bugs and things

[rantan]

in all wine books (and in this forum) it always states that we must clean and sanitise all the equipment that will come in contact with the wine.
what are these evil beasties that we must murder and what effect would they have on the finished product


i know about wild yeasts, but i don't know who upset them

[Duffbeer]

Bretnamycees which will cause mouse, mycaderma which will cause flowers of wine, acetobacter that will cause vinegar....
Just to name a few, all of which are airborn & will ruin your wine

[ms67]

sorry if i'm stating the obvious here but here goes anyway cos its something i find really useful to have in mind whatever i'm brewing. When we gather all our ingredients together and combine them for making a delicious home-made wine what we do is make a very nutritious and also tastey mix. So the amount of things that'll love chomping on it - and generally frolicking about and having a good time time in there (breeding etc) - is beyond measure. And on top of that you probably won't want anything in there apart from what you put in intentionally. As the alcohol content rises the amount of things that can live in it diminishes but its still easy to ruin from infection. Fortuneately there's plenty that can be done to prevent this as you know (an no doubt do, cos you've had success already).

its a very general perspective i know, but one that has served me well.

[lockwood1956]

i know about wild yeasts, but i don't know who upset them

well thats just the thing......if you dont allow them access to party food (your carefully prepared must) they will just sleep...think of it that way rather than murdering them

Until they get access to your must, they are just slightly annoyed

[rantan]

thanks duffbeer for you honest answer
thanks ms67 for your philosophy of life
thanks bob, surely not if i use KI-V1116

i did a couple of hours research on the subject and started to lose the will to live, so if anyone knows any webpages that deal with the subject, in english that i can understand, please post a link

[ms67]

thanks duffbeer for you honest answer
thanks ms67 for your philosophy of life
thanks bob, surely not if i use KI-V1116

hehe i also often wonder why grapefruits are so called.

[lockwood1956]

This is a good reference guide

http://www.winepros.org/index.htm

[lockwood1956]

as is this

http://www.unitechscientific.com/wine_spoilage_organisms.htm

[ms67]

wikipedia does a decent job of getting you started with some examples, i often go there first for reference type material and go elsewhere if its not what i'm looking for

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_fault

this one deals with lactic acid related stuff in some detail

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Win...nespoilage.htm

[rantan]

just what i was looking for and i never found, grateful to both for the links

in my research i came across this description of a contamination - a wet dog in a phone booth - if i come across that one i'm sure to recognize it

[lockwood1956]

here are some more easily recognisable fault smells


Pear Drops
Geranium
Hamster cage (wet hamster cage)
nail varnish remover
wet cardboard
vinegar

[lockwood1956]

Will think of some more later (i'm tired right now)