I just finished fermenting my grapes in my food buckets, which I cleaned thoroughly with hot water and potassium metabisulfite. But I just realized that some buckets got mixed up. So one of the buckets that I fermented in was used to clean some other equipment with bleach. I never clean my fermenting buckets with bleach since I read somewhere that this has an effect on the food grade nature of the bucket. I'm wondering if I now have to toss all of this year's wine. Help?
Bleach
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I just did a web search on bleach and plastic and didn't see anything to suggest you have a problem. Someone was concerned about bleach used to clean plastic cutting boards and they got this reply, "No danger. Bleach is very water soluble and also degrades when exposed to oxygen and light. If you wash it and it doesn't smell like bleach afterward, it's clean."
* bleach is permitted for contact with food containers, it is not recommended with metals/ stainless since it is corrosive. If you do have it touch equipment you should rinse it promptly.
* food contact is also possible, I once had a project of cost reducing mushrooms which were roasted then quenched in bleach water, bleach was part of the established flavor profile, there aren’t a lot of food approved ingredients that mimic the flavor of bleach.
* bleach is the standard chemical used by well drilling companies in this state to disinfect a well once it has been serviced, it tastes, ,,, but won’t kill you, ,,, and basically chlorine added to a city water and hypochlorite in a country well are the same ion in the water
* last of all if you use natural corks, a percentage of them are contaminated with a mold that reacts with bleach to produce TCA. That is a nasty chemical that hangs on the taste buds for a long time. I wouldn’t use natural corks on this wine.
* food contact is also possible, I once had a project of cost reducing mushrooms which were roasted then quenched in bleach water, bleach was part of the established flavor profile, there aren’t a lot of food approved ingredients that mimic the flavor of bleach.
* bleach is the standard chemical used by well drilling companies in this state to disinfect a well once it has been serviced, it tastes, ,,, but won’t kill you, ,,, and basically chlorine added to a city water and hypochlorite in a country well are the same ion in the water
* last of all if you use natural corks, a percentage of them are contaminated with a mold that reacts with bleach to produce TCA. That is a nasty chemical that hangs on the taste buds for a long time. I wouldn’t use natural corks on this wine.
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I remember from my homebrewing days, that bleach was an outstanding sterilizer. Cheap, effective, used in very low concentration so it was impossible to make a mistake. The concern for TCA kills it for wine though.
This year's wine will be fine. Just use synthetic corks like Noracorcs when bottling. They are excellent and will prevent any concern for TCA.
This year's wine will be fine. Just use synthetic corks like Noracorcs when bottling. They are excellent and will prevent any concern for TCA.
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