Anyone think it’s important to use filtered water to mix star san? I know chlorine and chloramines can cause off flavors but I assume that it’s if you use it for your brewing water, would like to get your input chorine tap water for star San yay or nay? Cheers
I don’t believe it’s an issue. If you’re concerned, mix it the day before and leave the container open. Chlorine will off gas in 24 hours.
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I think it is fine. Alkalinity is more of a concern. StarSan mixed with alkaline water will not last very long, while that mixed with distilled water will last for weeks or months.
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If you are concerned about chlorine/chloramines, just a pinch of potassium metabisulfite in your water will neutralize it. I use it in my mash and sparge water every time (and it won’t hurt Star San). Chloramines in particular do not boil off, and that’s what’s in the water here (Austin, TX).
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Should be fine, although I have no personal experience with it since my water doesn’t have chlorine.
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Although I use Saniclean in lieu of StarSan (because it does not foam), I always mix it with R.O. water and it lasts for several months. When I mix it with my tap water it only lasts for a few hours before the pH starts to climb.
Along those lines, Five Star reformulated Saniclean. It is now a lot lighter in color, but does not precipitate stuff out when the temperature gets colder (I keep mine in my brewery which gets into the 50’s in the colder months). The usage rate is still the same as the original formula.
I use tap water for my Starsan, and no one has yet complained about chlorine-derived off flavors in anything I’ve made.
Same for me. Very high levels of chlorine here so I filter my brewing water ahead of time but I typically mix my source water with Starsan on brewday and I do not have any issues with it. Some have mentioned that the Starsan solution should be clear if properly mixed. Mine is always a little cloudy and maybe that’s from the chlorine but my beers do not suffer from any problems in this context and I haven’t had a ‘contaminated’ batch in years. As an aside, I do occasionally use iodophor because I understand it has a broader-spectrum sanitizing ability. Using iodophor reminds me of being a new brewer 25 years ago.
I contacted Five Star about Star San turning cloudy immediately when I mixed it with tap water. The reply was "The cloudiness you are experiencing is completely normal. It is just the acids in Starsan reacting to the minerals in the water. It is still going to be completely safe and fine to use.”
I appreciate that. I never really lost sleep over it but it’s nice to know that it’s doing what it should. Cheers.
It should be noted that the Five Star statement above doesn’t relate to long term storage. Another statement from them is “If you use RO or DI water and a closed container your Star San will stay effective for a VERY long time. Highly recommended.”
Same thing they told me 15 years ago.