Using Iodine-based Purification Tablets to Stabilize

[The Experimenter]

NOTE: I am asking this question purely out of curiosity and am just wondering if anyone has tried this. I know metabisulfite and sorbates are the common go-to stabilizers/preservatives for halting a fermentation, and are both easy to find and cheap. I'm not asking the question below because I think it would be a better alternative, I'm just asking purely out of curiosity...

One day while prepping my 1-liter nalgene bottle and a few Chlorine Dioxide Potable Aqua tablets for a backpacking trip, it dawned on me... If these tablets are used for purifying drinking water of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, could I just toss a couple of them into the fermenter to kill off the yeast prior to bottling? So, I went online and did some research about the chemicals in these tablets, what they do and do not kill, and what their effect on the flavor of the drink is. This is what I found:

1. According to Potable Aqua, their Chlorine Dioxide tablets "improve the taste and odor of water" (not sure what that "improvement" would do to a brew though).
2. While their special Chlorine Dioxide tablets are supposed to provide a broader spectrum kill than their normal "PA" tablets, from what I understand Chlorine Dioxide is actually not that effective against yeast unless given long exposure time.
3. These things considered, Potable Aqua's PA (iodine) tablets would probably be better. They supposedly don't affect the taste or odor of water assuming you use the PA+ tablets afterwards which are designed to neutralize the iodine flavor and color. The chemicals in the PA tablets (which are mostly Iodine) CAN kill yeast, supposedly more effectively than Chlorine Dioxide, according to what I read.

Would this work? Has anyone used Iodine tablets (followed by something like PA+ tablets to neutralize the iodine flavor and color) to stabilize a brew? Could I throw a couple Potable Aqua PA (iodine) tablets into my brew followed later by PA+ tablets in order to safely kill the yeast without majorly changing the taste or odor of my brew?

 

[Vale71]

Chlorine + beer = chlorophenol.

It's OK if you'd like your beer to tase like band-aid juice, otherwise I'd avoid it.

 

[The Experimenter]

Chlorine + beer = chlorophenol.

It's OK if you'd like your beer to tase like band-aid juice, otherwise I'd avoid it.

Thanks for the reply, but I don’t think you read my full post. I was talking about the chlorine dioxide tablets because they inspired the idea, but in my post I said I was actually asking about the iodine tablets from the same company.

 

[Snuffy]

I could see trying that with a keg because you don’t need yeast to carbonate the brew - but you do if you bottle. Why would you want to kill the yeast you need for bottle conditioning?

 

[The Experimenter]

I could see trying that with a keg because you don’t need yeast to carbonate the brew - but you do if you bottle. Why would you want to kill the yeast you need for bottle conditioning?

I don’t always do bottle conditioning… I know this “Fermentation and Yeast” forum is within the “Home Brewing Beer” forum on this site, but I posted here only because it is the forum for the questions about yeast and not because I’m actually that much of a beer brewer. I actually do more ciders, wines, and meads than beers.

Also, as I said in my original post, I’m not actually saying I would want to do this. I’m just asking purely as a hypothetical because it was something I thought of randomly and then wondered if it would work, but didn’t find anything online about it. So I’m just curious if anyone has tried it or has the science knowledge to explain whether it would work without messing with the flavor/smell too much.

 

[Snuffy]

I don’t always do bottle conditioning… I know this “Fermentation and Yeast” forum is within the “Home Brewing Beer” forum on this site, but I posted here only because it is the forum for the questions about yeast and not because I’m actually that much of a beer brewer. I actually do more ciders, wines, and meads than beers.

Also, as I said in my original post, I’m not actually saying I would want to do this. I’m just asking purely as a hypothetical because it was something I thought of randomly and then wondered if it would work, but didn’t find anything online about it. So I’m just curious if anyone has tried it or has the science knowledge to explain whether it would work without messing with the flavor/smell too much.

Oh. Ok. I thought maybe I should have asked if you were making wine. I would still bottle condition a cider tho...

 

[Vale71]

...They supposedly don't affect the taste or odor of water assuming you use the PA+ tablets afterwards which are designed to neutralize the iodine flavor and color.

Thanks for the reply, but I don’t think you read my full post. I was talking about the chlorine dioxide tablets because they inspired the idea, but in my post I said I was actually asking about the iodine tablets from the same company.

What are you planning to use in place of the PA tablets to neutralize the iodine taste? Ot are you planning to drink your beer/wine/mead as it is after dosing it with iodine?

 

[The Experimenter]

What are you planning to use in place of the PA tablets to neutralize the iodine taste? Ot are you planning to drink your beer/wine/mead as it is after dosing it with iodine?

As I said in my original post, I am NOT PLANNING ANYTHING. In my original post, at the very start, I said, "I am asking this question purely out of curiosity and am just wondering if anyone has tried this... I'm not asking the question because I think it would be a better alternative, I'm just asking purely out of curiosity". Curiosity, plain and simple, that's it. I DO NOT plan on trying this, I'm just curious.

In theory, Iodine would kill the yeast, but my curiosity stems from whether there would be any chemical reactions I'm not thinking about... like does Iodine react with alcohol in a bad way? Or does it react with any of the esters or phenols that yeast can create during fermentation? I'm just trying to figure out if this would work at all without destroying the brew (or killing me). I have no plans to try it (unless someone replies saying that it absolutely works with no negative side effects... then maybe I'd try it... but even then, probably not just because I'm lazy).

To answer your question, PotableAqua (the company that produces the PA iodine tablets) also produces "PA+ Tablets", which are designed to remove the iodine color and taste from water... Once again, I don't know if that would work with a beer or a cider or a wine or a mead without negatively affecting the flavor and color it already has, but in theory that's what I'd use to neutralize the iodine taste and color. But I don't know if that would work and that's why I'm asking; because I don't know and I am curious if someone else does.

 

[JimRausch]

To answer your question, PotableAqua (the company that produces the PA iodine tablets) also produces "PA+ Tablets", which are designed to remove the iodine color and taste from water...

The PA+ are citric acid, which is why as an alternative you can add some lemonade powder to your water bottle to counteract the iodine after it's done it's job. I've wondered your question as well. I think it's probably a matter of pathogen numbers and concentration. When we're sanitizing drinking water on the trail the number of giardia spores and bacteria are quite low. Probably in the area of hundreds per liter, or less. Yeast numbers postfermentation are in the billions per milliliter. So, I'm thinking PA iodine tabs might work as sanitizer for equipment if you use enough, but probably not real effective to kill/stun yeast postfermentation.
By the way, the one time I tried to grow yeast from bottle dregs, the process included washing the yeast to reduce contaminants. Real washing , not just rinsing. I used the chlorine dioxide 2 step process from PA. It worked, but was too much of a chore to do again. There's plenty of great yeast strains already prepped out there.

 

[The Experimenter]

The PA+ are citric acid, which is why as an alternative you can add some lemonade powder to your water bottle to counteract the iodine after it's done it's job. I've wondered your question as well. I think it's probably a matter of pathogen numbers and concentration. When we're sanitizing drinking water on the trail the number of giardia spores and bacteria are quite low. Probably in the area of hundreds per liter, or less. Yeast numbers postfermentation are in the billions per milliliter.

That's cool about the lemonade powder, I didn't know that citric acid was the main active ingredient in PA+.

Also, great point about the number and concentration of spores. I didn't even think about that. The iodine probably would have trouble killing all the yeast considering how much there is by the end of fermentation.