WineXpert Obsessing about Sanitizing

[Bob007]

Hi guys,

Tomorrow I will rack my Stag's Leap Merlot into a carboy for secondary fermentation. When I did my first kit 3 years ago, I worried about getting the sanitization right. It took some of the fun out of it for me, so this time I'm trying to do the best I can and enjoy the process. If you have some time, I have a few questions I'd appreciate answers to.

1. I clean first with One Step and then use Star San to sanitize. Is this a good practice or am I over doing it?

2. As I sanitize, if I touch anything during the process (i.e. opening a bottle of water to add some to an airlock) I feel I need to dip my hands again in the Star San before I touch anything else, for instance a stirring spoon. Is this necessary?

3. I have some Star San in a spray bottle. Is spraying adequate for sanitizing or should I keep a bucket of Star San solution and rinse the equipment before I use it?

4. I have a 4 gallon bucket about 1/4 filled with Star San from my first fermentation preparation. Instructions say I can keep that for about a month. Right now I just cover the bucket with a lid, not airtight, but just to keep something over it. Should I transfer this solution into a large jug or will it keep for a few weeks just being covered?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[jamesngalveston]

I think keeping everthing clean is a must, as in cooking anything...all things should be clean...
I kind obsessed over it also in the beginning, not now.
I just clean things like I am cooking, i dont wear a mask, I dont sterlize every utensil, I dont put tools in a 500 degree oven.]
Just treat everything like you would if you were cooking for some friends.
If a burger hits the ground , put it back on the grill, who knows...lol

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Bob are you doing surgery I have to ask if you are so worried about sanitation why would you risk storing your diluted starsan, and not even in a jug with a good lid? Its not really a step by step thing, its more of a practice you need to get into. Just clean and sanatize everything. I actually make a bucket of KM to rinse stuff like spoons off, a LOT cheaper and I know whatever I am washing off was already clean. I rinse my sanatized carboys out with water before I use them to make sure there is no residue from the sanatizer in there, nothing nasty shows up later. More fun and less compulsiveness, but not a whole lot less, just balance WVMJ

 

[cmason1957]

Hi guys,

2. As I sanitize, if I touch anything during the process (i.e. opening a bottle of water to add some to an airlock) I feel I need to dip my hands again in the Star San before I touch anything else, for instance a stirring spoon. Is this necessary?

Thanks,

Bob

I think that part is overkill. I only sanitize my hands if I am going to put them in the must, say to squeeze a bag of something like that.

My routine is 1) clean everything, I use oxyclean. 2) Run some kmeta solution through all my hoses, spray everything that is going into the wine or must. Afterwards, clean everything. Squirrel with or run kmeta through it. Hang hoses to dry.

 

[cimbaliw]

We're probably all little too concerned with clean practice here. My guess is that as long as were thinking about it and making some effort, we'll be OK. It's not like the bad organisms that taint are predatory. Remember it's sanitizing, not sterilizing. You can check the pH of your starsan for viability (<= 3.2?). Truth be told I use a lot of hot (city) water rinses when in the throws of multiple rackings and the like.

 

[Bob007]

I will be racking again this weekend and am wondering about best practices regarding cleaning and sanitizing. This will be 8 days since I racked. Afterwards I cleaned everything with one step. Do you guys clean with one step, or other cleaner, and then sanitize before every step, or can I just sanitize before this next rack?

 

[DoctorCAD]

Spit on a rag and wipe everything down.

Seriously, clean is good, sanitized is good, obsession is not so good.

One Step, rinse, spray bottle full of k-meta solution. That should do.

 

[keahunter]

I buy a gallon of distilled water for each batch I make and add 6ml of starsan to it. I then pour some of that into a spray bottle. i used the solution in the gallon to sanitize carboys, the primary, the siphon, etc. During the process...if I have to stir, take a gravity, touch anything, I just spray whatever will touch the must (including my hands if I'm going to touch the must). Having that spray bottle comes in very handy and that gallon of sanitizer will last through the batch.