Sanitizer Question....

My local Feed store sells this product; made by Priority Care. its called Povidone solution.

http://www.prioritycare.com/productsheet.php?p=251
11.99 per 32oz bottle or maybe its a gallon not sure I'll find out on my way home from work.

A water based iodine solution that is indicated for gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria plus fungi, viruses, protozoa, and yeasts. Kills bacteria, fungi, yeasts and certain viruses. Contains 10% povidone iodine (1.0% available iodine). 32 oz.

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I plan on using this to sanitize my bottles instead of using my starsan. I built my own BMBF and want to bottle from keg to give samples out.

is this ok to use I can't imagine spending $4.99 at the LHBS for a Tiny Tiny Bottle of Idophor

-=Jason=-

So let me get this straight -

If I fill a spray bottle with Star San solution, I can just spray down everything and it'll be okay?

I made my first batch this weekend and I sprayed the entire inside of my fermenting bucket with Star san and everything else. Is this okay? I'm a noob, so I'm kind of worried

Btw, this is after I used a no rinse cleanser on everything

dontman said:

I used Iodophor for years. I hate the smell. I never really trusted that it was no-rinse because of that smell even though I did a test and it did sublimate out of a quantity of water to the point where the water was drinkable.

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I'm hoping this will be the case with C-Brite, too. I've a batch in bottles right now and had some concerns about the bleachy odor of C-Brite tainting the beer, which was bottled in bottles on which I used C-Brite. Did some quick research on bottling day and the C-Brite people claimed it had been a no-rinse but they weren't allowed to make the claim anymore; nonetheless, the formula was unchanged and thus could still be treated like one at proper dilution levels.

So I did not rinse the bottles despite the unpleasant smell. It was diluted down to spec, no question, but even now the outside of the bottles have white residue. Don't know that that bodes will for the inside ... but maybe it's a non-issue.

Needless to say, I promptly switched to StarSan for the follow-up batch, which is happily fermenting even as I type this.

Shoegaze99 said:

I'm hoping this will be the case with C-Brite, too. I've a batch in bottles right now and had some concerns about the bleachy odor of C-Brite tainting the beer, which was bottled in bottles on which I used C-Brite. Did some quick research on bottling day and the C-Brite people claimed it had been a no-rinse but they weren't allowed to make the claim anymore; nonetheless, the formula was unchanged and thus could still be treated like one at proper dilution levels.

So I did not rinse the bottles despite the unpleasant smell. It was diluted down to spec, no question, but even now the outside of the bottles have white residue. Don't know that that bodes will for the inside ... but maybe it's a non-issue.

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Well, it turns out it had no impact on the aroma. Opened a test beer at the three-week mark. The beer smelled and looked great. Nice, full hoppy aroma, a rich and foamy head. Looked great.

But it had a bad bleach aftertaste. Bad enough so that I dumped the bottle. I'm crushed.

So I'm going to sit on this batch for a while and see if it works itself out, but that's a flavor I don't see subsiding with time. Anyone have any experience with this? Has a bleach flavor actually subsided pr disappeared?

(To reiterate the story, I soaked my bottles overnight in a C-brite/bleach solution, rinsed, then sanitized with a diluted C-brite solution. Diluted down to spec. Did not rinse despite some white residue on the bottles.)

I have skimmed through the thread as best I can trying to find an answer to this simple question with no luck! I am getting back into bottling a little bit (Been strictly kegging beers for the past few years) what I am concerned about with the no-rinse stuff is bottle conditioning... If I am bottle conditioning some of my beers, will a non-rinsed bottle sanitized with iodophor kill the yeast in my beers, or is the concentration way too low? This thought never really occurred to me before since I just force carb my kegs. I know Star-San foam is supposed to provide nutrients to the yeast, but is that the case with Iodophor?

moxie said:

I have skimmed through the thread as best I can trying to find an answer to this simple question with no luck! I am getting back into bottling a little bit (Been strictly kegging beers for the past few years) what I am concerned about with the no-rinse stuff is bottle conditioning... If I am bottle conditioning some of my beers, will a non-rinsed bottle sanitized with iodophor kill the yeast in my beers, or is the concentration way too low? This thought never really occurred to me before since I just force carb my kegs. I know Star-San foam is supposed to provide nutrients to the yeast, but is that the case with Iodophor?

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No, at proper dillution, iodophor won't cause a problem with bottle carbing/conditioning...we wouldn't be advocating using it as a no rinse sanitizer, if it did, would we?

You'd be seeing a million don't use iodophor as a no rinse sanitizer because it harms the yeast threads, if that were the case.....

