Iodine sanitizer?

[Poincare]

Hello,

I tried to search on this thru the forum search option but I didn't find anything. Please excuse the n00b-ness of this question as I'm still getting started. Anyway, where I live we do not have a home brew store, but there is one about 2 hours driving distance away -- I am also considering mail order. Anyway, I have been using One Step Cleaner as a cleaner & sanitizer. However, I recently read that this is not actually a *sanitizer*.

Now, since I'm not near a home brew shop I'm wondering if I can just mix some mixture of Iodine (bought at my town's Walgreens) and water to make a sanitizer? Walgreens has 2 different bottles of Iodine: 10% Povidone-Iodine topical solution and 2% Tincture Iodine. Both these bottles carry a "For External Use Only" and I'm not really sure of which one, how to mix it, or even if it would work, or it it's safe and won't kill me...?! They also have a Betadine solution which looks like it contains Iodine...

Has anyone successfully made some sanitizer out of Iodine (like what you can buy at Walgreens or Shopko) or something else which I could get at a pharmacy when I don't have time to make it to the home brew shop or order online...?

Thanks for any help.

 

[bierhaus15]

I have made iodine sanitizing solutions before, using regular pharmacy iodine and water. The solution seemed to work fine, but it was really messy and much more hassle than it was worth. If I were you, I would use a mild bleach solution to sanitize and just make sure to rinse well with water.

I know some people seem to have an aversion to using bleach, but I have used it extensively for sanitizing and have had no problems with it what so ever. Though, I have also used One-Step cleaner as a sanitizer and have had no problems. Just use whatever you have currently available and when you get a chance, pick up a bottle of Starsan.

 

[casebrew]

One ounce of household bleach in four gallons is a no-rinse sanitizer. That's two tablepoons- use a measuring spoon, not a soup spoon.

I mix up a tub full, brew, and then use it to rinse off the gear before stowing for next tiem. Then leave the bleach mix open to the air for a few days so the chlorine goes bye-bye before dumping it on the lawn. You don't want to sanitize the good bacteria in your lawn.

Using too much is what causes brewers grief. And don't leave stainless stuff soaking it, the chlorine removes the stainlesss-ness, and allows iron to ruin the beer. Iron/rust in beer kills it- and makes your fillings into batteries, shorting out your taste buds.

 

[Poincare]

One ounce of household bleach in four gallons is a no-rinse sanitizer. That's two tablepoons- use a measuring spoon, not a soup spoon. ...

Pardon my ignorance, but I have read several people suggest that household bleach is not no-rinse (if it is @ this concentration then great!) and that the homebrewer should avoid it unless it's super-rinsed several times.

If I am to use 2T/1oz of bleach in 4 gallons of water, can I just let it drain? I mean, right after it's drained can I dump the wort into it? Or, do I need the fermentor to completely air dry before I pour the wort into it? And, in this case wouldn't completely air drying potentially expose it to bacteria?

 

[casebrew]

If I am to use 2T/1oz of bleach in 4 gallons of water, can I just let it drain? I mean, right after it's drained can I dump the wort into it?

That's what I've been doing for 24 batches now. Let it soak for 20 minutes. No infections yet.

My only problem has been that I started AG with what I thought was a stainless steel perforated screen as a sparge filter gismo in the bottom of a bucket. Later I found out it was tin-plated steel. It worked fine for sparging. Until I left it in the chlorine for a week. Next batch of beer was iron-wasted. So that's when I went to a braid stripped off of a water line. I didn't find out for another year that the perforated metal wasn't stainless anyhow, but tin plated steel. Subsequent reading has taught me that the major reason chlorine gets a bad rep is that the big guys don't use it, mostly because of the changes it causes to stainless tanks and plumbing.

If properly diluted, to parts per million, then say a tablespon is left in the a five gallon carboy, it will be diluted further another 1200 times. That's about one part per ten million of beer.

 

[Poincare]

This post (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizing-question-90109/#post971810) says to mix 1T white vinegar + 5 gallons water + 1T bleach as a no-rinse sanitizer.

Seems vinegar + bleach can be deadly....... but separately, in the same fermenter, they are OK?!

Anyway, has anyone used this combination successfully as a no-rinse sanitizer?

 

[fivehoursfree]

Yea, pick up a bottle of real sanitizer. It's not so outrageously expensive to make it prohibitive. Also you can boil things that can fit in your boiling pot: spoons, airlocks.

 

[QsnotPs]

I know this is a really old thread, but for reference purposes I would like to add Polar Pure to the iodine list. It is a glass bottle of iodine crystals. You simply add 4 ounces of water and it makes 4 ounces of iodine, you then pour that 4 ounces into the water which needs to be sanitized.
I have not used this on beer, but have spent long periods of time in the mountains only drinking river and spring water, and i have not been sick yet......I typically don't sanitize the spring water....it tastes too good.