Cleaning/Sanitizing

[AlexPKeaton]

First time poster, first time winemaker. Currently have a batch of Mosti Mondiale in the primary fermenter. Feel free to make fun of me.

I'm 18 hours into this. My hydrometer reading was 1.0984 and the temperature was 78F. I turned the AC down so hopefully the temperature will be better tomorrow.

I'm not lazy, but I do value my time. If I need to (or do I?) check the temperature and alcohol daily, do I need to clean & sanitize my thermometer, hydrometer and spoon (to stir and keep yeast active, apparently) ever day?
Or, if I wash them off with water after use, will they be ok? Thanks for the help.

 

[Julie]

Hi AlexPKeaton,

Welcome to winemakingtalk. You will need to sanitize everytime. You can keep some of your sanitizer in a spray bottle.

 

[JordanPond]

I clean my spoon, hydrometer, and thermometer each time I am done and spritz with my sulfite solutoin that I keep in a spray bottle before each use.

Do you need to check each day? Depends on how much of a number junkie you are. I tend to check daily during the fermentation so I know how far along in the process I am. Some kits direct you to transfer the wine into a carboy when it reaches a specific gravity (sg) of x.xx. The Mosti kit I just did wanted you to transfer at 1.05 - 1.04. seemed early as the fermentation is still quite vigours at that stage. Other kits recommend that you rack at 1.02 - 1.01. The fermentation is slower at this state allow so it is less likely to foam over in the carboy. You don't know when you reach theses sg readings unless you check. After a bunch of kits done in your environment you will probably develop a "feel" for when a kit would be at certain stages.

Others don't worry about the racking and ferment to dry (no more fermentable sugar) in the primary fermenter. In this case they install an airlock in the primary lid and snap it on tight when the SG reaches 1.02 and l let it finish.

Second point: I'm jealous, "Turn Down the Air Conditioning"..... Dealing with lake effect snow bands over the weekend.

Third point: Welcome to WMT!

 

[Flem]

+1 to what Julie and Greg said. You don't need to check them every day. Only when you get close to entering secondary fermentation and approaching "dry". You do have to keep your tools clean and sanitized. Why risk the money, time and effort for just a couple spritzes of K-meta solution. Welcome to the forum and Good Luck!

 

[AlexPKeaton]

Thanks for the responses!

As far as being a number junkie, well, that's my real life job, so I'm going to end up spending a lot of time on numbers.

As far as properly cleaning, should I rinse/wipe the sanitizer off of the tools I clean?

 

[Julie]

.......As far as properly cleaning, should I rinse/wipe the sanitizer off of the tools I clean?

No, you should be using a no rinse sanitizer

 

[Bailey]

You could also leave the hydrometer floating in the primary - easy to check and no cleaning.

Pull it out with one hand, stir a little to aerate with a clean spoon in the other, then place it back. Saves a little time...

 

[robie]

As far as properly cleaning, should I rinse/wipe the sanitizer off of the tools I clean?

Certainly never "wipe" it off.

Sanitizers like StarSan and a Kmeta sanitizing solution don't really HAVE to be rinsed off, but I always do, anyway. I figure that if I don't, over time they can accumulate. It's just a habit I started out with and doubt I will ever change it.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[kat50496]

I agree with robie, I always rinse. After all, I'm rinsing with the very same water, from the very same faucet, that I added to my wine in the first place. I don't like the idea of adding additional chemicals, regardless of how small the amount, to the wine if I don't need to.

The only exception to this is bottling, rinse with kmeta, put on the drying rack and fill.

 

[robie]

The only exception to this is bottling, rinse with kmeta, put on the drying rack and fill.

I forgot about bottling, which is my main exception for rinsing. Nor do I rinse the bottles after spritzing with Kmeta. Like you, I just let them drain on the bottle tree. That is standard procedure.

 

[Runningwolf]

I'm not lazy, but I do value my time. If I need to (or do I?) check the temperature and alcohol daily, do I need to clean & sanitize my thermometer, hydrometer and spoon (to stir and keep yeast active, apparently) ever day?
Or, if I wash them off with water after use, will they be ok? Thanks for the help.

Not only do you need to sanitize everyday but you need to rinse and sanitize everytime you move from one carboy to the next to avoid carry over of any problems.

I forgot about bottling, which is my main exception for rinsing. Nor do I rinse the bottles after spritzing with Kmeta. Like you, I just let them drain on the bottle tree. That is standard procedure.

Ditto what Robie said!

 

[AlexPKeaton]

Thanks again guys - very helpful