Iodophor vs Pot. Meta Bisulfite

Greetings to all! Since I'm both a homebrewer and a home vintner I'd only ever used iodophor in the brewery & PotMetaBi-etc. in the winery, can one use either interchangably? mostly, I'd prefer to use the PotMBetc in both applications, but I'm curious how beer reacts with the chemical. If they're mutually exclusive applications, so be it. Thoughts? regards bob

Reply to
bobdrob
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Keep 'em separate. According to our local brew shop, iodophor will produce unpleasant odors and flavors in wine, and PMB isn't a strong enough sanitizer to be used for beermaking (wine, having much higher levels of both alcohol and acid, is a much less hospitable environment for the growth of microbes than beer is). Moreover, iodophor doesn't contribute free SO2, which is important to retard oxidation in wine.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Iodophor is a disinfectant, which is to say it is bactericidal. SO2 is bacteriostatic.

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The difference is the iodophor kills bacteria, and SO2 will make them dormant. Iodophor is used in wineries to disinfect tanks and hoses, and SO2, with citric, is used for rinsing equipment to remove metalic ions, and halogens. Citric is a chelating agent that binds to halogens (like iodine, fluorine, chlorine, ect.).

As you can see, iodophor and SO2 have different functions. If SO2 was bactericidal, you would only have to make one addition to your wines. Additionally, SO2 prevents wine pigments from browning, at least in young wines.

Beer has a higher pH than wines and is less able to withstand microbes, therefore with beer you really need to sanitize scrupulously to avoid contamination. Wine, with its' lower pH, is more resistant to microbial damage.

Reply to
Wildbilly

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