I don’t normally need to add humidity to my wine cellar, but since switching to a coolbot with an AC unit, I’m seeing lower humidity levels than I would like during this winter. I’ve added a small humidifier, but i’m wondering if I should be concerned about the chloramine normally in the DC water supply. DC uses Chloramine most of the year, and for 30 days (normally March/April) they switch to chlorine to sanitize the system. I plan to discontinue humidification during the period when DC switches to chlorine.
Should I be worried about the the vaporized chloramine causing TCA formation in exposed cork?
TCA is a product of fungal metabolism in the presence of chlorine. Unless you’ve got fungus in the cellar, which is unlikely if the humidity is low enough to require a humidifier, you won’t get TCA formation.
Even if you did get TCA on the outside of some of your corks, it wouldn’t get into a well-sealed bottle. Not a reassuring answer, no doubt, but I’ve had cardboard wine shipping boxes inundated with TCA, and even a few bottles over the years with TCA present on the outer end of the cork, where the wine itself was fine.
Thanks David. I thought as much, cause I’ve had similar experiences with corks, but its good to get confirmation.
I would like to understand a bit more about the water chemistry of chloramine vs chlorine in solution. It might not actually be an issue. I might just get some sulfur tablets to remove the chlorine/chloramine in the water as well as I don’t like buying jugs of water. Interestingly, I have alot of wood cases in my cellar, and I’ve had to get rid of 1 or 2 due to the nasty TCA smell.