Revvy, I tryed to find an answer to this on other threads and really never got a definitive answer Im happy with. Whats the minimum you should do to your previously used bottles provided they were rinsed well after drinking. And also theres been alot of talk about wet sanitizer but do you bottle imediately after using the vinator or do drain it and let sit a while. Of course not letting it dry completely. Thanks

Seanwallner said:

Revvy, I tryed to find an answer to this on other threads and really never got a definitive answer Im happy with. Whats the minimum you should do to your previously used bottles provided they were rinsed well after drinking. And also theres been alot of talk about wet sanitizer but do you bottle imediately after using the vinator or do drain it and let sit a while. Of course not letting it dry completely. Thanks

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If I'm not going to do a full on oxyclean soak and wash of my bottles, because there's nnothinhg growing on them, and I've rinsed them after each use, then the minimum I do is a thorough rinsing with a jet bottle washer and the hottest water I can find.



With a vinator the bottles tend to drain pretty well, just leaving the surface wet with some inside, I usually just upend them quickly and give them a little shake over my bucket of sanitizer as I'm moving the towards the spigot, but I don't make a big deal out of it, the sanitizer is going to rise up and out of the bottle as it is being filled to the brim anyway.

I don't really have anything to add. I'm just pleased that the thread I started 3 yrs. ago is still going strong. Kudos to Revvy for all the good advice. The first one to reply to my questions then, and the last one to reply today. Preach on, brother.

Thanks brother. I think I've been over doing it a bit. Bottling this weekend should go much quicker. Wand, bottle washer and vinator check. Cheers SW

Just thought of something... I don't have a faucet that facilitate a washer. Do you think the dishwasher cycle the morning of would suffice? Thanks

I have been using 4.5oz of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (the stuff used to clean cuts) in 1 gallon of water for sanitation. It is cheap (less than $4 per gallon of h2o2) which makes 30 gallons of sanitizing solution. It's also a nice cleaning agent for removing gunk...just don't leave metal stuff like scissors in there too long or they'll start to rust!

I have used this for the past 9-10 batches with no problems, no infections, just delicious beer. It's also no-rinse and doesn't discolor any buckets or tubing, and won't stain your clothes. It doesn't dry my hands out either.

Just my 2 cents.

Reading, reading, reading. I'm doing lots of reading around here. Reading is a good thing, and it is oh-so-much-better to be prepared with knowledge than to end up with a bad batch after all that work.

I boiled and primary(ed) my first 1/2 batch Saturday night. I used a no-rinse sanitizer on all my stuff (I'm not at home now, so can't say for sure which one) after I thoroughly washed/cleaned all my equipment up to the point of primary fermenting.

My question is thus though, since I do live in a more rural area, and have a septic system, is there /any/ information out there about how these sanitizers and cleaners react with a standard household septic system?

There are so many 'good' bacteria in the septic for doing what they're good at, breaking down waste in the septic, that I would surely hate to pour my sanitizers and cleaners down my drain after using them and have them start destroying all my needed 'good' bacteria in the septic.

In fact, this first batch I've ever brewed, I took my sanitizing bucket out to the street to pour into the storm drain instead. So, likely NOT the safest either, depending on what these little cleaners can do, but better than having me need my septic pumped out often because I'm killing the 'good stuff' in there.

If I lived in a municipality I wouldn't think twice of pouring down gallons of cleaners and sanitizers down the drain, since thats what they do at the treatment plants anyway, but at home, I'm not so sure.

Also, sorry if this is off topic here, but this is a discussion on Sanitizers, and I couldn't find any other spot to ask. I may also be over-thinking it...

If you listen to the podcast I linked for Starsan you'll hear that starsan is very septic friendly. Just like it breaks down to become yeastfood, the bugs in your septic system love it as well. There's also a few threads discussing this. You can do a search for septic.

10-4 Thank you sir!

I have the podcast already downloaded, and will be listening to it on my drive home tonight, and finish it while mowing.

Certainly better to hear that my fears are unwarranted than the other way around.

Well I've thumbed through several pages of this thread and figured I'd revive it a year later....

I tried using bleach for my first 2 MB kits and had no major issues. I mixed it at a ratio of 1tbsp per gallon of filtered and boiled tap water. I let it drip dry and then I brewed or bottled. Then I bought a tub of 1step and I'm not completely happy with it. I've put a few batches through using the 1step and the beer tastes just fine. My problem with it has been that the powder does not fully disolve. I've tried adding it to luke warm water, hot tap water, just-off-boil water--and there are ALWAYS little crystals of powder suspended in the water. The suspended particles end up collecting on my spoons, bottles, and other equipment and dry--leaving visible deposits on the equipment. It has never skunked my beer, but (to me) chemically clean (sanitized) should also be visibly clean (no spots).

