Star-San vs. Iodophor - FIGHT!

Choose which sanitizer you use. Post why you use it, including your list of pros and cons.

I use Star-San primiarly.

Here's some Pro's:
Short 30 second contact time.
Bottle comes with measurement bubble.
Can be stored for months, as long as PH is below 3 it's working fine.
Rinse Free as long as solution does not exceed 300ppm (1oz per 5g)

Cons
More expensive than Iodophor. (63 cents per 5 gallons) (this does not account for storage, if you can re-use the same star-san enough times the cost becomes equal or less than that of Iodophor).
Testing PH is required after long time storage to make sure it's still viable.
If you have extremely high PH water you have to either treat the water or use a bottled water.
Undiluted Star-San can harm counter tops.
Foams up like crazy when agitated. (This isn't a true problem, but it bothers some folks).

Here's Pros and Cons for IODOPHOR

Pros
Cheaper than Star-San, 9.99 for 32 ounces equates to about 15 cents per 5 gallon batch you make (1/2 oz).
Rinse free as long as solution does not exceed 12.5ppm (1/2oz per 5g)

Cons
Odor can put people off
Stains plastics
Cannot be stored long term, iodine tincure evaporates within 24 hours.
Exposure to heat and light can diminish shelf life of undiluted product.

Mindflux said:

Here's Pros and Cons for IODOPHOR

Pros
Cheaper than Star-San, 9.99 for 32 ounces equates to about 15 cents per 5 gallon batch you make (1/2 oz).
Rinse free as long as solution does not exceed 12.5ppm (1/2oz per 5g)

Cons
Odor can put people off
Stains plastics
Cannot be stored long term, iodine tincure evaporates within 24 hours.
Exposure to heat and light can diminish shelf life of undiluted product.

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What cons?

"Odor can put people off"? What people? This stuff doesn't stink when mixed 1 cap per 4 gallons.

"Stains plastic". Yes, but the stains come out just as easily with some bleach water.

"Cannot be stored long term, iodine tincure evaporates within 24 hours." Only if you let it. I fill idle carboys and keep them plugged. The stuff keeps this way, in an open bucket, no.

"Exposure to heat and light can diminish shelf life of undiluted product."
Well, I keep mine in a 68 degree room that's kept dark plus I keep it in a drawer. Not an issue to me.

As far as I can tell, there are no cons. The stuff works well.

1) I can smell Iodophor at a rate of 2 caps (1/2oz) per 5 gallons (12.5ppm). 1 cap for 4g puts you under 12.5ppm.. so I dont see how you use it as an effective sanitizer.. that is unless you aren't using BTF Iodophor (other products may have a different amount per gallon)

2) Who wants to worry about cleaning their stuff with bleach to take away a sanitizer stain?

3) I've read numerous times that iodine will not stay at a needed ppm for long.. take that as you wish.. but starsan can last months

4) Good to know you know it can be harmed by light/heat.

All and all this is just my opinion. I posted the same poll on the greenboard and star-san is beating Iodophor by nearly double. I just wanted to see what folks use.

i use iodaphor. i've never had a sanitation issue, and it's cheap.

stains on plastic don't bother me bacause i know it's clean and sanitized.
i change out my hoses every so often any way, plus i use glass for primary and secondary, so no staining issues there.
but it's nice to have choices, right?
(plus, i like the smell. it reminds me of breweries i've been in! )

I use starsan. I've never tried idophor. I don't feel I can fairly compare the two.

Star-san characteristics I like

No taste, no color, seems to be very effective, keeps for a long time, no rinsing.

I don't like:
Slimy "residue" sometimes left on bottles.

ScottT,

Not to make more argument but I've never heard of someone getting ill from star-san, but from iodine.. yes.

I don't know if we can get either over here.

I use Iodophor exclusively.

