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I use Five Star's iodophor sanitizer. The instructions say to let equipment fully dry before using. This seems almost impossible for plastic tubing. Even after a couple of hours there is still noticeable liquid inside the tubing.

Will this small amount of iodophor liquid affect taste? Should I rinse with hot water before using?

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  • Look at this post, it seems it leaves no taste : homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/6654/…
    – Philippe
    Nov 3, 2015 at 2:22
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    I hang the tubes in an upside down U shape for a few minutes. That will get rid of the excess. Anything remaining will be of no consequence to the beer. Nov 4, 2015 at 8:54

7 Answers 7

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Will this small amount of iodophor liquid affect taste?

Not if it was properly diluted

Should I rinse with hot water before using?

Arguably, your materials will be less sanitized if you do. If you really want to rinse, use pre-boiled water. The best option is to properly dilute your sanitizer and don't rinse.

With Iodophor

Its major advantage over other sanitizers is that when used in proper proportions, it does not require rinsing. However, it can leave unattractive orange-brown stains on plastic parts and equipment if left in contact with them.

You should not use sanitizer after cleaning and before storage. It's a waste of sanitizer as you will need to do so again before use. The exception is sealing a cleaned and sanitized keg under pressure with CO2. With plastics, the sanitizer may break down the material over time (as well as stain it with Iodophor), so best to store clean, and sanitize before use.

This article is a good reference.

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I always just rinse it out after i clean it... no problems

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  • I also rinse after I sanitize if I need to use my equipment right away. If I don't need it right away, I let it dry. Even if my sanitizer mentions "No rinse required", I kind of don't like the idea of drinking it, even if it's safe.
    – Philippe
    Nov 4, 2015 at 1:38
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    After you clean it? Or after you sanitize it/before you use it? Nov 4, 2015 at 5:40
  • Franklin has a point, rinsing soap after cleaning is not the same as rinsing the sanitizer. Please explain more Ben.
    – Philippe
    Nov 5, 2015 at 13:10
  • Your drinking water should be pretty clean... So I tend to not really worry about it and will quickly rinse with water after I've sanitized. I feel the chance of contamination to be pretty low... since you just sanitized the tubes. If you think you drinking water is that questionable, you are probably boiling it first anyway.
    – Ben Call
    Sep 21, 2017 at 21:54
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Assuming you followed the part of the instructions about diluting it first, you're fine.

If you didn't dilute it first you're still fine if you don't want to rinse, but in that case I would rinse with the diluted solution to avoid the chance of off flavors.

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The answer really is quite simple, if the water dries and leaves salts behind, does it really affect anything to wait until dry?

The short answer is no, usually not. The salts are there whether it's dried or not in the same quantity.

The longer answer is maybe, but letting it dry the sanitizer concentrates thus killing anything residual that might survive the diluted formula.

For me? I have sanitize and used right away. In fact sometimes it's so long between uses that I feel I need to sanitize BEFORE I use, not after.

If you hang the hose vertically, it will help it to dry a lot better.

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  • I don't think there's any salt in iodophor. Iodine is added to salt, but iodine itself is not a salt.
    – Wyrmwood
    Nov 5, 2015 at 20:54
  • Maybe not, but it will leave something solid behind. Iodine is not a gas.
    – Escoce
    Nov 5, 2015 at 21:07
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I never have any problems with this regimen: clean after use, sanitize before use.

Cleaning means removing all visible contents from the tubing. Usually running some water through suffices, sometimes I need B-Brite or something. Whatever happens, getting dried gunk out of tubes is a bitch.

Sanitizing means actually murdering all the little abominations, whether on surfaces or in tubes, that want to jump into my beer. For this I have used Star San and bleach to great effect. I'm sure iodophor is fine too. I always run water through after sanitizing too, but with most sanitizers I don't suppose you have to.

Frankly, I feel like sanitizing after use is a waste of time since I feel that anything coming in contact with beer should be sanitized before use immediately before use. A sanitary surface eventually becomes an ideal surface for our local microflora or microfauna. I wouldn't feel comfortable depending on the results of a sanitation I did weeks or months before.

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  • When you say you always run water through 'after', do you mean after sanitizing/before use, or after use? Nov 4, 2015 at 5:38
  • In that case, after sanitizing. That whole paragraph is about sanitizing. I tried to clarify that sentence.
    – Bolwerk
    Nov 4, 2015 at 13:04
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I do 2 things to dry the tubes: first, the cowboy: get outside, hold one end of the tube, and swing it around like a lasso so that the liquid gets out. Since that doesn't get every last drop out, here's the second: Push the tube into an indoor A/C ceiling vent, so that it hangs and the air from A/C or heating blows through it. Let it hang over night.

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    I think sticking a sanitized tube into an A/C vent is one of the quickest ways I can imagine to make having sanitized in the first place pretty much pointless. Nov 4, 2015 at 5:36
  • Both the cowboy and the AC vent ideas seem like it is going to null the sanitization. Nov 4, 2015 at 8:52
  • @AtronSeige It's not about sanitation, it's about drying. READ THE QUESTION.
    – Robert
    Nov 4, 2015 at 15:32
  • @FranklinPCombs If that is the case for you, I highly recommend getting an A/C tech.
    – Robert
    Nov 4, 2015 at 15:38
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    Unless you've got HEPA filters, there will be plenty of microbes blowing out of your vents, riding on various particles. Sanitizing, by the definition being used, is the severe reduction of the number of living things on a surface. So, blowing air full of living things into a tube meant to have been rid of them is necessarily nullifying the sanitizing process... I'm not saying you can't hang your tubes from vents, I'm just saying that if you do, there's really no point in sanitizing them first. Nov 5, 2015 at 6:21
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I've actually read in forums that it's safe to drink. The foam is nothing to be afraid of. no need to rinse.

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    You're thinking of StarSan, not Iodophor.
    – Denny Conn
    Nov 3, 2015 at 16:18
  • @DennyConn, Iodaphor has a LD50 of 14000 mg/Kg, which, to my calculations means it is fairly safe for human consumption. That is slightly safer than table salt (12357 mg/Kg). Nov 11, 2015 at 13:49
  • I work with the people who make BTF iodophor. I'll try to remember to ask them about it.
    – Denny Conn
    Nov 11, 2015 at 17:21

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