Star San

RoosterBrew · Oct 1, 2016

Hi guys, I've bought some Star San but read on the net that it needs water with a PH value of 3 or less for the stuff to work? My water here in Worthing Sussex in the UK is Hard water.
I bought some deionized water ( that's all I could find local to me, I was looking for distilled water) because I was led to believe Star San is OK with distilled water, but having said that I also read deionized and distilled water has a PH value of 7 or just below 7 after the air gets to it. Some say white Vinegar will lower the PH but will that add a flavour bearing in mind its non rinse.
Didn't think sterilizing could be so much of a problem and expense.

mabrungard · Oct 1, 2016

Yes, the pH of the starsan solution does need to drop into the sub 3 range. But understand that starsan is phosphoric acid with a surfactant. It will bring the pH down. No need to worry about the water pH. However, you do want to use DI or distilled or RO water when mixing up your batch since calcium in the water will cause the solution to become cloudy and it will also create a slimey film on your equipment. So, you can't use hard and alkaline tap water to make up starsan solution and expect good results.

Strollon15 · Oct 1, 2016

From what I believe the pH of water should be around 7-8 before you add the starsan. After adding the starsan the solution should be below 3.5.........it's what I use and i've tested with litmus paper and my water is spot on meaning the starsan is good to go as well :)
Hope that helps.
Stroll.

DoctorMick · Oct 1, 2016

Tesco ashbeck water is widely recommended on here, it's what I use and it works a treat.

Slid · Oct 1, 2016

RoosterBrew said:
Hi guys, I've bought some Star San but read on the net that it needs water with a PH value of 3 or less for the stuff to work? My water here in Worthing Sussex in the UK is Hard water.
I bought some deionized water ( that's all I could find local to me, I was looking for distilled water) because I was led to believe Star San is OK with distilled water, but having said that I also read deionized and distilled water has a PH value of 7 or just below 7 after the air gets to it. Some say white Vinegar will lower the PH but will that add a flavour bearing in mind its non rinse.
Didn't think sterilizing could be so much of a problem and expense.

Hi Rooster

I am not trying to offend, here, but I would suggest that the advice you obtained was that the Star San steriliser would have impaired effectiveness in diluted state at a pH of less than 3?

If you have some Star San - here is my approach - first dilution into a 1.5L squash bottle (one cap full) - this is very strong, so secondary dilution at about 4 parts water to one part diluted SS.

dad_of_jon · Oct 1, 2016

DoctorMick said:
Tesco ashbeck water is widely recommended on here, it's what I use and it works a treat.

aqua pura is only ph 6.1 to start with so is even (if only a little) better than ashbeck.

RoosterBrew · Oct 2, 2016

Thank you all for your replies, at least I have not wasted my money buying the DI water!
I did not know that the SS itself would lower the PH of the water, I had a miss understanding of this, I thought the water needed to be 3 or less I can now sleep again.
I have litmus strips for my mash testing but this only has a 5.2/6.6 testing range, I will look online for some litmus that tests below 3. It seems hard to find distilled water in the UK, DI water seems to have taken its place.
Thank you all for helping clear this up for me.

Gnasher · Oct 4, 2016

I don't know if this will be of any help, but years ago my Mum used to send me down to the local chemist (Pharmacy) to get a bottle of water, so that she could make up her contact lenses solution.

Can't remember if it was "Purified" or "Distilled" water though and maybe they don't do it nowadays. Might be worth checking out?

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