Cloudy Star San

[dlvc1007]

I've used Star San for quite a while with no issues whatsoever. I just moved to Texas and bouth a new bottle though, when I noticed it got milky white when I mixed it with my new tap water. I've never seen this before, so I was wondering if anyone else had. It does not do this with bottled water though. Obviously it's got something to do with my water quality here.

For reference I made a sample to compare the two and uploaded a picture below; bottled water is on the right, tap water is on the left. I used ~16 oz water and 0.7 mL of Star San (reccomended loading if my math is correct.) pH strips indicate both to have a pH around 2

Is this even an issue? Or does the cloudiness indicate that Star San is incompatible with my water here.

Hoping somebody with more experience here could weigh in.

 

[Tom_FL]

Mines always cloudy with Florida water...

 

[day_trippr]

It's all about the pH. Even if the mix goes cloudy, as long as the pH stays below 3 it'll do its job.

If your water is rich in acid neutralizing components such as carbonates, that will try to push the mix pH up the scale, so your long term choices are to either invest in a pH meter to verify the mix meets the 3 pH minimum, or use distilled water, or both.

fwiw, I do both - I keep 5 gallons of Star San + distilled water in a glass carboy, fill a spray bottle directly, dump it in a bucket on brew days, replenish the supply when I've used a gallon, and pH check it every couple of weeks. At the end of a brew day I leave around a half-inch of the mix behind when pouring back into the carboy to help minimize the organic loading. The mix remains crystal clear, and I often go five to six months before starting over with an entirely fresh batch, making the yearly cost ridiculously low...

Cheers!

 

[dlvc1007]

Ya. I believe the alkalinity and hardness are pretty crazy over here based on strip testing. Water quality testing is a big part of my job. One of this days I'll convice the head lab tech to let me do a full barrage of QC titrations on my tap water.

I'll like the idea of putting it in a keg with DI, problem is I don't have any kegs to spare, I'm operating at max capacity! But I'm sure I can find a solution or something.

I really appreciate the input. I've been using Iodophor since, but it stains everything like crazy and is super nasty. I'm looking forward to not fearing the foam.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Check the pH. If it's still acidic it's good to go. If you want to have clear StarSan then buy a gallon of distilled water and mix that up with StarSan.

Research will tell you as long as the pH is 3ish you're good to go. I'd say as long as it's below 4 you're fine because 4 is still acidic.


I'm currently letting my fermenting bucket sit in a solution of star san beyond 24 hours. the batch was made about a month ago and it was cloudy within a day. I use the same water to brew my beer and my mash was 5.0-5.4 for an hour. Don't worry about it until the concentration of hydrogen ions is higher than 4.

 

[Wynne-R]

The cloudy solution could be okay, but it could be bad. The cloudiness is the surfactant coming out of solution. It has reacted, or is reacting with the metals in the water. I don’t know if it is still good, because I don’t know how much surfactant has reacted. I error on the side of caution and suggest that you don’t even mess with it. Use DI water.

This is the best explanation I’ve seen. People forget that it’s not just an acid, but contains DDBSA, a surfactant. Check the label.

Metal ions, iron, calcium, or magnesium bind up the surfactant. They are what makes ‘hard water’ hard.

You don’t have to use DI water, ordinary distilled or RO works. The chemist at Five Star probably figures everybody has DI water.

 

[brewguyver]

+1 DI water. Don't store long term in a plastic water jug though. It *WILL* eat through, and leak a gallon if star san water all over the place. Use glass growler or HDPE container.

Also, if you have low ph test strips, it doesn't hurt to try one. I've heard it's good until it gets above 3 ph ("well actually ..." needed on aisle 3!).

Edit: looks like day tripper and others already called out the ph thing.