Do i NEED to use 1-step?

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Riledup5

The Wiser You Get, The Less You Speak
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I have a paranoia about rinsing my wine bottles with hot water as soon as they are emptied (right after the last glass is poured). I then store them upside down overnight to dry. If they are rinsed really well, do I really need to use 1-Step prior to sanitizing? Thank you!
 
I have a paranoia about rinsing my wine bottles with hot water as soon as they are emptied (right after the last glass is poured). I then store them upside down overnight to dry. If they are rinsed really well, do I really need to use 1-Step prior to sanitizing? Thank you!

Heck, you don't ever have to clean anything, it's your wine. I certainly choose to use OxyClean Free on everything that is going to touch my wine and then sanitize well with either Star San or Metabisulphite solution, but the choice of how much cleaning and sanitizing is yours and yours alone.
 
@Riledup5, the short answer is no, you don't need One-Step if you rinse immediately. I suggest visually inspecting the bottle before storing -- if you see anything out of the ordinary, clean it. Cleaning products are great, but keep a bottle brush handy.

Like you, I rinse bottles immediately with hot tap water. Then I visually inspect. Unless your wine has sediment, the bottle should be clean, although I check all. In the past I rinsed all bottles with K-meta and let dry on the bottle tree, but I'm inconsistent in doing this.

My process is a bit different from most -- I do not rinse with anything at bottling time.

I visually inspect all dry bottles then store them upside down in clean cases. If the bottom of a case doesn't look good, I recycle it and use another one. The bottles go into the case dry, the mouth is sealed by the case so nothing can get in, and there is nothing to grow on in the bottle, anyway. If a bottle fails the visual inspection, it goes back for cleaning with a bottle brush.

At bottling time I visually inspect each bottle again, line 'em up, and fill 'em.

Many commercial wineries take bottles directly from the factory and put them on the bottling line with no preparation. The bottles are clean coming from the factory. My bottles are at least as clean.

However, if you want to clean the bottles again with One Step or another cleaner, or want to rinse with K-Meta, do it. You need to be comfortable with what you are doing, and as @cmason1957 said, it's your wine.
 
I rinse bottles as they become empty, not necessarily immediately but certainly within a few hours. I store empty bottles upside down in cartons or on their sides in the cellar. I don't use One Step but I do sanitize with meta. Occasionally I get empty bottles from friends who save them for me and sometimes use One Step to clean them and sometimes a dairy detergent
 

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