Sterilizing Strainer Bags

[pete1325]

Dumb question; How does one sterilize a strainer bag? Dunk in Boiling water perhaps?

 

[CDrew]

I have a strainer fabric cylinder that goes with my bladder press. I start by autoclaving it in a pot with boiling water. It works perfectly, adds no chemicals and takes 15 minutes at most. And when it unfolds for use, it cools in seconds.

 

[Ajmassa]

I use one around my ‘gajillion hole racking filter’. I’ll rinse down with piping hot water, hang drip dry, then spray it with kmeta sanitizer.

 

[pete1325]

Great, thanks.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Sterilizing a nylon strainer bag is unnecessary.

Most of the micro count is removed by just washing.
Grape/ other fruit you are running is not sterile.
Wine is a preservative system, we are more concerned about creating conditions where yeast will out compete.
Boiling is capable of heat shocking spore forming organisms as Clostridium so that the spores grow, you will go anaerobic, if you also have a pH above 4.0 they could grow, boiling does not actually sterilize the bag.
The way one can create a commercially sterile at 100C (boiling) is to treat at a pH below 4.0 for ten minutes, in a plant situation we hold in a pH controlled tank for 45 minutes to let the material reach pH 4 then steam heat for ten minutes.
Vegetable/ fruit samples in the micro lab are quickly surface treated with a chemical as 10% bleach, we don’t use bleach in wine, so soaking a bag with your meta solution is possible. (note meta sanitizer is about pH 1.5)

If I was to actually sterilize a bag, micro samples, scalpel, etc I would retort at 15 psig steam (121C) for 45 minutes.

 

[pete1325]

Thanks for the reply's thus far.....I just gave them a good soaking in really hot tap water and sprayed some K-mata on them......boiling nylon did't seem right.

 

[M38A1]

I let it sit in a 5gal Home Depot bucket with StarSan for a couple minutes, rinse and use. That same bucket will sanitize my equipment for a day or so to get everything going.

 

[JoP]

Sterilizing a nylon strainer bag is unnecessary.

Most of the micro count is removed by just washing.
Grape/ other fruit you are running is not sterile.
Wine is a preservative system, we are more concerned about creating conditions where yeast will out compete.
Boiling is capable of heat shocking spore forming organisms as Clostridium so that the spores grow, you will go anaerobic, if you also have a pH above 4.0 they could grow, boiling does not actually sterilize the bag.
The way one can create a commercially sterile at 100C (boiling) is to treat at a pH below 4.0 for ten minutes, in a plant situation we hold in a pH controlled tank for 45 minutes to let the material reach pH 4 then steam heat for ten minutes.
Vegetable/ fruit samples in the micro lab are quickly surface treated with a chemical as 10% bleach, we don’t use bleach in wine, so soaking a bag with your meta solution is possible. (note meta sanitizer is about pH 1.5)

If I was to actually sterilize a bag, micro samples, scalpel, etc I would retort at 15 psig steam (121C) for 45 minutes.

Agree, if the grapes are not sterile, the press and the bag do not have to be necessarily either.
But, I also believe that it is up to each individuals personal preference.
Found this in the Speidel user manual:
“The press cloth can also be cleaned thoroughly with water. The cloth may be laundered in the washing machine, using laundry detergent and a low water temperature (max. 30°C)”
Speidel Customer Service told me the same thing.
On the other hand, More Wine recommends sterilizing with Star San.
More important is to thoroughly cleaned with hot water after use, to prevent any residual buildup.
Cheers!