Anyone use boiling water to sanitize bottles?

peaches9324 · Apr 25, 2014

Zule said:
thats some good information vacuum. I had no idea it was the gases of potassium metabisulphite that did the sterilization.

But to sterilize my mixing stick would be tricky with this gas trick, as its over 2 feet long (so I can easily mix the bottom of 6 gallon carboy.) I go no bucket or carboy that fits its completely.... I guess one option is to put it in a 6 gallon carboy, then put a large plastic ziplock bag over it, and use an elastic to make it 'air tight'.

But I think I will try some boiling water trick for my bottles tho. I will try it at least once, if it goes good and easy, then I will have another sanitation option....

just throw a heavy towel over it. And if ya don't believe me warning! take a wiff when ya remove the towel WARNING

do you have a canning tong to use for the boiling of the bottles coated with rubber at the end to grip the bottles with? then just empty the water and hang on bottle tree

Zule · Apr 25, 2014

vacuum: Yeah, people always say 10-15 minutes, but I can never find any data on that. If you get things to a real good boil over 100c it should kill almost everything within a minute. So even if its just 5-6 minutes, I think id be safe. Here is some interesting data: http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/3/355/F2.expansion.html. But either way, knowing me I will probably over do this to be completely safe.

calvin: Very neat idea. Seems the spray bottle would really help with my mixing stick for the 1-2 time daily mixing in the early stages.

peaches9324: No tongs yet, but I will figure something out.

vacuumpumpman · Apr 26, 2014

Zule said:
vacuum: Yeah, people always say 10-15 minutes, but I can never find any data on that. If you get things to a real good boil over 100c it should kill almost everything within a minute. So even if its just 5-6 minutes, I think id be safe. Here is some interesting data: http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/3/355/F2.expansion.html. But either way, knowing me I will probably over do this to be completely safe.

calvin: Very neat idea. Seems the spray bottle would really help with my mixing stick for the 1-2 time daily mixing in the early stages.

peaches9324: No tongs yet, but I will figure something out.

good luck !
I have been on many boy scout adventures and learned alot along the way - I realy hope you dont get sick by not properly killing off any unwanted germs

loumik · Apr 26, 2014

Zule said:
Right now I rinse my bottles overnight in hot water, then I use potassium metabisulphite for about 5-10 minutes per bottle (I transfer from bottle to bottle), then rinse many times.

Ive been thinking of buying a kettle and using boiling water to do the sanitation, or possible a very big pot and boil water in it to place my bottles in. Electricity is free, and it seems this method would be safer as I would be dealing with just water.

Anyone else do this?

NO. Boiling wine bottles or anything else is called sterilizing and is not necessary for wine making. Clean your bottles with one-step or oxy-clean and a bottle brush if they are dirty. Rinse. Sanitize with k-meta or star-san. Place on bottle tree to drain. BOTTLE. Don't make the job more more time consuming than it already is. If your wine has adequate sulphites and ABV it will not spoil.
LOUMIK

Zule · Apr 27, 2014

well got my kettle today, also got two new spray bottles to fill with meta-p, but gonna let them sit on normal water for a day or two so I can reduce the plastic chemicals leeching into the water.

vacuumpumpman: Tnx for concern, but when it comes to cleanliness (related to food) I often go overboard. I got no problem seeing how viable this boiling water thing is. Best case: takes longer, but no chemicals, and the process is acceptable for me. Worse case: Takes too long, and I now got myself a new kettle for healthy tea.

Loumik: Dont have a tree tho. Would also take up valuable space. As far as ABV, think my first batch was about 4-6%, my next batch will be between 11-14%