star san water

[woody]

Ok after leaning the correct way to mix up a batch of star san I hear and see a lot of people do not do it how I was told and this brings up some ?'s I have . first off the way I mix is to use RO or distilled water only. when I first used star san I would mix with tap water and my tap water turns the star san cloudy right away and I have been told that this is a sign that it is no longer any good. when I use RO water the star san stays clear. ? #1 what is it in the tap water that turns the star san cloudy? my 2nd ? is, if my tap water make star san cloudy dose this happen to all of you out there or is it just my water? its kind of a poll type? but what say you borg.

[gwcr]

Q#1 - Not sure why it turns cloudy with tap water.
Q#2 - It happens with my tap water too, but not with distilled.

Side note: I haven't noticed any reduced function of SS with my tap water, so I stopped using distilled. I will only use a batch 2-3 times before mixing a new one though.

[Inkleg]

I have a particle/carbon filter on the cold side of my kitchen water that I use and mine does not turn cloudy.
I have some pH strips that I use to check mine with before brewing. If it's below 3.2 and not dirty I'll use it. I've had batches go for over a month (I mix mine 5 gallons at a time).

[BigPapaG]

Being in a cold climate (WNY), I am used to cloudy tap water in the colder months.

We have some of the cleanest and best tap water in the country, but due to gas laws, water holds more air in colder months due to colder temps than in summer.

During the winter, my water has so much air in suspension that it appears almost like no fat milk! Ok, I might be slightly exagerating, but it is pretty cloudy... Hence, my Star San is also cloudy in winter (at least until the gas escapes)...

In summer, it's pretty clear.

I don't worry about it either way though, so long as it is not physically contaminated and has a low pH like around 3 ish as Jeff mentioned.

I mix 2 gallons at a time generally, although sometimes only one.

[Brewbirds]

Woody the StarSan is a strong acid solution and the cloudiness is a reaction to all the minerals etc. that are in tap water so really the Star San in turning the tap water cloudy rather than the other way around and should do that in any tap water.

RO water has all the minerals etc. removed so that it is "neutral" , it won't change the PH of the Star San so it stays viable (has a longer shelf life).

If there is a change in the PH it can render the Star San ineffective and that is why people use PH strips to test that it is still "good" when they mix it with tap water or reuse it.

If you reuse Star San you should store that in a separate container since it will go bad when enough of any "stuff" gets in it to change the PH.

See I left all the bio-chemistry out before BB2 found this thread.

[BigPapaG]

BrewBirds wrote: "the cloudiness is a reaction to all the minerals etc. that are in tap water"

Thanks BB!

I did not know that... I suppose I should have but I guess I never thought about it that way!

[Beerlabelman]

Brew birds rule! Awesome answers. I say, don't over think it. Make your mix. Use it once or twice, then make a new mix. It's pretty cheap.