Water for Sanitizers
The quality of your water does affect your brewery sanitizers. You should know what sort of water you should use when mixing up a batch of sanitizer. Good water is necessary. This discussion focuses on good practices for Phosphoric acid-based and Iodine-based sanitizers.
Phosphoric acid-based sanitizers include products such as StarSan and Saniclean. They include a dose of phosphoric acid and other active ingredients to kill organisms. Since these products rely on acidification, using high alkalinity water means that it will take more of the concentrate to produce an effective solution. The solution pH must be brought under 3. These product’s use of phosphoric acid also causes water with high calcium content (aka: hard water) to form a slimy precipitate in the water that can settle on equipment that is left in the solution too long. Best practice in using these sanitizers is to use low alkalinity, soft water such as RO or distilled water for creating your sanitizing solution. In most cases, its best to assemble and use your equipment ‘wet’ immediately after soaking for about 30 seconds. For this reason, the water should have no chlorine or chloramine residual since that can make it into your beer if the equipment isn’t dried before use. Solutions made with soft water can be stored for fairly long time. Be aware that these sanitizers are effective against most beer spoiling organisms, but they are NOT effective against mold spores. If these phosphoric acid-based sanitizers are used after alkaline cleaning solutions such as PBW or Oxyclean, be sure that those cleaners are fully rinsed from the equipment so that the sanitizer’s acidity is not neutralized.
Iodine-based sanitizers include products such as IO Star and BTF Iodophor. Those products rely on iodine to kill organisms. Iodine is a halogen like chlorine, excepting that it has proven relatively tasteless in beer production. Like chlorine, iodine is volatile and it evaporates from the solution. So iodine-based sanitizers do tend to lose their effectiveness if they are left in an open container. Using cool water and keeping the solution cool helps improve its lifespan and effectiveness. Ultraviolet light also degrades these solutions. Because the killing power of iodine is enhanced in solutions with lower pH, most of these products include an acid in them to help drive the solution’s pH down. Therefore, water with high alkalinity is not desirable for making these solutions. However, the water’s hardness has little effect on this sanitizer’s performance. While RO or distilled water are well-suited for making these solutions, tap water that has been acidified to neutralize excessive alkalinity is also suited. The Sparge Acidification calculator in Bru’n Water is useful for figuring out acid dosing to neutralize excess alkalinity. While equipment sanitized with these solutions are supposed to be air-dried, the dry surfaces allow mold spores to collect on the equipment. Since these sanitizers will kill mold spores, it is more effective to assemble and use your equipment ‘wet’ after soaking for about 30 seconds in these iodine-based sanitizers. If using these sanitizers ‘wet’, it is best to use chlorine- and chloramine-free water to make the solution since those compounds can affect beer flavor. Be sure to fully rinse alkaline cleaning solutions off of equipment so that the iodine-based sanitizer’s acidity isn’t neutralized.
