it rains just to let any crap settle. although I do know someone with an RO unit, I've been using it to dilute my hardness down. Brighton water probably as hard as yours.
Wonky.

[quixoticgeek]

At 20p for 2L, I tried the sainsburies basics water. It went cloudy. Annoying, as I don't have a Tesco store locally, and don't own a car. Will investigate options.

Julia

[GAZ9053]

I use water from my de humidifier. Stays clear as a bell.

[k1100t]

I use water from my de humidifier. Stays clear as a bell.

Just bought a dehumidifier so might have to try that. I've been buying deionised water from the car section in the local Tesco, as I found RO water turned cloudy pretty quickly (no PH meter to check if it was still OK).

Cheers,

Bob.

[Wonkydonkey]

I use water from my de humidifier. Stays clear as a bell.

Just bought a dehumidifier so might have to try that. I've been buying deionised water from the car section in the local Tesco, as I found RO water turned cloudy pretty quickly (no PH meter to check if it was still OK).

Cheers,

Bob.

It can only be a very poorly serviced RO Unit, ie, the membrane is shagged,

Iirc. Deionised water is RO water that has been polished. Ie the resin mops up the few minerals that can seep pass..

[Hugh Jampton]

I use water from my de humidifier. Stays clear as a bell.

I never thought of that. I keep chucking it away.

[Jocky]

I use water from my de humidifier. Stays clear as a bell.

I started off doing that, until I found some mould growing in dehumidifier collection bucket.

As Starsan isn't effective against fungus I decided I'd use bottled water from then on.