can I re-use StarSan?

[wine newbee]

I asked this a while back, but it was buried amid other questions, so I didn't get a response. I'll go solo with it.

If I'm sanitizing btls for racking (or whatever), can I re-use the StarSan I saved? At what point is it no longer robust enough (or viable) to use?

Thx for any info on this; I'm not working these days, so trying to do everything on the cheap.....

 

[1d10t]

I make it up in 5 gallon buckets and it lasts for a long time if your water is good and you are careful about getting 'crap' into it. I've measured with a pH meter and it doesn't seem to go bad for months at a time. Use distilled or low mineral content water for best long term storage.

 

[Ajmassa]

I don’t see why not. But something just doesn’t feel right when the purpose is to sanitize and you are using already used sanitizer.
But if you’re only sanitizing clean equipment and still looks good then all good likely. The only way to know for sure is checking ph. If you’ve got any of those ph strips laying around collecting dust- they work perfect for this. (Maybe the only thing strips are good for!)

Dip it in. If turns yellow then good to go. I forget actual threshold. Maybe around 3.2-3.3ph. Once it creeps up the solution is no longer effective.

 

[1d10t]

I don’t see why not. But something just doesn’t feel right when the purpose is to sanitize and you are using already used sanitizer.

I know a guy that pokes fun of all of us at beer club meetings about our choice of sanitizer. This guy has decades old meads and is a national winner with it. He uses Cascade. I spit you knot.

 

[Ajmassa]

I know a guy that pokes fun of all of us at beer club meetings about our choice of sanitizer. This guy has decades old meads and is a national winner with it. He uses Cascade. I spit you knot.

Hmmm. But does he save his Cascade and reuse it multiple times? Lol
I remember hearing a story about how the old timers cleaned their barrels by sending the kids to the beach to wash it out in the ocean! Air dry and ready for wine! (My fam wasn’t much better) Wine can certainly be resilient.
I only used StarSan at first. I’m all k-meta/citric solution.

 

[Scooter68]

That depends on how you are using it the first time.

The StarSan I use for sanitizing my well rinsed hydrometer gets used for my wine thief and various other things IF and only IF those items were already washed or well rinsed.

If in doubt - toss it out. It's not that expensive.

When I sanitize a bunch of bottles I may use the left over to sanitize carboys before storing them - simply because I know that I will sanitize them again before I use those carboys.

 

[CDrew]

StarSan is great. I buy 10 gallons of distilled water at a time and make it up a gallon at a time as needed. It can last for months. I tend to sanitize a line of 5-6 carboys, swishing a gallon in one, then pouring to the next etc. It works great. The only thing I sanitize with KMBS is bottles just prior to bottling, figuring a bit of extra sulfite can't hurt, and it's going to be there any way.

But if I mix up StarSan with tap water, I use it that day and discard at the end of the day. In fact I did that today and made up 2 gallons that I used to quickly re-sanitize some equipment but it went out with the final wash down tonight.

 

[wine newbee]

Much obliged, guys, for the input. I clean my wine-ware pretty thoroughly, so rinsing with StarSan is mostly to "neutralize" anything floating in on dust. At present I don't have anything for checking pH. And while I'm thinking about it ... I believe I used regular ol' City tap water when I concocted the StarSan solution. Well, we're learning all the time .....