Storing sanitized equipment

[steviepointer]

hi all,
Just starting out, and have a noob question here.

Hopefully will get to clean (EZ Clean) and sanitize (K-Meta) everything today.

Once you get all of the equipment sanitized, how do you store it? When the must is sitting in the bucket, what do you do with the thief, racking tube and hose, hydrometer, etc.. all the misc parts?

Do you store them in a plastic bag?
Wrap everything in paper towels?
Just keep it laying around?

Probably sounds like a lame question, but am looking for details, no matter how small.

Thanks!

 

[rocket man]

You should sanitize everything each time you use it before it touches your wine.

 

[Tom]

cleaning and sanitizing are different. Once clean you can leave it anyplace. For sanitizing I would maks a strong solution of k-meta and put it in a spray bottle. If you need to use the hydrometer or thief all you need is to spray the meta on.

 

[steviepointer]

so, if you sanitize everything before you use it (for example the thief or the hydrometer) do you

a)Let it air dry before you use it?
b)wipe it dry with a paper towel?
c)use it wet?
d)something other?

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

K-meta can be used wet others may not. I only reccomend k-meta.
If you wipe, it's contaminated.
If you let it air dry, its not sanitized

 

[Lurker]

What Tom said. Clean it after you use it, sanitize it before you use it. Store it wherever you like.

 

[Runningwolf]

Steve, good questions. I clean and sanitize everything when I am done with it. I just hang the tools up wet or let them sit on paper towels to dry and put them away in their drawer. Then I do as Tom says, I spray everything down with kmeta again before using. I do not wipe it off anything. I just shake it off or tip the container upside down to drain before using,

 

[Wade E]

I store what i can in my corkidor as the off gassing from the kmeta solution keeps everything sanitized.

 

[Newbie]

I usually sanitize one of my primary buckets when I'm about messing with any of my wines, then I can lay my sanitized hydrometer, thief, spoons, etc in the clean bucket. That way, I can get all of my equipment ready at once and not re-contaminate it.

 

[Runningwolf]

I usually sanitize one of my primary buckets when I'm about messing with any of my wines, then I can lay my sanitized hydrometer, thief, spoons, etc in the clean bucket. That way, I can get all of my equipment ready at once and not re-contaminate it.

Another thing I used to use for this was a wallpaper tray. They are nice and long and can accommodate the long spoons and other utensils.

 

[Green Mountains]

I keep a 6 gallon primary bucket full of sanitizer solution at all times. In it I keep everything that fits; thermometer, measuring cups, hydrometer, smaller spoons, measuring spoons etc.

It's plenty deep enough to put the siphon in and rack a few courses of sanitizer through before using it.

 

[Teamsterjohn]

[/IMG] Hope this picture comes out. This is what I use to hold my spoons,racking tubes,anything that is up tp 30 inches. At the bottom is a glass jar with some k-meta in it. I put the lid on and im good to go.

 

[steviepointer]

That's a nice idea.

Is that jar open or closed?

Theoretically, you could have a sponge of k-meta in there, seal off the tube, and the fumes would keep everything sanitized. This way, you wouldn't have to worry about tipping over a glass jar in there, or the jar breaking in there because you dropped the tube.

Just refresh the sponge every once in a while, as it dries out.

 

[Teamsterjohn]

The jar is open, but if it spill's, its no big deal. The bottom is closed with a rubber cap with a clamp. The top has a lid that goes over the top. Ill post another picture

 

[Teamsterjohn]

[/IMG]

 

[Rickochet]

[/IMG]

Teamsterjohn---That is a great idea. What diameter is the PVC? What all do you have in there? Would you take a picture of the items? Thanks!

 

[Teamsterjohn]

Its 4 inches, and they is a picture above that shows whats in there. You can get it taller if you what to. I picked this up at a job site, then went to home depot for the caps and rubber bottom. Racking canes, spoons,anything thats tall and skinny.

 

[Malkore]

Just so you know, brand new paper towels are very clean and sanitary.
At the tattoo shop, we tell all clients to dry with a clean paper towel after washing a fresh tattoo, since this is far cleaner than a bath towel that has been used one time.

Granted, tattoo infections and beer/wine infections are different beasts, but I've used paper towels to wipe off certain things many times and never had a problem.

So if you DO have a need to wipe anything off, use a fresh paper towel that came from a roll stored in a fairly sanitary way (i.e. not on the floor next to the toilet)

 

[jdeere5220]

Yeah I agree I'm not sure wiping your hydrometer, siphon, etc.. with a clean paper towel is going to hurt anything. I mean the paper towel soaks up the K-meta, so isn't it sanitized now too?

I worry about leaving too much k-meta on my test tube, siphon, etc.. I don't want to kill the yeast (early on) or introduce enough to flavor the wine (towards the end) so I do wipe things down after dipping/spraying. Maybe that's a bad idea, not sure.

 

[Tom]

Dont worry. There is not enough left on the hydrometer to kill the yeast. I have a k-meta mix in a spray bottle and just spray it on the hydrometer, let it drip and in it goes.