I have used both, and I hate Star-san because of the foam. It takes forever to get it off (say in a glass carboy) and for the pros already mentioned in Iodophor, that seals the deal for me. I won't use anything else for my brew equipment.

Iodophor here. Cost savings my big thing. Everywhere I can save some cash goes right back into the batches made

ORRELSE said:

I use Iodophor exclusively.

I have used both, and I hate Star-san because of the foam. It takes forever to get it off (say in a glass carboy) and for the pros already mentioned in Iodophor, that seals the deal for me. I won't use anything else for my brew equipment.

Click to expand...

I dont see why everyone hates the foam, it's just foamy star-san bubbles. I rack on top of them all the time.. If you let the foam settle out you'll find less than a tablespoon of star-san liquid remains, which would not impact taste at all.

I've got a 32 oz thing of Iodophor that I'm using now and again for smaller sanitation or when I dont feel like mixing up a whole 5 gallon batch of star-san.

3ml per gallon of water for iodophor gives 12.5ppm. I used this last night to sanitized my carboy so it would be ready for my cider project.. but i got distracted and also didn't have anything to soak my funnel in. I guess I could have used my star-san spray bottle.

I used OneStep when I first started brewing because that's what they gave my wife when she bought my kit. That got to be very expensive so I switched to Idophor after reading discussions on it here. Works great, no odors that I can pick up. Contact time is not long, about same as what you say it is for starsan. Stains are ok as far as my bucket goes, I soak everything in Oxyclean after use and that takes off most of the discoloration. And as Orrelse says on glass it is no issue. I like it.

Mindflux said:

I dont see why everyone hates the foam, it's just foamy star-san bubbles. I rack on top of them all the time.. If you let the foam settle out you'll find less than a tablespoon of star-san liquid remains, which would not impact taste at all.

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I guess it is a personal thing--but a half carboy full of foam makes me nervous. I can deal with a little foam because I understand the minute amount of sanitizer won't hurt you (or worse yet the beer).

As I said, I've used both, and the Star-san will sit forever if I have Iodophor around.

I get some foam with Iodophor, but not half carboys full.

Hrm my post disappeared... or something.

I use 1/2 - 1 gallon of diluted star san in my carboy, i just swirl it around until i get all the surface wet.. give it a minute dump it out and drain my kettle into it. never been a problem, produces so little foam it's no worries.

I've used iodophor as well, great sanitizer.. just prefer the lack of odor, taste and smell of star-san over iodine.

Read this very informative article on Iodophor. They did a little taste test as well very interesting results.
http://www.bayareamashers.org/content/maindocs/iodophor.htm

orfy said:

I don't know if we can get either over here.

Click to expand...

Do you use VWP orfy?

orfy said:

I don't know if we can get either over here.

Click to expand...

Just found this orfy:-

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/item957.htm

Waldo said:

Read this very informative article on Iodophor. They did a little taste test as well very interesting results.
http://www.bayareamashers.org/content/maindocs/iodophor.htm

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nice link! thanks. I plan to start using idophor for bottling (tired of rinsing the beer brite out of my bottles) and this info will remove some of my doubts.

-walker

good read waldo! thanks for the link.

Blighty-Brewer,

I like your avatar, Baldrick was my favorite character of the Blackadder shows. Anybody recognise this guy?





Ever watch House, M.D. on Fox?

is that the guy from "House" (the new-ish Dr. show on TV)?

-walker

whoops.. I didn't see the comment BELOW the pic before posting that comment.

duh!

-walker

Indeed it is, he played a bumbling idiot on Blackadder, he was really good at it to.

That's Hugh Laurie, a Cambridge educated actor, who's early comic appearances were with Stephen Fry in "A little bit of Fry and Laurie". He's also appeared in the movie "Stuart Little".

Blackadder has got to be one of my favourite comedies (besides Cheers and Frasier).

BTW, Thanks Waldo.

was he ever on the Young Ones?

My last name is House, so we were all a little surprised to see a tv character named House.

