DrumForHire
Well-Known Member
Well, my BrewJacket just arrived today, and I'm excited to get my next brew going!
Now, I know I have to use a method other than Star-San to sanitize the immersion rod. I was originally thinking of just boiling the rod with the wort, but I'm now thinking that it might just be too unwieldy of a process having to empty the kettle and then handle the rod with heat-resistant gloves in a way that won't risk contaminating it. So, I'm thinking of going to iodophor for it. I'm used to Star-San, and the only time that I used Iodophor was at a club big brew that included two pro brewers who insisted on mixing up a bunch of Iodophor for everyone to use as needed.
I would just switch to Iodophor all the way, except that when I brew I usually mix a gallon of Star-San, sanitize everything I need to with it, and then drain some into a spray bottle to keep around and spray down components as I need to (say, if I need to take a sample to test gravity, I spray the thief down with some of the Star-San). Researching how to use Iodophor, I found some posts stating that you can't keep it around as long as Star-San because the iodine will evaporate off within 24 hours. Is this true? And would keeping it in a spray bottle make any difference (since it's not really open to the air)?
(My other option is to sanitize everything else with Star-San and then just mix a small spray bottle with Iodophor to use on the rod, which wouldn't be awful because I have quite a bit of Star-San to use, but eventually I'd just like to make the switch to Iodophor for everything if possible)
Thanks for any tips!
Now, I know I have to use a method other than Star-San to sanitize the immersion rod. I was originally thinking of just boiling the rod with the wort, but I'm now thinking that it might just be too unwieldy of a process having to empty the kettle and then handle the rod with heat-resistant gloves in a way that won't risk contaminating it. So, I'm thinking of going to iodophor for it. I'm used to Star-San, and the only time that I used Iodophor was at a club big brew that included two pro brewers who insisted on mixing up a bunch of Iodophor for everyone to use as needed.
I would just switch to Iodophor all the way, except that when I brew I usually mix a gallon of Star-San, sanitize everything I need to with it, and then drain some into a spray bottle to keep around and spray down components as I need to (say, if I need to take a sample to test gravity, I spray the thief down with some of the Star-San). Researching how to use Iodophor, I found some posts stating that you can't keep it around as long as Star-San because the iodine will evaporate off within 24 hours. Is this true? And would keeping it in a spray bottle make any difference (since it's not really open to the air)?
(My other option is to sanitize everything else with Star-San and then just mix a small spray bottle with Iodophor to use on the rod, which wouldn't be awful because I have quite a bit of Star-San to use, but eventually I'd just like to make the switch to Iodophor for everything if possible)
Thanks for any tips!