Winemaking Notes....Cleaning Everything
In a commercial winery, ozone is commonly used for cleaning almost everything..however it isn't available for the home winemaker. For those interested in ozone use in preparation to start a winery... here is an article for you.
Cleaning involves removing visible dirt.
Sanitizing involves removing or reducing bacteria and undesirable microorganisms by heat or chemical means.
Sterilizing involves killing all microorganisms
Prior to Harvest:
1) Inspect equipment
2) Clean equipment
3) Sanitize equipment
4) Rinse equipment
Use equipment.....then repeat 1-3 before storing.
Cleaning
Wash with hot soapy water (except glass carboys.....hot water will cause the glass to crack...believe me I know!)). use brushes and cloths to remove any dirt. Avoid the use of bleach as any bleach residue will negatively affect your wine. Iodine cleaners are also hard to rinse off. Your fermentation supply store will have some ready made cleaners and sanitizers. The old method used by wineries was washing with soda ash followed by a citric acid rinse. To remove stubborn residue in carboys,I used aquarium sand (or uncooked rice grains) with soapy water and roll the carboy causing the sand to scrub any stubborn particles off. Might have been some scratching with the sand.
Sanitizing
Old time ever effective...boiling water 5-10 min. at 170degrees. Safe cheap available
CAUTION HERE!!!!! SULFUR CAN BURN YOUR LUNGS
Another of the most common and effective sanitizing solutions is a strong sulfite solution. This can be made by crushing and dissolving campden tablets or using potassium metabisulfite that you use to sulfur your wine. By adding citric acid you can make the sulfite more effective.
The recipe I found was 1teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite and 12 gms citric in a gallon of water gives approximately 940ppm. For campden tablets 14 crushed plus 12 gm citric acid at pH 3.2 to 3.5 gives about 940ppm. Store in a closed container in a cool safe place. Caution!!!!!! keep away from children and animals. In case of spillage, don't breath, flood area with lots of water. Think this is way too high for me! and too dangerous! Think I'd use about a quarter..more workable, same amount in 4 gal. water in a 5 gal bucket and soak tubing, thiefs, hydrometer cylinders. SULFUR DAMAGES METALS, RUBBER, SOME PLASTICS, LUNGS AND HANDS SO DON'T SOAK THESE.
I'm running out of time so will send you one more website which seems to cover cleaning well.
