Sanitizing Bottles What do you use (Poll)

[CDrew]

Here's my take. I use StarSan for virtually every action in the winemaking process except the bottle sterilization. It just seems that residual StarSan is slippery and I don't want slippery at bottling, and the tiny amount of additional sulfite seems like a benefit more than anything else.

The fumes are an issue and I bottle in the garage with the door open and fan on for just that reason.

2T KMBS, 1T Citric acid. Too easy.

 

[JohnBurns]

From an art


From an article by Tim Vandergrift: "When sulphiting the inside of bottles it isn’t necessary to rinse the sulphite solution away with water. After draining upside down for as little as five seconds the amount of sulphite retained in the bottle will only increase the free sulphite content of the added wine by a little over 1 part per million. You can rinse if you want to, but it won’t make any difference and takes extra time."

Excellent! Thanks

 

[Old Corker]

I use the 2oz. Kmeta/Gal. Water to sanitize just about everything that touches the wine. I do rinse out the bottles afterward bc I don't want any more in the wine than is needed. I'm only bottling one or two batches at a time so it's not a deal. I'm thinking about getting a second of those sanitizer squirter thingies so I can have one for sanitizing an one for rinsing.

If there is one thing I might be over killing on its washing the bottles. I mix up a gal of Easy Clean (One Step) pour some in each bottle then run a bottle scrubber on a drill. I just like to start with a sparkling clean bottle inside and out.

 

[Mac60]

Here's my take. I use StarSan for virtually every action in the winemaking process except the bottle sterilization. It just seems that residual StarSan is slippery and I don't want slippery at bottling, and the tiny amount of additional sulfite seems like a benefit more than anything else.

Thank you CDrew
That's exactly what I have been thinking, I use StarSan, but I was thinking about switching..
THANKS FOR ALL YOU AWESOME RESPONSES.
This is truly an amazing resource.
MAC,

 

[Dan M]

I use Star San for sanitizing everything. The first time I went to a local wine supply store, I was advised to use Star San instead of Meta. I make a spray bottle bottle full with about 1/16 oz of Star San. I use One Step to clean the bottles, spray the inside with a bottle rinser and hang them on a bottle tree. They are usually still wet when I bottle. I've only been doing this for a year but haven't had any problems.

 

[TurkeyHollow]

We use both. Star San on the brewery side and SO2 on the winery side.

 

[thunderwagn]

As a long time homebrewer (beer) I use Star San for sanitizing all my equipment. I'm curious, what the downside is to using Star San to sanitize wine bottles, if any?

 

[JustJoe]

I use starsan on everything for both wine and beer making.

 

[cmason1957]

I am on the both side also. SO2 for the wine and Star San for the beer. I think if beer could tolerate the SO2, I would only use that.

 

[Donz]

Jet bottle washer fitting on the cellar sink tap with hot water, that is it. Then placed upside down in wine boxes. I have never had a problem.

 

[Sailor323]

I am on the both side also. SO2 for the wine and Star San for the beer. I think if beer could tolerate the SO2, I would only use that.

I use SO2 to sanitize my beer bottles, no problem

 

[Sailor323]

Does anyone now the shelf life on StarSan after it has been mixed?

 

[CDrew]

Does anyone now the shelf life on StarSan after it has been mixed?

It depends on the purity of the water. If you used distilled, it last months. If you use tap water, it tends to turn cloudy in a week or two. It may still be Ok but I discard at that point. I believe there is a pH threshold you can measure but I don't recall what it is.

 

[bstnh1]

K-meta ( 3 Tbls. / gal. plus citric acid) in a bottle rinser. I use it for all my sanitizing.

 

[sluff]

K-meta ( 3 Tbls. / gal. plus citric acid) in a bottle rinser. I use it for all my sanitizing.

Do you rinse before bottling? Thanks!

 

[RonObvious]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I swear I can taste StarSan, even when mixed at the proper ratio and even when fully drained. I stopped using it a long time ago for that reason. I use sodium percarbonate for heavy duty disinfecting, but it's VERY alkaline and oxidizing, so I follow it up with a rinse of citric acid. For general sanitizing, I use KMETA with citric acid.

 

[winemaker81]

Do you rinse before bottling? Thanks!

I don't. I clean the bottles, inspect them visually for "stuff", rinse with K-meta, and drain on a bottle tree. The dry bottles go neck down in clean cases (if a case looks ratty or the cardboard at the bottom doesn't pass visual inspection, I recycle the case).

At bottling time, each bottle is visually inspected again before filling.

The bottles are clean, there is nothing inside anything can grow on, and nothing can get in. A lot of commercial wineries take bottles from the vendor and place them on the bottling line, no extra steps.

 

[Bliorg]

I fill a bucket with StarSan at the recommended rate (1 oz/5 gal), submerge the bottles probably about 8 at a time, let them sit in the solution submerged for a few minutes, dump them back into the bucket and let them drain. And new bottles are dirty, contaminated with cardboard dust and anything that goes into cardboard (which is not a hygenic, sanitary product). They need to be sanitized.

 

[winemaker81]

It appears that thousands of successful commercial wineries are doing it wrong.

 

[7munkee]

I use 80% new bottles and the other 20% are my used bottles. The new ones I don't do anything with. The used I soak them in oxyclean over night to remove the labels, rinse and place them back in a box. At bottling I treat them like new bottles. Probably get some grief over this.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who uses Oxyclean. In my dirty carboys especially.