46 replies to this topic

[neddles]

still using starsan here without issues. maybe I'm just lucky.

Proabably not lucky. I think that in practice most of us weren’t having any issues with starsan alone.

[Poptop]

still using starsan here without issues. maybe I'm just lucky.

[positiveContact]

Proabably not lucky. I think that in practice most of us weren’t having any issues with starsan alone.

 

I asked in another thread a long time ago but I kind of wonder if my cleaning regiment kills everything and after rinsing it out the starsan doesn't have too much work to do.  pretty much everything that touches wort on the cold side has been soaked in my hottest tap water and oxiclean, boiled in water or at the very least rinsed immediately before and after use in the hottest water I've got.

[Poptop]

Starsan has never let me down. That said the 2nd to last lager I made had a certain flavor. It wasn’t sour, it wasn’t unpleasant. But it was there and maybe just estery? Maybe the hops. The 34/70 was new and used at 50F. As a precaution I got some iodophor just to do a game change. I used it in my fermenter and corny today. Also used Starsan on other equipment. I’ll prolly use both going forward just to keep me on my toes.

[MyaCullen]

Good to know. You must have some kind of magical plastic over there or Im doing something wrong. It stains every plastic it touches at my house.

how high is the dosage you are using?

[neddles]

how high is the dosage you are using?

what is says on the bottle. IIRC its a similar if not the same ratio as starsan. Again, I am using the 5-star product, IoStar.

[MyaCullen]

what is says on the bottle. IIRC its a similar if not the same ratio as starsan. Again, I am using the 5-star product, IoStar.

I've only used BTF Iodophor, at the rate on the bottle.  

 

It does stain slightly, especially vinyl, says so right on the website.

 

 

You can also get iodine at farm supply stores, just make sure to mix it at the proper ratio to get the 12.5 ppm, as the iodine percentage varies sometimes.

[denny]

I've only used BTF Iodophor, at the rate on the bottle.  

 

It does stain slightly, especially vinyl, says so right on the website.

 

 

You can also get iodine at farm supply stores, just make sure to mix it at the proper ratio to get the 12.5 ppm, as the iodine percentage varies sometimes.

 

Years ago, I bought a gal. jug at a farm store.  When I looked at it when I got home, it had a bunch of other stuff in it.  I gave it away.

[MyaCullen]

Years ago, I bought a gal. jug at a farm store.  When I looked at it when I got home, it had a bunch of other stuff in it.  I gave it away.

good point, as always, we need to read the bottle

 

Is the original Iodaphor formulation that had Phosphoic acid in it still available anywhere?  

[Big Nake]

I think the low-O2 guys also said something about Starsan not being as good on wild yeast. Not sure if that's corrwct. I did use iodophor for a couple batches which were fine. But I used Starsan far more... And it's good too.

[Poptop]

102 batches using Starsan, not one issue. It’s a staple here. But I just added another tried and true sanitizer to the collection just to keep it real haha

[denny]

good point, as always, we need to read the bottle

 

Is the original Iodaphor formulation that had Phosphoic acid in it still available anywhere?  

 

Are you sure it was phosphoric?  I just checked the MSDS for BTF iodophor, the one I use, and it says Hydriodic acid

102 batches using Starsan, not one issue. It’s a staple here. But I just added another tried and true sanitizer to the collection just to keep it real haha

 

I started with iodophor, then switched to StarSan only for a few hundred batches.  Worked really well, but eventually I developed low level flavor that told me something was off.  Tried some iodophor and it went away.  Not exactly scientific, but good enough for me.

[Poptop]

Are you sure it was phosphoric?  I just checked the MSDS for BTF iodophor, the one I use, and it says Hydriodic acid

 

I started with iodophor, then switched to StarSan only for a few hundred batches.  Worked really well, but eventually I developed low level flavor that told me something was off.  Tried some iodophor and it went away.  Not exactly scientific, but good enough for me.

