The Experimenter
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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:
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:
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.