Iodophor. Making a small amount?

How do you do it? I like to use it when I'm making starters and washing yeast because unlike star san it doesn't get all slippery. I have no idea how much to put in though if I want to make just a cup or two of sanitizing liquid.


Dan

my LHBS told me to mix it to a light urine color.

Does anyone know the conversion from teaspoons to oz's? I have a pipette (no markings) but not sure how much to use to make 12.5 ppm

well luckily I don't use it when it would come in contact with the beer...just on the drilled stoppers. But I don't want to screw up my starters just in case something drips in.


Dan

I love Iodophor and use it exclusively and I've done my fair share of research & I have had a 100% (knock on wood) success rate with a dilution of 1 table spoon/5 gallons, which as I understand it is 12.5 ppm.

As far as conversions (at least in the US), 3 Teaspoons = 1 Table spoon, so if you have a 1 & 1/2 teaspoon measure of Iodophor and 2.5 gallons of water, you should have a smaller volume of 12.5 ppm sanitizer!

Just for the record and for any doubters, I've got a 1.5 tsp measuring spoon and two full measures of Iodophor in 5 gallons works beautifully.

I use Iodophor too, and because it's so cheap, I just dump in enough to give the mixture an orange color. I'm sure my mixture is a greater concentration than what is needed, but the extra ten cents isn't worth the effort of measuring.

3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons = 1 ounce
8 ounces = 1 cup
so on and so on and so on

Get the plastic measuring devices that they give out at pharmacies when you get liquid medicine for kids. They measure in milileters. Or just post the amounts for 1/2 tsp, 1/4 tsp, etc in with your brewing gear.

1 ml is extremely close to 1/5 of a teaspoon (or 1/15 of a tablespoon)

Iodophor amounts for 12 ppm:

1 tbspn -- 5 gal
1 tsp -- 1.67 gal (1 gal, 85.3 oz)
1/2 tsp -- .835 gal (107 oz)
1/4 tsp -- .4175 gal (53 oz)
1 ml -- .333 gal (43 oz)

mililiter to oz. conversion

http://www.metric-conversions.org/cgi-bin/util/conversion-chart.cgi?type=4&from=31&to=4

if .5 oz = 12.5 PPM in 5 gal. and .5 oz = 14.786 mililiters

.1 oz or 2.957 mililiters or approx 3 mililiters for 1 gal.

1.5 mililiters for 2 quarts

.75 mililiters for 1 quart

1 mililiter = 20 drops

http://www.versaquatics.com/measurementconversion.htm

so 15 drops would equal approx .75 mililiters for a 1 quart solution

Once you get used to the color you can just shoot for that color in any size. That's one of the reasons I like Iodaphor.. the visual confirmation that you have a reasonable PPM. Of course, it stains like a b!tch too for the same reason.

I have just used two caps full per five gallons and have had no problems.

At basicbrewing.com they have a podcast of an interview with the guy that makes Iodophor. He has some pretty interesting stuff to say about it, especially about making it stronger than recommended. I use a 3ml syringe for 1gl of water, as per that dude. That one gallon sanitizes all my stuff on brew day.

Allright so I need a medicine dropper. Cool, thanks guys!


Dan

cweston said:

Get the plastic measuring devices that they give out at pharmacies when you get liquid medicine for kids. They measure in milileters. Or just post the amounts for 1/2 tsp, 1/4 tsp, etc in with your brewing gear.

1 ml is extremely close to 1/5 of a teaspoon (or 1/15 of a tablespoon)

Iodophor amounts for 12 ppm:

1 tbspn -- 5 gal
1 tsp -- 1.67 gal (1 gal, 85.3 oz)
1/2 tsp -- .835 gal (107 oz)
1/4 tsp -- .4175 gal (53 oz)
1 ml -- .333 gal (43 oz)

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That's exactly what I use. Only I've taken a sharpy and marked the amounts so that I don't have to think while I'm brewing. I'm usually to drunk to do good math at that point.

I use a dispensing pump on my big bottle of iodophor.

2 squirts = 1/2 oz

pa-in-utah said:

my LHBS told me to mix it to a light urine color

Click to expand...

And for that matter urine IS sanitary...unless you have bladder infections of course

omniscientomar said:

At basicbrewing.com they have a podcast of an interview with the guy that makes Iodophor. He has some pretty interesting stuff to say about it, especially about making it stronger than recommended. I use a 3ml syringe for 1gl of water, as per that dude. That one gallon sanitizes all my stuff on brew day.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that link, Omar. I've been mixing my Iodophor too strong. I always thought more was better. I'll have to start measuring from now on.

Fingers said:

I use Iodophor too, and because it's so cheap, I just dump in enough to give the mixture an orange color. I'm sure my mixture is a greater concentration than what is needed, but the extra ten cents isn't worth the effort of measuring.

Click to expand...

If you use it in too strong a solution then it is no longer a no rinse sanitiser.

One could really use a nice chart for iodophor use. One that shows the amount of soultion needed in mL's, tbs, tbls for all kinds of total volumes.

Wait, someone has to have done this!

Anyone?

When I bought my first bottle of the stuff, I got some little test strips that tell you how concentrated the solution is. I forget the exact numbers, but basically it is at no-rinse, sanitizing levels when the solution was just faintly amber in color. If your mix is very clearly darker than normal water, then you are using too strong of a mix, which means that if you don't rinse the vessel, some iodaphor can stay behind and impact your yeast growth.

Order some test strips if you are concerned about how much you are using. Chances are, you're using way too much.