Racking Equipment Used for Kombucha, Still Good for Wine?

[Vertumnus]

Hi there, I recently had a 6 gallon batch of black tea kombucha that I bottled with the racking cane, siphon pump, and tubes that I usually use for winemaking. It was only afterwards that I realized that the vinegary component of kombucha might leave a residue that would forever doom any future wines to pass through the equipment to vinegar.

Right now, I have the racking equipment soaking in a solution of oxyclean and water, my usual cleaning regimen. Will this be sufficient or should I relegate that equipment only to kombucha and get a new one separate for wine? Thank you!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Good excuse to get some new racking stuff for your wine. Also you didnt ferment them side by side did you? We also do vinegar, upstairs, while wine stuff is downstairs in the basement. Each has separate equipment. You might want to invest in some Starsan also to reduce cross contamination. You never really know what is growing in a kombucha, vinegar bacteria might be the easiest on to control vs some of the other beasts living in there. WVMJ

 

[Vertumnus]

Thank you for your reply, WVMJ. I figured that might be the case. I do use Star San for sanitizing, but I usually only apply that before I would use the equipment. Do you recommend applying Star San before storing equipment after an oxyclean soak?

Enclosed is a picture of our "fermenting corner". The two smaller buckets on the rack with blue tape on them is where the kombucha mothers are, and as you can see, the wine is below and all around it. I hadn't thought of cross contamination between them, thank you for the tip!