WineXpert sanitizing bottles

[uavwmn]

CanI use the Easy Clean to sanitize my bottles?
Also, I have read in various threads here about wines having a "kit taste"? What is a "kit taste"? And how do you NOT get a kit taste? uavwmn


PS. Starting the 3rd step in my IM white zin tonight. Hopefully the SG will be right on and I can add the rest of the ingredients.

 

[scubaman2151]

Easy Clean just cleans your bottles very well, they are not sanitized yet. You have to use a sanitizing solution like k-meta (the stuff you used to sanitize all your equipment before starting your wine will work for sanitizing your bottles.)

 

[Trubador]

I use Iodophor to sanitize the bottles. Simple really, just get a big plastic container 15 or 20 gallon, fill with 10 gallons of water, add a few capfuls of iodophor, mix, put bottles in, let it sit for 2 to 3 minutes, pull bottles out and put them upside down in the dishwasher bottom tray (just make sure the dishwasher was recently run and put through the heating cycle)


The bottles dry in about 30 to 45 minutes. Then you fill them.


Depending on the size of your container, you may have to do half the bottles at a time, but really no big deal as two minutes to soak is really no time at all.


I find iodophor to be a fantastic sanitizer and much easier to deal with then the fumes associated with metabisulfite. Iodophor is probably cheaper as well.


http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=6018Edited by: Trubador

 

[scubaman2151]

Are you doing this so you can bottle your wine?


If yes, I recommend getting these two items:
http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=4818
http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=4810(or the regular one, this is just the economy one like the one that I have.)


These will come in helpfull when bottling becuase you can just quickly sanitize your bottles, put them onto the tree, the bottles drain out and when you need them just pull them off the tree and fill .

 

[SIXTO]

I was told that easy clean is good enough for bottles... I hope I am ok cause I have bottled 300 bottles using easy clean/One step

 

[Wade E]

I would start using na-meta or k-meta if I were you. Ive never used iodophor so really dot know about it. I know someone who uses 1-step also and has had no problems yet either and refuses to change cause he is stubborn and doesnt make much and drinks it very quickly.

 

[PeterZ]

If easy clean and that type of cleaner/sanitizer is anything like C-Brite it is an oxydizing agent. C-Brite says right on the package that it is 3.3% available chlorine by weight. In fact, the active ingredient in C-Brite is also used in swimming pools as a chlorine source. You can achieve the same result by diluting bleach with water. It will kill most bacteria, some yeasts, and some viruses sufficiently quickly to me considered a "hard surface sanitizer" by the USEPA and the FDA. Trub's iodophor is also an oxidizer, but it is an iodine donor very similar to the orange betadiene that they smear all over you before surgery to kill any bacteria around the area the surgeon plans to incise.

Here's the rub, to paraphrase Hamlet. Any strong oxidizer (both of these are) will react with any strong reducer, like sulfite. If there is sufficient residue of those compounds in the bottle they could cause a significant drop in SO2 in the wine, and, in the extreme, could cause it to oxidize to the point of turning.

Is that a real concern? Probably not if the bottles are drained well. Just don't put 50cc in the bottle, shake, pour out quickly and bottle. Let the bottles drain well.

 

[Wade E]

C-Brite is the only one I see that George sells that is a chlorine based cleanser with maybe the exception of Straight A as it doesnt say whats in there. All the others are oxygen based so I would guess that they do not sanitise but Im just speculating as Im not the forum scientist.

 

[Trubador]

Iodophor is an excellent sanitizer. The directions say to let the
items air dry completely and that is what I do. I have been using
iodophor for sanitizing my beer equipment for many years and this past
year since I starting wine making, I have been using it exclusively for
that and knock on wood have had no issues to date. I have made 5
batches of wine and bottled three of them so far with no infections.



Just curious about the k-meta method. When soaking bottles in it
or any equipment for that matter, how long does it have to dry
afterward? Completely? Or do most of you move on with
droplets on the equipment?



Also, how many tablespoons of powder do you use per gallon of
water? The package I have lists ounces per gallon and I don't
have that accurate of a scale.


Edited by: Trubador

 

[summersolstice]

Just use 2-3 tablespoons per gallon for sanitizing purposes. If using in your wine it's 1/8t per gallon.

I rinse/soak my equipment and don't bother drying and I empty the bottles and make sure to pour out the k-meta but I don't worry about getting every last drop out of the bottle.

