I appreciate all the advice. A few lessons I learned that may help others as this was my first time and I'm sure all the experience on here trumps it but this is what I learned:
Star san is a good choice. Won't affect MLF and even if you aren't worried about the beans the mesh bag needs to be sanitized. I tried the vodka but within an hour it extracted a lot of the oak flavor and tannins. I think best thing is to put beans in the bag, I added a few sanitized stainless steel nuts to weigh it down so it didn't float on top of the wine and risk mold/bacteria growth, dipped the entire thing in star San and dropped it in. The bag is helpful as it contains the cubes for easy removal if it starts to overoak. Also, if the beans are left to float loosely at the top they could dry out and be prone to mold and bacterial growth.
Star san is a good choice. Won't affect MLF and even if you aren't worried about the beans the mesh bag needs to be sanitized. I tried the vodka but within an hour it extracted a lot of the oak flavor and tannins. I think best thing is to put beans in the bag, I added a few sanitized stainless steel nuts to weigh it down so it didn't float on top of the wine and risk mold/bacteria growth, dipped the entire thing in star San and dropped it in. The bag is helpful as it contains the cubes for easy removal if it starts to overoak. Also, if the beans are left to float loosely at the top they could dry out and be prone to mold and bacterial growth.
Last edited:
