Cleaning & Sanitizing your Winemaking Equipment
Cleansers and sanitizers are not the same: cleansers
leave your equipment bright and clean; sanitizers keep bacteria
and other spoilage organisms under control.
Before you sanitize, everything must be clean. Rinse bottles,
primary fermenters and carboys as soon as they are empty to avoid scraping
dried, caked-on residue off them later.
Trisodium Phosphate (Saniton)
Description
Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) is an unscented detergent.It
helps take a lot of the work out of removing stains and stubborn grime
from equipment. TSP is especially useful for stainless steel, which a
chlorinated cleanser such as Diversol (discussed below) could corrode.
Cleaning
Dissolve 2 g per litre of warm water (2 tsp. per gal).
Soak equipment for 20 minutes; scrub any stubborn stains.
Rinse well with hot water.
Sanitizing
TSP does not sanitize. You must use it in conjunction
with a proper sanitizer.
Cautions
Avoid contact with strong acids and pro- longed contact
with aluminum, tin, lead, and zinc since this will produce hydrogen gas.
Diversol (Sani-Brew)
Description
As well as being a sanitizer, Diversol has the added benefit
of being an extremely effective cleaner. Available under a variety of
trade names, you'll recognize Diversol because it is a chlorinated pink
powder.
Cleaning
Dissolve 3.5 g per litre of cold water (5 tsp. per gal).
Soak stained equipment up to 48 hours.
Rinse thoroughly with hot water.
Sanitizing
Fill primary fermenter with Diversol solution (3.5 g per
litre of cold water [5 tsp. per gal.]). Fully immerse all equipment: hoses,
spoons, bungs, hydrometers, thermometers, airlocks, and primary lid.
Soak equipment for at least 20 min.
Remove lid, rinse carefully (but thoroughly) with hot water and turn it
upside-down on the counter. Rinse equipment, placing items inside sanitized
lid.
To sanitize a carboy:
With bung in carboy, slosh 9 litres (2 gal.) Diversol solution all around
inside.
Repeat twice, with 5 minutes between repetitions. Rinse after 20 min.
Cautions
Corrodes stainless steel.
Can bleach clothing.
Do not mix with acids, amines, or ammonia. Such a mixture produces dangerous
gases.
Bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite)
Description
Unscented household bleach can be used as a sanitizer
and cleaner. For Sanitizing, it is just as effective as Diversol.
For Cleaning, however, either Diversol or TSP would be preferable.
Cleaning
Mix 2.5 ml per litre of cold water (1 tbsp. per gal.)
and follow the Cleaning instructions for Diversol (above). When
rinsing, remove all traces of chlorine smell.
Sanitizing
Using a solution of 5 ml per litre of cold water (1 tbsp.
per gal.) follow the Cleaning instructions for Diversol (above.)
Cautions
See above. Don't use scented bleach. Those 'spring fresh'
and 'lemony' perfumes will sink into equipment permanently. All subsequent
batches will smell and taste like perfume.
Potassium Metabisulphite/Sodium Metabisulphite
Description
Sulphites have been used in winemaking for hundreds of
years. They are available as potassium metabisulphite and sodium metabisulphite.
Not only are they effective sanitizers, they also prevent oxidation in
wine.
Cleaning
Sulphites will not clean your equipment. Use a cleanser
such as TSP.
Sanitizing
Dissolve 50 grams per 4 litres cold water (8 tsp.per gal.).
Use a spray bottle to coat equipment with solution. Spray into hoses and
racking tubes.
Allow equipment to drip dry for 10 minutes. Do not rinse.
Use the equipment.
You can store your prepared solution in a tightly sealed
container and reuse it for up to 1 month.
Cautions
Dust and vapour from solution is irritating to lungs.
Avoid inhaling. Do not mix with alkaline solutions such as Diversol or
bleach.
Will not clean dirty or stained equipment.
Iodophor
Description
If you keep your equipment clean between brews, Iodophor
is a great sanitizer. (Your equipment will not be clean if you simply
rinse after use. You must use a cleaner, such as TSP.) Iodophor is excellent
for stainless steel- which Diversol will corrode- and all other beermaking
equipment. Mixed properly and used in a spray bottle, Iodophor is almost
magical in its convenience: there's no waiting and no rinsing.
Cleaning
Iodophor does not clean. Use a cleanser such as TSP before
Sanitizing with Iodophor.
Sanitizing
Mix 1 ml per litre of cold water. You must use a syringe
for accurate measurement.
Use a spray bottle to coat equipment with solution.
Shake off excess or allow equipment to drain. Do not rinse.
Use the equipment. It's that easy!
Cautions
When in solution, Iodophor rapidly breaks down. Every
time you use it, you must make a fresh solution.
Not effective unless mixed accurately. Use a syringe.
Will not clean dirty or stained equipment.
Hazardous for those with iodine allergies.
Concentrated solution stains skin and fabric.
FINAL NOTES
If you keep your equipment looking, smelling and feeling
clean, even when it's not in use, you'll have fewer problems keeping everything
sanitized.
Store your clean primary fermenters and carboys closed with a little chlorine
solution inside (one capful unscented household bleach per litre cold
water). Nothing will grow in them, so Sanitizing will be a snap.
If you get tired of scrubbing and Sanitizing, remember: lapses in sanitation
are responsible for 90% of all homebrewing failures. You can avoid them.