 

[uavwmn]

Scuba, how does the vinator work? And Monday I had already ordered the bottle rack.

uavwmn

 

[uavwmn]

So, using a sanitizer for the bottles, do I rinse them after?
Scuba, yes, this is for bottling purposes.
I was told also by a wine supplier that Easy Clean is a one step process where you do not need to use another sterilizer. I do have a sterilizer, and if you folks use this, I value everyone's advice here.

uavwmn

 

[summersolstice]

From what I understand Easy Clean also sanitizes and doesn't need rinsing. According to the manufacturer's information use Easy Clean at the rate of1T per gallon of warm water and provide 30-second contact. I've used Easy Clean but I don't know how long the solution lasts.


If you're using a sulphite solution as a sanitizer, there's also no need to rinse. Sulphite solution last as long as it still produces a strong smell. I know that, in the strengths I use it, either NA-meta or K-meta lasts several weeks - even months.


Bottom line: I use sulphite solutions becausethey're inexpensive and last forver.

 

[PeterZ]

I don't worry about a few drops of sulfite solution on the tools because we put sulfite in the wine. The chlorine and oxygen based cleaners (O2 based are actually organic peroxides, complex forms of the hydrogen peroxide you buy at the drugstore), OTOH, are oxidizers and will destroy sulfite in the wine. That's why I prefer to use sulfite.

Just like winemaking, however, there are many routes from fruit to wine.

 

[Trubador]

I don't worry about a few drops of sulfite solution on
the tools because we put sulfite in the wine. The chlorine and
oxygen based cleaners (O2 based are actually organic peroxides, complex
forms of the hydrogen peroxide you buy at the drugstore), OTOH, are
oxidizers and will destroy sulfite in the wine. That's why I
prefer to use sulfite.

Just like winemaking, however, there are many routes from fruit to wine.

I was always concerned about the drops because the concentration was so
much higher within each drop then say the 1/4 tsp per 5 gallons.



10 tablespoons per 5 gallons is a MUCH higher concentration, but I
assume you are saying that even at that high a concentration, the
droplets on the equipment just don't add up to enough sulfite to affect
the wine?

 

[scubaman2151]

The vinator has a bowl on the bottom, you put the sanitizing solution into the bowland there is a nipple type thing that sticks into the air, you push the bottle upside down onto the nipple thing and it shoots the sanitizing solution into the bottle so you know that you got it all sanitized.


Edit: Im using mine tomorrow when i bottle, i take some pics for you.


ScubaEdited by: Scubaman2151

 

[PeterZ]

Trub, we typically dissolve that 1/4 tsp of K-meta in 1/4 C water (60 cc). 1/4 tsp per 1/4 cup = 1 tsp / cup = 16 tsp /allon = 5 Tb + 1 tsp / gallon, or roughly twice sanitizing solution strength.

Now 1/4 cup = about 60 cc, and 20 drops = about 1 cc. Thats 1200 drops per 1/4 cup at half strength means it takes about 2000 drops of sanitizing solution at 3 Tb / gallon strength to add 1/4 tsp of K-meta to the wine.

And to think I came up with the humidor to reduce those drops of sulfite getting into the wine. I guess I was worried about a non-issue, as this is the first time I have put a pencil to it.

 

[grapeman]

Slow day at the office today Peter?

Those few drops per bottle don't amount to diddly!

 

[lockdude]

I use bleachwater because I use recycled bottles,and soak them in it for a week at a time,then delabel the bottles and give them a good cleaning,and a good rinceing with a bottle washer with lots of 140f water.
I case them up in clean boxes once there dry,{bottle tree}and give them another 140f rince at bottling time.The one step type cleaners will leave a residue in the bottles if you soak them for very long,and the isopher wont help with the label removal.I have been doing beer,and wine bottles this way for years,and if there rinced properly,the bleach will be gone.
lockdude

 

[Trubador]

Peter, thanks! I am not sure why I didn't realize that. I had it in my mind the opposite.



I think I might start using the k-meta for sanitizing. How long
does the equipment have to be in contact with the solution again in
order to be sanitized?



Also, tell me if you think I screwed this up. I recently bulk
aged a wine and put 1/4 tsp of sulfite in prior to aging. It aged
2.5 months and when I bottled I added an additional 1/4 tsp. i
plan to age in the bottle at least one year prior to popping any
corks. Did I over-sulfite the wine?