 

Same here, an inkling of suspect flavor.  Probably nothing but doubled down

[Big Nake]

Starsan is phosporic.  My bottle of iodophor says Butoxy polypropoxy polyethoxy ethanol iodine complex... 12.54% and no, I didn't make that up.    I realized last week that my bottle of Starsan is getting light and thought I would pick up another bottle but maybe I'll just kill this bottle of iodophor first... no point in wasting it.  

 

I mentioned once before that I had some batches that had a sort of "dirty" flavor to them.  It wasn't unlike the smell of undiluted Starsan.  Since Starsan is so 'syrupy', I was concerned that maybe I allowed some 'syrup' to sit on the bottom of my fermenter and the cold water used to make the solution allowed the Starsan to thicken and stay on the bottom of the bucket and then I transferred wort right on top of it.  I'm totally spitballing here... I have no idea if that's even possible but I have been in the habit of stirring or else adding water FIRST and then Starsan and THEN stirring just to make sure that doesn't happen.  That said, I have a practically-unused bottle of iodophor here and what's wild is that the smell of this stuff reminds me of being a newbie brewer.

[positiveContact]

Are you sure it was phosphoric? I just checked the MSDS for BTF iodophor, the one I use, and it says Hydriodic acid


I started with iodophor, then switched to StarSan only for a few hundred batches. Worked really well, but eventually I developed low level flavor that told me something was off. Tried some iodophor and it went away. Not exactly scientific, but good enough for me.

Where do you think the problem was? As in what piece of equipment?

[denny]

Where do you think the problem was? As in what piece of equipment?

 

No idea at all.  I nuked everything with iodophor.

[MyaCullen]

Are you sure it was phosphoric?  I just checked the MSDS for BTF iodophor, the one I use, and it says Hydriodic acid

 

I started with iodophor, then switched to StarSan only for a few hundred batches.  Worked really well, but eventually I developed low level flavor that told me something was off.  Tried some iodophor and it went away.  Not exactly scientific, but good enough for me.

IIRC the second part of the name - phor was for phosphoric acid originally, just something I read yeaaaaarrrrrs ago

[Genesee Ted]

That’s where it came from, mic. The iodine isn’t very soluble in water as easily without the acid component, or so is my understanding.

I have used iopdophor a ton and it works perfectly. One thing I will say is that I absolutely avoid using it because it destroys my skin. Like the slightest exposure will split my fingers to extremely painful places. It takes a month or more to heal and it’s not worth it. Even with gloves, if they have even a pin hole leak my fingers are fecked. I use StarSan for soak sanitizer and spray bottles and PAA for CIP. PAA could be used for both but isn’t as stable so you need to mix it fresh.

[Poptop]

That’s where it came from, mic. The iodine isn’t very soluble in water as easily without the acid component, or so is my understanding.

I have used iopdophor a ton and it works perfectly. One thing I will say is that I absolutely avoid using it because it destroys my skin. Like the slightest exposure will split my fingers to extremely painful places. It takes a month or more to heal and it’s not worth it. Even with gloves, if they have even a pin hole leak my fingers are fecked. I use StarSan for soak sanitizer and spray bottles and PAA for CIP. PAA could be used for both but isn’t as stable so you need to mix it fresh.

 

Good to know, thanks GT

[Big Nake]

That’s where it came from, mic. The iodine isn’t very soluble in water as easily without the acid component, or so is my understanding.

I have used iopdophor a ton and it works perfectly. One thing I will say is that I absolutely avoid using it because it destroys my skin. Like the slightest exposure will split my fingers to extremely painful places. It takes a month or more to heal and it’s not worth it. Even with gloves, if they have even a pin hole leak my fingers are fecked. I use StarSan for soak sanitizer and spray bottles and PAA for CIP. PAA could be used for both but isn’t as stable so you need to mix it fresh.

Not to get too far off-topic but that O'Keefe's Working Hands is great stuff any time your hands split, crack, etc.  I don't know if it's the chemicals or just "winter" with the dry air but I will get to a point over the winter where I pretty much put it on every night before I go to bed just to avoid the issue.  It really works.  You could go to bed one night with hands that are really in pain and wake up the next morning with seemingly new hands.  No, I'm not a paid spokesperson.