Cleanliness

[seth8530]

That was this forum. Not sure which thread.

 

[Tom_S]

Ah, I found it!

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f19/horror-story-34837/

 

[sour_grapes]

Was it on this forum or another wine making forum where someone related the horror story of a friend of his who also made wine, but in his dirty garage with mice crawling around the airlocks and depositing their waste around them? That guy apparently had appalling sanitary methods and never made good wine.

I just read that thread. (Thanks for the link.) The conditions in Tom's friend's garage sounded grim, but, to be fair, the wine faults that were reported did not seem to be (lack of) sanitation-related. The only fault mentioned was oxidation (presumably from the reported poor screw caps, dried corks, and not adding sulfites). I don't think that example proves anything about cleanliness. It may even provide support for being more cavalier about cleanliness. ("Look, even mouse droppings cannot cause a bacterial infection to get a foothold in this wine! Woo-hoo!")

 

[jethro]

I wholly agree with sanitizing equipment that comes into contact with must. But I don't understand sanitizing the bottles. I thought the alcohol in the wine was enough to kill micro-organisms, since you don't bottle it until a long, long time after it finishes fermenting. Am I wrong?

 

[Tom_S]

You want to make sure you don't have acetobacter in your bottles or else you'll make a large batch of vinegar.

 

[seth8530]

I wholly agree with sanitizing equipment that comes into contact with must. But I don't understand sanitizing the bottles. I thought the alcohol in the wine was enough to kill micro-organisms, since you don't bottle it until a long, long time after it finishes fermenting. Am I wrong?

In short, you are not correct.

One thing to consider is that we are dealing with wine not hand sanatizer.. Very different. It is still possible for wine to become infected by coming in contact with dirty unclean surfaces. Also consider that alcohol does not do anything to remove toxins that might have accumulated in something due to bacteria.

Ie, cooking rotted meat does not make it safe to eat.