One Step - No Rinse Cleaner

I don't use it but it has been well spoken of by others.

That bit about sterilizing is baloney by the way. Sulfite does not sterilize. All you need is good sanitation anyway, not sterility. Get your bottles clean. As to whether I would rinse that out or not, I just can't say. I doubt the amount remaining on a well drained bottle would amount to much of anything.

I wash my bottles, swab them with a bottle brush (most of mine are used) rinse them with a jet washer and place them on a draining rack. I do hit them with a spritz of sulfite solution before draining; it's cheap and I always have a quart spray bottle of solution handy. I use

1 teaspoon of citric acid and 1/2 teaspoon (a little more if the meta is over a year old) per quart. (The sulfite is only effective in an acid environment, that why I add citric.) I do that more out of habit than anything. Most consider it a wasted step and I would not diisagreee with them...

Hope that helps.

Joe

Bob Becker wrote:

Bob,

I second Joe's advice. Sterility is neither attainable nor necessary in winemaking. Cleanliness, however, is. Wine has been used throughout history to disinfect drinking water, so it's probably not going to be easily affected by most germs, barring a few notable exceptions like mycoderma, acetobacter, and, of course, oxygen. A moist, dirty environment is a perfect breeding ground for the agents which can affect wine, so keeping your equipment clean & dry is essential. Beyond that, nothing else is usually necessary. No sulfite or iodaphor rinse, no quaternary ammonium cleaners, etc. That may sound like heresy to some people, but that's about the way it is. Much of what you read regarding "Sterility" in winemaking is more ritual than science.

My cleaning regimen for bottles, vats, hoses, etc is to triple rinse immediately after use, drain and store upside down til ready to use. If there is a visible residue when I go to clean something, I'll dislodge it with a brush & water jet, but I rarely need to resort to a cleaning agent of any sort. If a tool looks a bit dusty when I want to use it, it gets rinsed of course, but seldom anything more. Simply by keeping things scrupulously clean & dry, I've not had a spoilage problem in over 35 years (knock on wood!).

Joe is also right when he says that sulfite isn't a sterilizer. It is not listed as a surface contact disinfectant, and has little or no effect when splashed on equipment. It needs to be present in the growth medium (wine) with the living, growing bad bugs to have any effect on them. Dipping or splashing an object with sulfite basically has no effect on the microbes present on it. Sulfite only inhibits (some) microbial growth when it's in the wine or must.

I bought some One Step about a dozen years ago. Never used it, but if I ever do, you can bet I'll rinse afterward. That's just my way. But I've never heard of any problems from people who have used it & presumably didn't rinse.

Sorry for the rant. I'll be good now ;)

Mike MTM, Cokesbury, NJ, USA

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I use it every time I rack, bottle or start. I always rinse after letting it sit for a few moments.

I'm not expert, but wanted to weigh in that I use it, never had a problem. In fact, my wife uses it on the sink and cutting boards (in a spray bottle).

DAve

Bob Becker wrote:

Bob,

I use One Step and bleach as my only cleansing/sanitizing agents and I'm very happy with both. Bleach I use only for very dirty or moldy bottles/carboys, for its surfactant properties as well as its sanitizing abilities. One Step has sufficed for all other winemaking cleaning purposes.

Sulfite I use only in the wine itself, primarily for its preservative and anti-oxidant properties. I'd pass on sulfite as a general purpose cleanser/sanitizer, and use something more suitable for the purpose.

Cheers, Ken