Novice Winemaker Yeaster Starter QuestionI am a newbie and was having the same problem. It was difficult finding any info about starting the yeast going. Seems to me the old timers forget us newbies don't...
Joe - If you have your sweetened wine stabilized, and by that I mean proper pH, sulfite and sufficient K sorbate, I don't believe a few microbes or yeast cells inside a clean bottle will be a problem. Even if the yeast live they won't multiply and will poop out in a short time. My earlier post about my Vidal wine is a good example. It took a couple of weeks for some residual yeast (I suspect they were added when I added reserve juice) to expire. I waited them out but doubt they would have caused a problem if I bottled right away. Even for sweetened wine I don't sanitize bottles. I just make sure they are clean and stored upside down.
With respect to pasteurization. I make beer. I can cool freshly boiled wort to 70 degrees in 15 minutes with an immersion chiller. Your wine would have to be in an open kettle to accommodate the chiller. Mine is home made with two coils of copper tubing, one within the other, sort of like a DNA chain. Depending on how high a temperature you need to heat the wine air exposure time could be as little as 30 minutes. And, you could blanket the wine with an inert gas for protection.
I always make my wife some grape juice in the fall when I crush and press grapes. I heat the juice like you would do for pasteurization. I don't bother with a fast chill for this juice and it does change the flavor. She actually likes the flavor post heating better than the raw juice.
Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA
