not the typical sanitation question

couple questions:

1) is iodine the common sanitizer used in the brewing industry (home or commercial) and if so, why iodine? Does it have specific properties that lend itself well to brew equip?
2) is anyone familar with quat sanitizers? i am in the restaurant biz and we use for everything....can it be used on brew equip?
3) is StarSan the same thing as a quat sanitizer?

I currently have an iodine dispenser that i use and it works great, but quats are even easier to use and would consider switching.

thanks for your help, everyone!

if you got it, and it's used in the restaurant industry, then use it. iodine is somewhat common depending on who you ask....i still use good 'ol bleach.

Iodine is Iodine... it's effective and has been used for decades by the food industry. It has known reliability, it is cheap, and you don't have to rinse it when used according to directions.

Quantinary sanitizers are excellent but I believe some you need to rinse.

Starsan is not anything like QA. It is completely safe and does not require rinsing. It is also effective at removing deposits from left over cleaners such as PBW, although an acid wash like sani-star is probably more appropriate for that.

pizzaman said:

if you got it, and it's used in the restaurant industry, then use it. iodine is somewhat common depending on who you ask....i still use good 'ol bleach.

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Bleach is really bad for beer, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone starting out.

nothing wrong with a bleach solution...if you rinse it. which to me defeats the purpose.

Star-san was MADE for the brewing industry. It only makes sense to use it in the homebrewery.