NaDCC as sanitizer

Is it okay to use NaDCC (Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate) for sanitizing carboys? Is it no rinse? It's a type of chlorine, and, apparently, people use it to disinfect drinking water, wells, to sterilize baby bottles etc. So it is food grade.
BUT it seems (after a quick google search) that almost no one uses it in the homebrewing community. Why is that?


Star San is very hard to get around here, and Iodophor is 5x more expensive.

(I have 56% NaDCC granules btw)


http://www.akvo.org/wiki/index.php/Chlorine_(NaDCC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dichloroisocyanurate

http://www.germisep.com/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=5&lang=en

http://www.hydrachem.co.uk/

It is basically a more stable form of sodium hypochlorite and is used widely as a strong oxidizing disinfectant. One of the most common uses is in swimming pools since the isocyanurate helps keep the chlorine from being burned off by sunlight and still allows the proper amount of free chlorine to do its job.

It smells like chlorine and tastes even worse... Sure you can use it, the same as you would use common household bleach which is far less expensive.

It should be rinsed very well just as any chlorine based sanitizer..

OMO

bosco

But many NaDCC manufacturarers claim that it does not leave a taste behind.


http://www.aquatabs.ca/faq.html
"Do Aquatabs water purification tablets colour the water or leave a taste?
No, unlike other water purification treatments such as Iodine or Chlorine Dioxide, Aquatabs will not colour the water or leave an unpalatable taste. NaDCC works very differently from traditional chlorine, and as such, it is very difficult to taste any chlorine taste. In fact, there is usually less of a chlorine taste in water treated with Aquatabs than there is in any municipal tap water."

And in the oft-quoted podcast Charles Talley says that simple household bleach can be used as a no rinse sanitizer...

So.. What gives?


(I realize I should've posted this in the Eq&San subforum)

I use about 30 pounds of the stabilized chlorine each summer in my pool. Although there is no real taste it does at time smell like a chlorinated pool???

Thats about 30 pounds in 15,000 gallons of water over a 4 month length of time (very dilute). Keeping the free chlorine at about 2PPM and the cynanuric acid level at around 50 PPM. This works to keep the pool clean and sanitary. Although none of the kids get sick from accidently drinking the water (and they do) their bathing suits and the towels they use do have a residual odor. I do not like the odor and all their suits and towels go into the wash.

Maybe it's just me, but I would feel better giving anything I used it in a quick rinse.

bosco

Thanks for your input, bosco.

I'm not entirely sure we're talking about the same product here, though. Most pool sanitizers use Calcium hypochlorite as active ingredient and they combine it with Cyanuric acid to make it stable. Or they use Trichloroisocyanuric acid.
This is not exactly the same as NaDCC or Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate (or is it? I'm not a chemist.)

Is there anyone around here who had any experience with NaDCC in food environment?


(maybe a moderator could move this to the Eq&San subforum?)

Sodium Dichloroisocyanuric Acid:
Bluewater Stabilised Pool Chlorine is a granular sodium dichloroisocyanurate formulation used for routine sanitising of spa and swimming pools. Stabilised pool chlorine is more stable than granular chlorine, and is not as susceptible to degradation by sunlight.

The TRI-chlor compound is similar and is used more than the DI-chlor in this area.

Both are used for pool use, as well as water purification.. So is plain bleach (Calcium hypochlorite).

In any case I'd rinse. My tap water is chlorinated and like many others I use bottled or RO water to brew.

From what Mr. Talley says it seems to be OK... I'd still rinse after soaing anythng in a chlorine based product... But that's just me.

bosco