sanitation arguement

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sudasuda

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I have a few apple wine batches under my belt and everything turned out just fine. Now I would like to make a quick concentrated grape juice wine. I have EC-1118 and plan on a 2 week fermentation (then drink it) but I do not have any Sani-star left. Is it safe to use hot water, soap, and a good rinse? Or do I need to use unscented bleach? Thanks for any replies
 
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If you have municipal, chlorinated water, bleach, rinsed with your water, would certainly be suitable. If you have well water it is hard to say that it would or wouldn't work out.
 
You may be fine without Star San or other sanitizers, the rule of thumb is always wash and sanitize your utensils, fermenting bucket, and any other container that you will use, I wouldn't however use bleach.
 
There's a lot of fear-mongering with bleach, but I've had good results with it. I also have municipal water so I can rinse it out very thoroughly wihout fear of contamination.
 
This is taken from Wine Makers Mag -
Chlorine bleach, such as Clorox, is a good cleaner for glass, but is of limited use for plastic, since it can be absorbed by the plastic, leading to off-flavors in your wine. It should never be used for stainless steel, since it can actually eat holes through it.
 
I think a lot of the fear mongering with bleach stems from winemakers and a (legitimate) fear of forming TCA in their brewing/cellaring space. You need wood, water, & chlorine to form TCA (the "corked" wine flavor compound).
 
Mr_fleabite said:
I think a lot of the fear mongering with bleach stems from winemakers and a (legitimate) fear of forming TCA in their brewing/cellaring space. You need wood, water, & chlorine to form TCA (the "corked" wine flavor compound).
Click to expand...

Right, and unless the OP intends to bottle wine in beer bottles then using chlorine with corks is setting the OP up for a problem that is I believe near impossible to resolve. You cannot get easily get rid of TCA once you have introduced it so why risk introducing it?
 
bernardsmith said:
Right, and unless the OP intends to bottle wine in beer bottles then using chlorine with corks is setting the OP up for a problem that is I believe near impossible to resolve. You cannot get easily get rid of TCA once you have introduced it so why risk introducing it?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't take the risk, just stating the facts/ semi-response to bu gee's comment above.
For what it's worth, I'd venture a guess that at the level most home brewers are operating at TCA is in the environment already.
 
sudasuda said:
I have a few apple wine batches under my belt and everything turned out just fine. Now I would like to make a quick concentrated grape juice wine. I have EC-1118 and plan on a 2 week fermentation (then drink it) but I do not have any Sani-star left. Is it safe to use hot water, soap, and a good rinse? Or do I need to use unscented bleach? Thanks for any replies
Click to expand...

If you have Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) you will likely be OK using soap & water with a couple of good rinses. This is really not a substitute for good sanitation, but if you're on a municipal water system, odds are it'll be OK.
Regards, GF.
 

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