Question about Iodophor Taste

I sanitized my plastic fermenter bucket with 25ppm of Iodophor BTF Sanitizer and realized I wasn't ready to brew that day. Instead of wasting the solution, I let it sit in the bucket for two days, then drained and dried the bucket before use.

Though the bucket was dry, it smelled distinctly of Iodophor.

I racked the beer to secondary yesterday and drank a glass of it. The beer had a character similar to the smell of Iodophor. Since its a pilsner, any imperfections come through quite noticeably.

What I believe happened is that the Iodophor seeped into the plastic during the two-day soak, and then seeped out of the plastic into the wort during fermentation.

Can anybody validate/invalidate this assumption?

Let it age a bit. It should work it's way out. If not, you used too much. 1 cap full per 5 gallons of water is all you really need.

I used the prescribed quantity. My concern is that soaking the plastic 3000 times longer than recommended left a noticeable taste behind.

You don't need a 25 ppm solution. 12.5 ppm works fine for sanitizing. I have left sanitizing solution in my bottling bucket for weeks and haven't had any problems like you describe. Is this a food-grade bucket?

I switched to star-san and I'm much happier with it.

Idophor works well however I have been able to detect when it has been used to sanitize in lighter brews. Switch to Star San it works just as well and leaves behind no noticeable flavors.

Toga said:

Idophor works well however I have been able to detect when it has been used to sanitize in lighter brews. Switch to Star San it works just as well and leaves behind no noticeable flavors.

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My LHBS stands behind Iodophor but I will be switching to Star San after consulting the forums and John Palmer's book.

As this is the lightest beer I have ever brewed (6lbs XLDME and no specialty grains), it is understandable that I may have exceeded the iodine taste threshold that more flavorful beers are able to mask. An ounce of Saaz in secondary might help.

I'm curious about what CoalCracker posted. Has anybody else experienced the taste "work[ing] its way out" with time?

AbeLincoln said:

I'm curious about what CoalCracker posted. Has anybody else experienced the taste "work[ing] its way out" with time?

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You'd be amazed at the off flavors that you can condition out of beer simply by letting them sit around. You probably wouldn't want to do this with an IPA though.