Cleaning and maintaining wine barrels is an essential part of the wine production process, as it helps preserve quality and enhances taste in wine products. The chemical compounds wineries often use to clean and maintain wine barrels can be harmful to wine processing workers and hazardous to the environment.
One safe and efficient method you can use to sanitize wine barrels is steam cleaning. This increasingly popular technique offers a safe cleaning alternative while allowing facilities to meet strict sanitation requirements enforced throughout the industry.
Effectively Eliminate Contaminants to Preserve Flavor
Steam cleaning uses high temperatures to sanitize wine barrels in lieu of chemical treatment. Temperatures within the barrel reach approximately 212 F to mitigate the growth of fungi, bacteria, and other potential contaminants.
This process can eliminate various types of pathogens that could compromise the fermentation and ripening process, such as:
- Pediococcus
- Brettanomyces
- Acetobacter
- Lactobacilli
Additionally, barrel steamer equipment can remove tartrate that can stick to barrel walls.
Steam cleaning wine barrels preserves the fragrance in wine and facilitates ripening and fermentation, both of which elevate the overall quality of the end product.
Extend the Lifespan of Wine Barrels
A barrique typically lasts for three years, but steam cleaning can extend this lifespan even further. Steam penetrates the porous wood to remove old wine residue, yeasts, and pathogens. The barrel walls can then naturally micro-oxygenate wine during refinement, optimizing the polymerization of anthocyanins and tannins in the wine.
Save Water
Steam cleaning also makes wine processing more sustainable. While conventional cleaning methods tend to use a lot of water during the cleaning process, steam cleaning uses a much smaller amount, cleaning the wine barrels within minutes.
Contact Us for Steam Generators for Cleaning Wine Barrels
If you want to safely clean and maintain your wine barrels or tanks, Electro-Steam offers some of the best steam generators available. Our steam generators produce dry saturated steam devoid of boiler additives, allowing for highly efficient and effective cleaning that doesn’t require the use of chemical solvents. Our equipment also prevents trace materials from negatively affecting the taste and fragrance of wine products.
Several key features set Electro-Steam generators apart from other generators on the market, including:
- Stainless steel materials for use in electric panels and cabinets
- Capability to produce units within two to three weeks
- A five-year warranty on steam generator chambers and a one-year warranty on other components
- Top-quality construction using the best available parts
- 98% efficiency without the need to pre-heat water
We’ll help you locate the ideal steam generator for your facility. Our team of experienced and knowledgeable staff will guide you through the selection process and direct you toward a solution that maximizes cleanliness and efficiency. We can develop steam generators for wine barrel cleaning and other food sanitation systems.
Contact us today to learn more about our products or with any questions, and we’ll connect you with one of our experts. You can also request a free demo of our steam cleaners for food and beverage processing applications.