How does One Clean Wine Making Equipment?

[calum]

hi all,

i haven't made wine for maybe 6 or 7 years now, i used to make it but the perils of renting (ie, moving house every year or so) have made it less than viable. We should be here for another year or two now though, so i am starting again.

Now, it's been a long time so i used the internet to find plenty of recipes that have given me a good refresher course in how to actually make wine at home, but what i can't seem to find any information on is cleaning your equipment.

perhaps this is self evident and so nobody mentions it but i'd still appreciate it if people here who make wine could post replies letting me (and perhaps others who are too shy to ask!) how they go about cleaning what equipment, with what and when, i seem to remember using more than one chemical to clean stuff with and all that, but nowadays i am quite conscious of the possibilities of using stuff that's as "natural" as possible so i don't poison myself or generate pollution.

anyway, i'm all ears, um, well, eyes, so let's have it!

thanks in advance

[calum]

[luath]

A lot of folks use a steriliser such as MIlton, that you buy for babies' bottles, etc.  Personally, I just use hot soapy water, followed by a very hot rinse, and have never ahd any problems.  A couple of bottle brushes are useful, in big and small sies, for getting into the bottoms of the demi-johns, too.  I wash beer bottls and wine bottles in the bath if there are a lot, or in the kitchen sink if fewer.

[derbex]

Depends, if it'll go in the dishwasher then it goes in there -anything coming out will be pretty sterile.

Demijohns, &c generally just hot soapy water, if there's a really stained one then I've got a tub of VWP?, but I don't generally use it.

I keep some sterilising solution (Sodium Metabisuphate) made up and just move it into whatever I want to sterilise. It will last for months that way, you could do the same with Milton, you don't have to just use it once and chuck it.

I read of a chap who sterilises his D-Js in the oven raising the temp. v. slowly.

Jeremy

[Doris_Pinks]

To sterilise I use the same as Derbex, to clean dirty stuck on grime in a demijon I fill up the bottle and add a few steredents!! (the go at it with a bottlebrush! DP

[calum]

milton and sodium metabisulphate ok

i can make up my milton and then keep it to sloosh around more than once? cool!  :D

thanks for that, guys and gals, i appreciate it.  i always kind of wonder, what with all the different things i have seen said about home winemaking, whether i might be forgetting something but you've set my mind at rest.

[Bel]

I brought a length of brass chain from wilko (for picture hanging etc.) it is very handy to put into demi with a little soapy water and swish it around vigorously....removes any sediment that is stuck!!.... 8)

[PREMTAL]

Hi Bel,
          I have been brewing beer and wine of various types for the past thirty odd years and have tried most of what is out there on the market.

The only product of choice for me now is Oxi Clean, it realy gets the job done with much less scouring of brewing tubs, bottles and stoppers.

I found that denture cleaners and recomended sterilisers left a distinctive smell of a chemical origin, and being an organic type was not that happy about using them.

when I use Oxi Clean I thoroughly rinse and find no such chemical odours which has got to be good health wise.

PS my experience is with glass and plastic/polythene containers, I cannot vouch for stainless steel or other metal containers.

hope this is of some help to you

                                                            PREMTAL

[Merry Tiller]

I use VWP, it's brilliant for demis and plastic barrels etc.

[Muddy_Boots]

what about the good, old fashioned bicarbonate of soda, great in demijohns and suchlike and really cheap!   ;D

[Derekthefox]

A method I picked up from I can't remember where, for cleaning those crusty stains in demijohns.

A handful of sand in the DJ, and some soapy water, keep swilling round, and the stains get scraped away. Don't flush the sand down the sink though, pour it away outside, then sterilise as normal.

[Oisin]

Be careful if you use very hot and then cold water in cleaning demis - the bottom may very easily fall out (personal experience) - appart from the obvious fairy liquid (used very sparingly), finishing off by soaking in VMP is the best way I know.

Oisin