[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Robert's, (not terribly scientific)
NO RINSE Experiment[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
Before discussing this experiment, some background information…
"NO RINSE" is a phrase that is frequently used in conjunction with iodophor. Manufacturers of iodophor claim that, when used in a solution of 12.5 ppm., there is no need to rinse the solution from items. They say that the item should be merely air dried. Dr. Landman opined that air drying wasn't really necessary. I, for one, have never been comfortable with that concept. The odor of iodine from a freshly sanitized carboy is far too intense for me to believe that there would be no deleterious effect upon contact with my beer. No way am I going to take 5 gallons of carefully crafted wort and throw it down that stinking hole! Neither have I been willing to "air dry" the sanitized carboy. First off, I would have to build or buy some sort of holder to keep the carboy inverted for the extended drying period, secondly, I can still smell that iodine even after it has dried and thirdly… how do I know that the carboy won't become contaminated at some time after drying?
With the above reservations in mind, I have always rinsed items after sanitizing them. My water is chlorinated after all, and I shouldn't have to worry that my tap water contains beer spoiling bacteria. Dr. Landman explained that while my tap water may be chlorinated by the city, that does not mean that my faucet, hoses or plumbing are not capable of harboring bacteria. He went on to say that he has never had a brewer complain of iodophor odor or flavor manifesting itself in finished beer when the container has been at least well drained.
Not air dried….just drained? Horse Puckey! We'll just have to put this to the test…
I filled a 5 gallon carboy with water and added 1/2 fluid ounce of iodophor to provide 12.5 ppm. of titratable iodine. I let the solution sit for about 20 minutes, then poured off 1 quart of the solution into a clean mason jar and sealed it tightly. I would use this to contaminate samples for the taste test to follow. I then picked up the carboy and dumped the rest of the contents. I let the carboy drain until it dripped very slowly, put the carboy upright, covered it with a piece of aluminum foil and left it alone for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, I found that approximately 1 tsp. of solution had collected in the bottom of the carboy. I removed the aluminum foil and gave the inside of the carboy a sniff. As expected, it reeked of iodophor. I had emptied the carboy as I normally would, and had let it drip no longer than I felt I was willing to do on a "normal" and ongoing basis.
The question is now … will one teaspoon of iodophor, (at a strength of 12.5 ppm), be detectable to a discerning palate when mixed into 5 gallons of beer? I don't want to "contaminate" that much beer to find out, but am willing to sacrifice say… a quart.
Ok. My exemplary math skills and well-oiled logic tells me…
1 tsp. in 5 gallons = 1/20th tsp. in 1 quart.
Cool, now who has a 1/20th tsp. measure? I don't, but I do have some 1 ml. pipettes. Lets see… a teaspoon is 5 milliliters and 1/20th of that is 0.25 ml. Voila! I need to add 0.25 ml. of the iodophor solution to a quart of beer to obtain the same level of "contamination" that would exist in a 5 gallon batch that had been contaminated with 1 teaspoon of iodophor solution.
Please recall that we are adding 1 ml. of the 12.5 ppm solution to the sample, not 1 ml. of undiluted iodophor.
But, think I, "What the hell", let's make this a real test!" I decide to start the test at 4 times the "normal" amount. The equivalent of 4 teaspoons of iodophor solution left in the carboy. To make it even more unfair, let's taste-test it in distilled water before we test it in actual beer!
So I did. I enlisted the help of two folks who are known to me to have excellent and discerning palates. I placed before each of them three samples of water that had been commercially treated by distillation, reverse osmosis and filtration. One of the three samples was poured from a quart of that same water that I contaminated with 1 ml. of the iodophor solution that I had previously collected from the carboy. The samples in front of each taste tester were numbered 1 to 3 and to avoid the testers accidentally giving "clues" to each other, their contaminated samples were not in the same position.
To my surprise, both testers immediately nailed the contaminated sample. Surprised because as I was adding 1 ml. of the iodophor solution to the quart of distilled water, I was impressed by just how small an amount that 1 ml. actually was. I could see absolutely no color change as a result nor could I detect any odor. The testers could not detect a color variation or odor either. They both detected the contaminated sample by a very slight astringency on the top of the tongue… a "dryness". " My tongue just doesn't feel as wet on top", explained one tester. Again, this was at a level of contamination FOUR TIMES greater than I would expect to find in a batch of beer.
I repeated the experiment using 0.50 ml. of iodophor solution to contaminate the sample water. The samples were rearranged in different positions in front of the testers. In this test, which represented TWICE the amount of iodophor that would have actually been left in the carboy, neither of the testers could detect the contaminated sample.
I then repeated the test using Sierra Nevada Pale Ale instead of distilled water.
For this "beer" test, I doctored the contaminated sample with EIGHT TIMES the amount of iodophor that would be expected and neither of the testers could even guess at which sample contained iodophor.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Summary[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
Both testers easily detected iodophor in distilled water when the level of iodophor was 4 times "normal".
Neither tester could find the iodophor in distilled water at twice the "normal level".
Neither tester could detect iodophor contamination in SNPA at 8 times the "normal level".
NOTE: by "normal level", I mean the amount of iodophor that would be present when draining, (but not air-drying), a carboy as described earlier in this article.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Conclusion[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
I guess I won't be rinsing carboys after sanitizing with iodophor anymore! There just isn't any need to. Simply draining the carboy of the iodophor solution left only 1 teaspoon of solution behind and no tester could detect iodophor even when the samples were contaminated with the equivalent of 8 teaspoons.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Iodophor and Yeast[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
I also had some reservations about using iodophor, (without rinsing), when sanitizing the bottles I use to make yeast "starters". Iodophor is deadly to yeast. To find out if a problem actually exists, I prepared two starters. These starters were prepared in exactly the same manner, (one quart mason jars), except one of the jars was rinsed after sanitizing while the other was merely "emptied", then inverted and shaken a few times to encourage excess liquid to fly off.
I added 8 fluid ounces of wort to each jar and inoculated each with 1/2 fluid ounce of yeast slurry collected from the bottom of a primary fermenter. 12 hours later, both starters appeared healthy and active.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]My Notes:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]National chemicals spec (.1oz : 1 gal) equates to .5oz : 5 gal.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif].5oz = 3 teaspoons or 14ml or (2 cap-fulls): 5 gallons[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif].25oz = 1.5 teaspoons or 7ml or (1 cap-full): 2.5 gallons[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif].1oz = .6 teaspoon or 3ml or (½ cap-full) : 1.25 gallon[/FONT]
.3 tsp or 1.5ml or (¼ cap-full) = ½~5/8 gal