I am planning on staring my wine kit next week (yay!)

I am having a bit of confusion about cleaning and sanitizing. My kit
came with

straight a cleaner and one step sanitizer

some instructions say to start by cleaning everything at once, others
say clean and sanitize parts to be used at each step, which to do?
Should i clean the bottles at the same time, they'll be sitting as
much as a month(or longer if bulk aged) or at the time of bottling.

one step says it will only be good for a week, do i have to make a new
batch every time i do SG test for the hydrometer, sampler, and test
stand?

one step says rinsing it not neccessary, will it hurt to rinse?

also, mixing instructions are for a gallon of each, will i need that
much? more? less?

On Mar 19, 7:53 pm, "Tater" > wrote:
> I am planning on staring my wine kit next week (yay!)
>
> I am having a bit of confusion about cleaning and sanitizing. My kit
> came with
>
> straight a cleaner and one step sanitizer
>
> some instructions say to start by cleaning everything at once, others
> say clean and sanitize parts to be used at each step, which to do?
> Should i clean the bottles at the same time, they'll be sitting as
> much as a month(or longer if bulk aged) or at the time of bottling.
>
> one step says it will only be good for a week, do i have to make a new
> batch every time i do SG test for the hydrometer, sampler, and test
> stand?
>
> one step says rinsing it not neccessary, will it hurt to rinse?
>
> also, mixing instructions are for a gallon of each, will i need that
> much? more? less?

oh, and can i pre-wash this stuff with something? I figured I should
ask as most dishsoaps seem to have perfumes in them and i dont want
some smell soaking into the plastic. my kist has some loose bits of
plastic and such that i cant seem to rinse out

"Tater" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I am planning on staring my wine kit next week (yay!)
> some instructions say to start by cleaning everything at once, others
> say clean and sanitize parts to be used at each step, which to do?

I've made about 10 kits, and I use One-Step.
I usually just mix up a batch in the sink, dunk all my equipment
(and bottles at bottling time) into it, and then rinse everything with plain
water.
Haven't had a problem yet.

On Mar 20, 10:51 am, "Bob Becker" > wrote:
> "Tater" > wrote in message
>
> oups.com...
>
> >I am planning on staring my wine kit next week (yay!)
> > some instructions say to start by cleaning everything at once, others
> > say clean and sanitize parts to be used at each step, which to do?
>
> I've made about 10 kits, and I use One-Step.
> I usually just mix up a batch in the sink, dunk all my equipment
> (and bottles at bottling time) into it, and then rinse everything with plain
> water.
> Haven't had a problem yet.

the instructions on my one-step say not to rinse, and other
instructions (on the wine kit) say to sanitize intended parts at
racking time.

so you dont sanitize every time you check SG? do you check your SG
often? do you rinse with plain water after testing?

not wanting to argue, just curious.

"Tater" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>> I've made about 10 kits, and I use One-Step.
>> I usually just mix up a batch in the sink, dunk all my equipment
>> (and bottles at bottling time) into it, and then rinse everything with
>> plain
>> water.
>> Haven't had a problem yet.
>
> the instructions on my one-step say not to rinse, and other
> instructions (on the wine kit) say to sanitize intended parts at

I think they say rinsing is not necessary, not 'do not rinse'.

> so you dont sanitize every time you check SG? do you check your SG
> often? do you rinse with plain water after testing?

I do use One-Step to clean any equipment that comes into contact with the
wine,
but, again, I then rinse with plain water.

It works for me, but as the directions say, rinsing is not necessary.
Just my personal quirk.

Tater -
You are thinking about all of this 'way too much. :-)

I agree with Bob - the One Step instructions claim that rinsing is not
necessary, but I don't believe I've ever seen anything that claims
that you should NOT rinse. Personally, I rinse. I figure clean water
isn't going to hurt anything. If you feel like the One Step is going
to be more effective without a rinse, then don't.

I believe oxygen-based sanitizers like One Step don't keep very well,
so you really need to do a fresh batch at least daily. If you are
using something like a strong sodium metabisulphite solution to
sanitize things, that stuff will keep fine for weeks/months. Just try
not to breathe the fumes . . .

Don't sanitize your bottles yet. I'm sure it would work just fine,
but if you sanitize now and don't bottle for another month or two,
you'll worry about your bottles getting "dirty" in the meantime.
Interestingly, wineries don't wash or even rinse the bottles before
they are filled. On the other hand, the tour guides at the Miller
brewery in Milwaukee claim that they rinse out all of the bottles and
cans before they are filled with beer. Maybe that's the difference
between beer and wine -- at higher alcohol levels, you can be that
much more relaxed about some of this stuff. Aim for clean. Don't
worry about sterile - you wouldn't get there anyway, and you don't
need to. If things are clean enough that your Mom would be willing to
eat off them, you should be OK for winemaking. At least, that's my
theory, and it's worked well enough for me over the past 40 years or
so.

Doug

On Mar 22, 4:44 pm, "Doug" > wrote:
> Tater -
> You are thinking about all of this 'way too much. :-)
>
> Doug

yep, but i'd really hate to start a bad haibt this early on.

myinstructions on my one step show for making a gallon at a time. I
assume if I am going to sanitize my Hydrometer gear each time for
checking, I wont need a full gallon, right?

"Tater" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I am planning on staring my wine kit next week (yay!)
>
> I am having a bit of confusion about cleaning and sanitizing. My kit
> came with
>
> straight a cleaner and one step sanitizer
>
> some instructions say to start by cleaning everything at once, others
> say clean and sanitize parts to be used at each step, which to do?
> Should i clean the bottles at the same time, they'll be sitting as
> much as a month(or longer if bulk aged) or at the time of bottling.
>
> one step says it will only be good for a week, do i have to make a new
> batch every time i do SG test for the hydrometer, sampler, and test
> stand?
>
> one step says rinsing it not neccessary, will it hurt to rinse?
>
> also, mixing instructions are for a gallon of each, will i need that
> much? more? less?
>

Clean just before you use. Don't confuse yourself by over-complicating
things. All you are doing is making sure things are kept clean.

An analogy would be 'when do you wash your hands? 1 month before you touch
food or just before...'

The purpose of cleaning is to avoid contamination. As with personal hygene,
you are merely trying to avoid things like bad bacteria and other such
nasties from getting into your wine.

Hope this doesn't sound terse etc. I can remember when I first started out
and had it firmly in my head that this winemaking marlarky was some mystical
hocus pokus when, in fact, it isn't.

Attention to detail and cleanliness in every step is all that is required.
Good luck and may you enjoy the fruits of your labours :-) <hic>

Mike