Disinfecting the water system?

[BroncoHauler]

In the homebrewing world, we typically use a product called Iodophor, which is an iodine based sanitizer. Sanitization is about the most important thing in the workd to the brewing industry. It is very easy to have contaminants ruin a batch of beer.

A few notes if you go with an iodine based sanitizer. They work best at a specific concentration level. More is not better. The sanitization effectiveness actually decreases if the concentration goes above a certain threshold. Lastly, it's iodine based, so it can stain as well. Just putting another option out there.

Maybe my fresh water tank should just be a gin and tonic tank, and then I can have a G&T out of my faucet anytime I want. "Yes, I'd like that shaken, not stirred."


Herb

[daveb]

Great points. I never really thought about something to inhibit growth and I like Vodka. After returning from Death Valley a couple weeks ago I drank a glass of tap water and quickly spit it out. Apparently while I was gone the city ran chlorine through the town’s water system. It was awful! I called to complain and they said not to worry, it was only for 1 day. If it were vodka I would have called to commend the city. I'll keep vodka in mind.

[wannaSMB]

Herb, that is hilarious. I'd love to do margaritas from the faucet, but I imagine the lime wedges would block the lines...

I assure you that one day your idea shall be employed in the Moose Van.

[Psomaki]

Jage, I'm not much of a vodka drinker, but Blue Ice gets some decent reviews. At $20 a bottle it's cheaper than stuff like Teton Glacier, which gets really good write-ups. I'm sure there's potato vodka of a somewhat more earthy nature available pretty cheaply. For those of you interested in expanding your experiences while sanitizing your water tank, make your own! One site I saw recommended peeling good quality potatoes, cutting them into small cubes, putting the cubes in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover them plus a little more, and then cooking them down until completely dissolved. Then you filter out the solids and use a basic still to distill the alcohol out of the potato juice. Don't know how long you have to let it ferment first. Supposedly about a kilo of potatoes is required to make a liter of vodka, although that sounds a little sparse to me. Let us know if you try it!

[jage]

OK, so:
1. drain tank for winter
2. sanatize with bottle of potato vodka
3. boil down 50lbs of potatos in a pressure cooker
4. ferment in newly sanatized SMB water tank
5. distill and bottle
repeat

Meanwhile since you're not using the sink for water, rig it to pump margaritas from the tequila you're making in the XL underfloor storage?

I'm starting to get confused.

[daveb]

Have booze will travel.

[larrie]

We recently moved from the city back to the country and are now on well water with no treatment. It tastes great but just sitting I the SMB tank during the summer is not good. Even after draining there is still a small amount of water left in the tank so needed some way to treat it. Found this on the web:

"How much chlorine per gallon is used to purify water?
2 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per quart of water
8 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per gallon of water
1/2 teaspoon Regular Clorox Bleach per five gallons of water
If water is cloudy, double the recommended dosages of Clorox Bleach.

Only use Regular Clorox Bleach (not Fresh Scent or Lemon Fresh). To insure that Clorox Bleach is at its full strength, rotate or replace your storage bottle minimally every three months."

We are not really fond of chlorine in our drinking water so we carry bottled water for that. We use the tank water for dishes and washing so the chlorine does not matter. Would use the vodka method but we are not fond of alcohol either.

[LenS]

that is a fairly strong solution Larrie, specially since your water is good to start with and you are just trying to add residual chlorine to keep it good over a several day time period.
Clorox is frequently now packaged in a 8.25% concentration not the "old" 5.25% concentration. But here is my info on 5.25% concentration...close enough

5.25% concentration:

8 drops (Clorox) per gallon (water) is 8ppm concentration
2 drops per gallon is 2ppm concentration.

Once you start getting in the 1-2ppm area many (not all) people no longer find the taste objectionable.

City water systems try to keep 0.4ppm at the farthest end of the system so the people using that water have several days added protection from the residual chlorine. Of course that means that the people nearer to the treatment plant have higher (4ppm maybe) and stronger taste.


I use a much stronger solution to clean and flush my van water tank at the beginning of the camping season. When I get well water while on the road I add 2ppm chlorine to the water when I fill my tank. 2ppm will keep good water "happy" and personally my taste buds have no objection to it.

[dmeade0]

Originally Posted by LenS

Clorox is frequently now packaged in a 8.25% concentration not the "old" 5.25% concentration.

Has anyone disinfected their tanks with the new concentration?

I find that the new bleach has a much higher viscosity, doesn't like to go into solution with water, and is a foamy product (this is what I've noticed doing laundry).

Just curious?

David

[LenS]

I believe the "New Clorox" has been in the market for 2-3 years now. Have used it at least the last two years to sanitize my van tank. Have not had a problem.