cleaning and water newbie question

[Arbe0]

I have been brewing beer for years now and will be brewing a wine kit soon. While looking at directions on a wine kit I have a question about water. cleaning and sanitizing.
While directions call for using Potassium Metabisulphate (which I use to get chlorine out of my water) this seems to be the only thing used to clean with. Is there a reason that PBW and Starsan aren't used to clean and sanatize?
Also while beer brewers are very concerned about the quality of water used and salts added to create the water profiles for the style of beer, it seems that wine brewers aren't concerned about water and water profiles as long as it is good to drink.
Is this something I haven't seen yet or is there just no concern about water?

 

[Yooper]

You can use PBW and Starsan if you want! I do.
The best water to use is great tasting water that is chlorine-free. Other things don't matter nearly as much as with beer since you don't have problems like chlorophenols from the interactions.

 

[Arbe0]

thanks for the info, do most wine brewers just use the potassium metabilphate and not PBW and Starsan?

 

[Yooper]

thanks for the info, do most wine brewers just use the potassium metabilphate and not PBW and Starsan?

Winemakers (not brewers, as they don't 'brew' wine) probably do because they likely don't buy PBW and starsan.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Starsan to sanitize all equipment, potassium metabisulfite for sanitizing the fruit/must.

 

[Arbe0]

That seems to be right on Seamonky, that is what I will do.

 

[bernardsmith]

Starsan to sanitize all equipment, potassium metabisulfite for sanitizing the fruit/must.

But K-meta can be used (at higher concentrations) to sanitize equipment- so using K-meta gives you a three-fur for the one price: it sanitizes; it kills wild yeast; and it inhibits oxidation at each racking and before bottling. So, unless one is brewing beer it would seem to me to be less expensive to simply buy K-meta crystals and mix them with water for one of those three functions. No?

 

[Seamonkey84]

Starsan Just more convenient to me. It works quickly, More stable, doesn’t have the sulfur fumes, so I can just put it in a spray bottle. Plus it’s great to use as a fertilizer after I’m done with it. I haven’t added sulfites to my batches (only before primary for the fruit) since I have a friend that is sensitive.

 

[Jeff Wilson]

I'm with Seamonkey84. Star San is super convenient. I also found I was going through campden tablets quickly which was why I made the switch. You also can't tell how quickly a KMeta solution looses its potency so every time I want to use a spoon or take a reading, I don't want to have to make a new batch.

On the flip side, I have heard of folk who fill a bucket of equipment and a KMeta solution to let it sit closed up. That should be good probably for getting through to the first racking at least. I just don't care to take the room and fishing things out when I need them. But that's just me.

To each their own. It works, so if you want to use it, go nuts.

 

[Arbe0]

Do any of you winemakers cold crush your wine after Final Gravity when it is time to put it into the secondary?

 

[Seamonkey84]

Nope, you could but it wouldn’t be necessary.
I rack to secondary when it is basically already clear on its own, and I get as much as possible (getting a little lees doesn’t bother me) then let it clear again. Once fully clear, rack again to age more, or degas and bottle. The standard practice many winemakers went by or still use usually involves racking more often, whenever there’s 1/4” of lees built up. That does also help with degassing, plus aging is a good thing. Cold crashing is to speed things up, wine/mead is more about patience.

 

[Arbe0]

Nope, you could but it wouldn’t be necessary.
I rack to secondary when it is basically already clear on its own, and I get as much as possible (getting a little lees doesn’t bother me) then let it clear again. Once fully clear, rack again to age more, or degas and bottle. The standard practice many winemakers went by or still use usually involves racking more often, whenever there’s 1/4” of lees built up. That does also help with degassing, plus aging is a good thing. Cold crashing is to speed things up, wine/mead is more about patience.

Thank you for a great answer.