Another sanitisation solution

[fungi1963]

From the dairy industry to clean cow teets and from the home brewing industry to sanitise equipment before fermentation, there is a powerful and eco-friendly and health-friendly sanitiser that has cross-over potential in mycological endevours.

Iodophor is what I now use extensively, prior to that I used bleach solutions (with vinegar to lower the pH) for sanitising equipment and work spaces.

The primary benefit of using idophor is cost (a small bottle from a home brewing shop will last you ages, I have not even finished my first bottle yet!) the dilution ratio is between 1:100 and 1:1000. I literally make up a 5 liter glass bottle of sanitiser using a capful of idophor to 5 liters of water!

The primary mycological benefit would be the non-flamability of the sanitiser in case you want to spray down a glove box or transfer chamber or even room and still use flame-tek such as alcohol lamps or lighters when sanitising innoculation loops and scapels.

Iodophor is no-rinse which means that it simply dries and converts to a gas.

The only negative I can say about it is with some forms of plastics it may sometimes leave a brown stain colour which is of course iodine, but I think the positives outway the negatives.

That and it does not have an indifinite shelf life once diluted into water. After a while the water will change colour from a weak tea straw brown into clear water at which point you know that the idophor has off gassed and its sanitisation qualities are diminished to the point you would simply want to dump out the remaining water and mix up a new batch.

Wikipedia: An Iodophor is a preparation containing iodine complexed with a solubilizing agent, such as a surfactant or povidone (forming povidone-iodine). The result is a water-soluble material that releases free iodine when in solution. Iodophors are prepared by mixing iodine with the solubilizing agent; heat can be used to speed up the reaction.

One example of a container of solution:

So hit up your home brew store and perhaps pick up another hobby with cross-overs with mycology and deal with yeasts, the single-celled kissing cousins of fungi.

[waterboy 2.0]

http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/aquatic/aquavetplan/operational_procedures_manual_-_decontamination/contents/recommendations_for_specific_disinfecting_agents/iodophors

only recently learnt a little about this when I had to use a boot bath before entering a farm due to biosecurity that makes therapeutic proteins.

Edited March 19, 2013 by waterboy

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

I use it for my homebrew and cactus seedling takeaways. The homebrew shop guy tells me it's the vapour that does the sterilising (although I'm not sure if it technically sterilises or specifically targets some particular mould strains etc). If this is the case then I'd probably let it vent in my glovebox before doing any spore prints and the like incase the vapours contact the prints...

Edited March 19, 2013 by thed00dabides

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

It should also be used with cold water only.

[Bigred]

how much is a bottle of it

[fungi1963]

My local home brew charges $7.95 for 250ml bottle which is a markup over farm suppliers where you can get upwards of 20lt for $70 or so.

However, because you use only 1ml per 1 liter of cold water to dilute a solution, you will be getting 250 liters of sanitiser from a small home brew shop bottle, or a 1:1000 dilution ratio (it is less effective in high concentrations).

Iodophor should be given 2 minutes of 'wet time', although it does not require full immersion of the item for the whole time - it is enough simply to wet the item and then leave it for 2 minutes. Spraying it with a spray bottle can be perfectly adequate.

The iodophor binds with any microorganisms immediately on contact, and destroys them within the following 2 minutes.

[Bigred]

thanks for the info and welcome to the Corroberee its always good to see a fellow mycophile