Has anyone else had these issues with 1step? If so, when those people switched from 1step to StarSan, did the deposits go away? If I'm using 1step incorrectly, someone help me out but I've read the directions on the tub several times and I don't see where I'm messing up.

I did, on my last batch, run the bottles through the dishwasher on the high-temp rinse and high-temp dry setting. I didn't use any soap or rinse agent. I did that with half the bottles and I used 1step with my sulfiter/bottle rinser/vinator on the other half so I'll be able to compare the different results.

Any thoughts/comments?

So, I thought I'd try also to post here and see if I can get a response. Tomorrow is supposed to be brew day, and I realized I'm out of sanitizer. My LHBS is 1.5 hour drive one way, but I do live in a rural area with tractor supply stores and feed stores. I have a few questions. Should I go with bleach, which I have on hand, or should I try to find an Iodine based solution at one of the local stores?

I saw that our local Southern States has Betadine, 5% and another Povidine-Iodine solution, 7.5%. Would it still be safe to use one of these, and just use less in the solution? For instance, since it's been stated you use 1.5tsp/gallon with a 1.5% solution, I would use roughly 1/3 the amount or 1/5 the amount, respectively. Thanks for any help.

I think that's been covered throughout this thread. I would use either the betadine or providine iodine solution and calculate what is required to dillute it to the proper PPMs for a no-rinse solution.

Listen to this podcast, the inventor of StarSan tells exactly how to use bleach as a sanitizer.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-29-07.mp3

Thanks for the quick response. I wanted to use the Betadine rather than bleach so I wouldn't have to rinse since we're on well water, but I wasn't sure about the higher concentration. I did read through the thread, and didn't remember seeing any mention of any higher concentration than 1.5% - though I've read through several tonight, and my eyes are starting to glaze over. Thanks again, this will make brew day much easier!

I keep seeing people compare one step and oxy clean, and I have yet to see anyone explain or understand the differences. (read the labels) Oxy Clean is one step and a soap mixed together. One Step is just the Oxy part. When it is dissolved in water, it basically turns into hydrogen peroxide.

With 5 batches to my name, I'm no expert. When I first bought my cleaning supplies, I picked up one step (no rinse) and PBW (rinse). Star San came included with my kit.
I've come to use PBW to clean everything except my glass carboy. PBW is slippery stuff.
I use one step to clean my glass carboy, but when the supply is out I'll probably settle on PBW, and be careful.
I use neither as a sanitizer, and neither claims to be a sanitizer.
I use Star San for that, and the no rinse and the foam are my friends.
No infections in my first 4 batches, and the 5th is now fermenting.
I haven't tried Oxyclean, and as long as PBW and Star San continue working the way they have so far, that's what I'll continue doing.

Oxyclean is pretty much the same thing as PBW but a lot cheaper cuz u buy it at Walmart.

geim32 said:

Oxyclean is pretty much the same thing as PBW but a lot cheaper cuz u buy it at Walmart.

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PBW is percarbonate (Oxiclean) with some sort of detergent in it.

I mix my own PBW solution, which if you search HBT for you'll find the recipe.

Anyhow, PBW and Oxiclean have the same main ingredient, but they are not "the same".

Thankful for all the conversation here spanning several years!
I put this together so I thought I would share it in case someone else found it helpful, let me know if any errors.

Also, the price is best on midwestsupplies.com price, but i looked other places and everyone is pretty close.

Hegh said:

From what I've read, the jets from the dishwasher can't get up into the narrow openings in things like beer bottles or lots of other brewing equipment (hoses, autosiphon, ...), so make sure everything is clean first, use the sanitize cycle for sanitizing only.

The dishwasher sanitizes by filling up the space with steam and keeping it hot for a while, so it basically just boils the bacteria to death, since steam can be hotter than water and transfers heat better than dry air.

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My dishwasher does not have a Sanitize cycle, but I thought about using the Rinse Only cycle to wash the bottles. However, I read somewhere that using your dishwasher to clean your bottles could allow your dishwasher's rinse agent (i.e. Jet Dry, etc.) to get inside the bottles. Rinse agent is what causes sheeting action to prevent streaks on your glassware. It also can prevent your beer from forming a head, from what I've heard. So I emailed KitchenAid to ask if I used the Rinse Only cycle on my dishwasher, if it released the rinse agent, and their reply was "Rinse aid is dispensed in any rinse cycle." So I avoid using the "rinse only" cycle unless I've run out of rinse agent. Anyone have any comments or experience using the dishwasher to rinse bottles?