Hey guys, my apologies in advance if this was posted in the wrong place.
Tonight, I was racking one Carboy while starting a new batch in another. In between finishing the first Carboy and sanitizing the second, the color of the water went from a pretty dark Amber color, almost completely back to clear water. There was almost no noticeable tint. It had been sitting and sanitizing other equipment for about 45 minutes - 1 hour at this time. Just to clarify, this was in my garage during the night, in around 70 degree weather using room temperature water.
So my question is, if Iodophor looses its color within that short of a time span, is it still effective, or am I going to end up dumping my new batch?
Do I need to continually dump iodophore in to maintain its color? or is Star San more effective for longer periods?
Really appreciate anyone’s help on this, thanks!
Wow, I’ve never used iodophor, yet even in my early stages of brewing, I just used one step and didn’t have any problems. Now I do use star san and still don’t have problems. I do have a pH meter to test a solution’s pH to tell if it is working. Sneezles61
It definitely loses color over time, but I haven’t seen it lose it that quickly. One thing that I recently realized is that the strength of Iodophor products vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. The 5-Star version is about one tenth the strength of the National Chemical version. I’ve used the National Chemical version for years and had always put a capful of the concentrate in 5 gal of water. I recently tried the 5-Star version and noticed that the color was not as deep when I used my old dosing rate. That’s when I noticed the difference in strength.
If you were using the 5-Star version, maybe this is a reason for the quick color fade?
The main problem with iodofor is mixing it to strong. It will quickly become a product that has to be rinsed above 12.5 ppm. That is 1/2oz for 5 gals. The color is just a rough guide.
Chlorine, protein load and sunlight will speed up the breakdown.
Dr. Landman from National Chemicals recommends mixing a new batch if the color fades or every 24 hours. He is a good explanation
http://www.franklinbrew.org/wp/?page_id=384
Is pH a determining factor? Sneezles61