Ok, I'm done hi-jacking this thread.

I don't think so. The Young Ones were Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexai Sayle.

It was co-written by Ben Elton, who also had a hand in Blackadder

sorry, should have been more clear. i thought he was an extra on the show. maybe from Scumbag U? it's been a while since i've seen an episode, but he looked familiar to me. being that i don't see to much BBC action, i figured it was from the Young Ones.
good pic though!

Looks like you've been hijacked MindFlux.

I'm like Orrelse. I use Iodophor exclusively too. Just cause it works.

Like they say..if it ain't broke....

Anyway, some odors don't bother me..they also say, once you get past the smell you got it licked.

I've got the complete BlackAdder DVD collection. Great stuff.

And, back to the topic on hand, I'm option 3: The bleachwater guy. The Iodophor article kind of had me, and I might switch.

Hey, how come we didn't get option 3? Is is my breath?

Oh, wait, this is a fight between the two. I'm the drunken idiot getting involved in somebody else's quarrel. Soon, it's gonna be a big bar brawl. Sorry.

I like the fact that once Waldo posted that link, nobody had anything to say about the topic. I know what I'll be using from now on. (Still a One-step user at the moment).

Edit: Just to be clear, it's iodophor from here on out. Come to think of it, I grew up on a dairy farm, and maybe somebody knows, but was the "old" iodophor purple? Or is that just straight iodine. Very early childhood memories, y'know, just wondering.

I'd like to recast my vote to Iodaphor. I realized a very important reason why it's tits:

If you use it in a bucket, it will tell you where you need to scrub. Good old high school biology, reminding me that iodine changes sugars to a bluish color. You can quickly see where you need to wipe your bucket with a soft rag to remove the crud.

Take that, "Star San".

Iodophor is sexier than star-san. And cheaper, and i like the fact that it stains buckets, it gives one a reason to go glass..

Dude said:

I use Iodophor exclusively.

I have used both, and I hate Star-san because of the foam. It takes forever to get it off (say in a glass carboy) and for the pros already mentioned in Iodophor, that seals the deal for me. I won't use anything else for my brew equipment.

Click to expand...

And now for something completely novel invented just for Dude.

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16025

I use Star San. I've never used Iodophor, and I don't see that I'll switch. I use a lot of Star San (read: many batches not over concentrated) because I don't trust it to sit in a bucket for the length of a whole batch so I make a batch on brew day and one at secondary day which gets used for bottling as well, and I don't see that I can trust Iodophor for that either.

If it is only 15 cents per batch more expensive than Iodophor I don't see any reason to switch. I frequently spend $2.00 or more for a pint of beer at bars hanging out with friends, so while I guess 15 cents adds up, to me it doesn't add up fast enough to switch when we are talking $0.30 difference over a whole batch. I brew for the enjoyment, not because it saves me money. Also, I spill stuff all over my clothes, so I'd probably have half of a closet of Iodophor stained clothes, and thats the biggest reason why I strayed from it when I first started out.

I had a half notion to vote for Clorox Lemon Scented Bleach. But that sanitizer has been outvoted a long time ago.

Well I have Star San. Usually I use it on carboys, but use One Step with just about everything else.... just out of curiousity. Just what will happen if you happen to spill Star San or Iodophor on your carpet... or kitchen floor or counter top for that matter? Well the intense dark color of Iodophor has really been a deciding factor in my using it. If I spill One Step you know what will happen.... bout nothing outside of being wet.

budbo said:

And now for something completely novel invented just for Dude.

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16025

Click to expand...

Heh....he has since declared "bubbles be damned" and become a diehard StarSan convert Converted me, too, although I still have some Iodophor on hand. I'm not afraid to use it, but StarSan is just easier.

I'm currently using Iodophor but I would like to switch to star-san. I need to use up what I've got which means maybe in about 12 years I'll make the switch. I little iodophor goes a long way!