Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Newbie Questions

Options
  • 10-06-2011 7:42am
    #1
    Bugsyboy1
    Registered Users Posts: 69 ✭✭


    My wine making kit arrived yesterday from Homebrewwest with a Cantina Pinot Grigio. Very excited and a little intimidated. Sounds like a lot can go wrong! I have a few questions if I may.

    Is sterilising is a big deal? My pack came with VWP disinfecting powder. What's the best way to use this? Dilute it, put it in one of the bins and put all the equipment in the bin? Do I rinse everything afterwards or does this cancel out the sterilising? Is a wipe of the solution enough or do things need to sit for a while?

    What about my used wine bottles. How do I sterilise them? Do I rinse them with solution? When my kids were small we used to sterilise their bottles in the dishwasher. Anyone do that with their gear or is it over the top. Wine bottles probably wouldn't wash in the dishwasher I imagine.

    On one of Craig's videos on Youtube a message appeared on the screen saying not to make beer and wine with the same Kit. Does this mean the bins only or all the gear... taps, tubing bottle, fillers. Seems a shame to have to buy a whole new kit. Anybody do both with the same kit?

    Thanks

    Pretty sure there will be more questions!

    Paul


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Donny5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,827 ✭✭✭Donny5


    Sterilising is a big deal, in that it's the easiest way to ruin a brew (for beer, anyway, that's what I brew). With VWP, I throw everything into the fermenter and fill it to the top with warm water and 8 teaspoon of the powder. I leave it for about five or ten minutes, and then I empty it into a sink through the tap (to sterilise that). After that, I just rinse it out with some more warm water until the chlorine smell is gone and then I brew.

    I put bottles in the dishwasher, like you said. I don't know about using the same kit for beer and wine, though. I've never though about making wine.


  • Options
    #3
    BeerNut
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 11,827 Mod ✭✭✭✭BeerNut


    Bugsyboy1 wrote: »
    On one of Craig's videos on Youtube a message appeared on the screen saying not to make beer and wine with the same Kit. Does this mean the bins only or all the gear... taps, tubing bottle, fillers. Seems a shame to have to buy a whole new kit. Anybody do both with the same kit?
    That sounds a bit over-cautious. I can see why you wouldn't re-use plastic bins: yeast can get caught in microscopic scratches and you don't want a wine yeast getting mixed up in a beer. The other gear should be absolutely fine for both, as long as it's clean and sanitised.

    Sanitisation is a huge deal, especially with kits, where you're working cold all the way through.

    My beer blog | The Twitter | My other beer blog



  • Options
    #4
    oblivious
    Registered Users Posts: 4,381 ✭✭✭oblivious


    Bugsyboy1 wrote: »

    On one of Craig's videos on Youtube a message appeared on the screen saying not to make beer and wine with the same Kit. Does this mean the bins only or all the gear... taps, tubing bottle, fillers. Seems a shame to have to buy a whole new kit. Anybody do both with the same kit?


    NO, both fermentation's use a standard yeast nothing wild or bacteria, so as long as you wash and sanitize your fermetor from batch to batch you will be fine.


Advertisement