prefered sanitizer?

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bkov

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
Messages
35
Reaction score
0
whats your preferred sanitizer? For beer, i use starsan for everything but i read that it might not be good for wine due to the PH.
 
whats your preferred sanitizer? For beer, i use starsan for everything but i read that it might not be good for wine due to the PH.


Unlike beer making, wine makers often use k-meta because it's readily available, needed for stabilizing, and found found in wine anyway. k-meta is far and away the preferred solution for corks, and probably for bottles, as well. For everything else, the field is probably divided.

Star San clearly has acid in it's product (65% acid). For me, however, that just means I make certain equipment is drained fully. I don't believe Star San can add appreciably to acidity except in corks and bottles.

There's an incredible article in this website on cleaning and sanitizing written by a fantastic wine maker.
 
Last edited:
I use Starsan for everything except the bottles. I use K-meta in them prior to bottling.
 
TonyP said:
I see a surprising number that mention using Star San. What about corks?

If you are asking about sanitizing corks, I put them in dry.
 
Kmeta for wine, Stars an for beer. If your using Stars an for wine I honestly believe your wasting money as kmeta works just fine and you need it for wine anyway. For corks make yourself a corkidor, it will keep anything that fits except metal sanitized at all times and your corks won't be wet which can ruin corks.
 
I used to use a kmeta solution for corks, but now that I have a floor corker I put them in dry as well. I use star san for everything else as it is more economical and seems to keep better. It can be a PITA for bottles if you are not careful.
 
What is a corkidor?

Kmeta for wine, Stars an for beer. If your using Stars an for wine I honestly believe your wasting money as kmeta works just fine and you need it for wine anyway. For corks make yourself a corkidor, it will keep anything that fits except metal sanitized at all times and your corks won't be wet which can ruin corks.


What is a corkidor?
 
That's where you take a container fill it with corks and put a jar, bottle or something in it filled with k-meta. It keeps the corks fresh and sanitized.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top