Winery Cleaning and Sanitization, Monitoring Methodology and Efficacy of Cleaning and Sanitization Chemistries.

This project analyzed the ability of cleaners and sanitizers frequently used in the wine industry to inactivate microbial populations in solution (planktonic) and stationary (biofilm) physiologies. Cleaning and sanitizing agents were used at manufacturer’s specified concentrations for planktonic cells grown in 96-well plates. The most effective treatments for the inactivation of planktonic cells were used in the biofilm trials. In these trials, biofilms were treated with the chemicals (cleansers and sanitizers) and subsequently stained to identify remaining biomass using crystal violet. Next, the same chemicals were tested for biofilms grown on stainless steel winery tank material. Stainless steel coupons were suspended vertically in pipet tip containers and incubated with various winery microbes in 50% water/50% grape juice medium for two weeks to develop biofilms. The coupons were cleaned with water, and then submerged in the cleaning or sanitizing agents for various time periods. The ability of the chemicals to eradicate the biofilms was measured using ATP swabs and cell culturing, the two techniques most frequently employed in wineries to examine microbial load in quality control applications. Remaining work involves scaling the stainless-steel trials to larger red wine fermentations, and the development of an optimized cleaning/sanitizing recommendation for the wine industry.