Pink Powder Diversol -- harmful??

[grasshopper1917]

I was thinking of possibly switching over to star san to sanitize my gear because someone told me it was a lot cheaper then the pink chlorinated powder.

So I tried to do some research on the topic and I found some old references from people on forums saying it was 'harmful', 'poison' and 'nasty stuff' etc...

I have been using the pink powder as a cleaner AND sanitizer for like 7 years with no problems (not a single infection). Does anyone have any real scientific evidence of these claims the substance is dangerous? Im not a chemist but it just looks like a cleaning powder with a little bleach mixed in.

Just wondering if anyone has any factual insight into this.

 

[thadass]

I know that "the pink stuff" is used all over the pro wine making world, along with plenty of other food and bevvy production environments, but I have not used it myself.

This page:
http://www.grapeandgrain.ca/info/cleanandsanitize.html
states that there is a possible danger of gasses being formed if mixed with acids or ammonia, but that's just the basic warning for any chlorine, really.

If there's anything to say against it for brewing, it's that it would need to be rinsed off prior to brewing, and has limited uses as well (can't be truly/safely used for bottle conditioning, not like star-san at least). Oh and that having chlorine around can cause the potential for weird off-flavors like chlorophenols to end up in your finished product.

If you're rinsing it off like you're supposed to, not getting infections, and no off flavors, I say keep using it unless star-san is less expensive, in which case star-san would be safer, easier, and faster for sanitizing.

 

[day_trippr]

Other than the potential for Band-Aiding your beer and eating up your stainless steel, if used as directed it's likely no more harmful than lots of cleansers/sanitizers that have a chlorine component. But I'm not a fan of "needs to be rinsed" sanitizers in general, and Star San is the only true no-rinse sanitizer I've used that can literally be left dripping wet without imparting off notes...

Cheers!