Wine Barrel Lifecycle Management Solution:
Cavitus Wine Barrel Cleaner

What Is the Wine Barrel Cleaner Used For?

The solution - proprietary product for cleaning and disinfecting oak barrels - is aimed at reducing wine spoilage costs, increasing barrel life and enhancing oak transfer in wine production. The Wine Barrel Cleaner uses high-power ultrasonics to effectively remove tartrates, anthocyanins, solid residues and biofilms, whilst simultaneously killing Brettanomyces and other spoilage microorganisms, both from the interior surfaces and subsurface of oak wood. In independent tests, use of the Cavitus Wine Barrel Cleaning solution has had no deleterious effect on the pore structure oak wood.

The Problems Solved

Cavitus' Wine Barrel Cleaner offers a solution to age-old problems in the wine industry of microbial contamination, and spoilage of product and barrels, which have traditionally resulted in value losses at the cellar door in the order of 12-15% per bottle. Together, these problems are estimated to cost the wine industry over US$1.0 Billion annually.

In our study over 3 years, we physically de-constructed hundreds of barrels of various ages from numerous wineries and examined their interiors. It became apparent that the application of high-pressure cold and/or hot-water results in highly variable and ineffective cleaning and disinfection of barrels, despite further treatment with ozone and/or sulphur dioxide. Also, this existing technology is energy and water intensive.

Product and barrel spoilage by Brettanomyces yeasts represents one of the highest-profile and insidious microbiological problems facing wine-makers, because the microorganisms can not only develop into problematic populations from sub-detectable cell numbers, but also produce off-odours with detection thresholds in the low ug/L range. Often, by the time the organism is detected, the wine and/or barrel is spoiled and, importantly, cannot be rectified.

It has been estimated that product spoilage during barrel maturation occurs after 60% of the production cost has been incurred, accounting for 4+% of wine by volume. Shortened barrel life -- reduced not only by microbial contaminants, but also by excessive tartrate build-up is also a major problem for winemakers, because barrels typically represent their largest recurring plant and equipment capital expenditure item.

Solution and Benefits

The Cavitus Wine Barrel Cleaning solution is a flexible, configurable device that can clean and disinfect one or multiple barrels simultaneously, in either fixed or mobile installations. The recommended cleaning water temperature is 60 C (140 F) and operating noise levels are within limits of typical barrel hall operations. The unit conforms to OH&S standards for Australia, NZ and USA. The Wine Barrel Cleaner is user-friendly and safe, and does not require additional cellar staff to operate and is designed to minimise water use.

Cleaning times varies with the age of the barrel and depends on the thickness and hardness of the tartrate deposits. Older barrels that are heavily tartrated require remediation, i.e., longer treatment time. Cavitus' white paper on validation research from outside experts is available on request.

The first product release is targeted at medium- to high-capacity wineries, with stocks of at least 5,000 barrels.


Please click here to view a brief video demonstrating the operation of the Wine Barrel Cleaner online.

Please click here to download a PDF overview of the Wine Barrel Cleaner.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing will be available in Q3, 2008. Our price target is aimed to provide customers with a payback within 24 months.

Following Beta testing with select industry participants, the Wine Barrel Cleaning solution will be available for sale in Q3, 2008. We will distribute the Wine Barrel Cleaning solution directly, and are also exploring partnerships with reputable wine industry equipment suppliers and service providers.