Do you use the dishwasher or hand wash your Port stems?

[Roy Hersh]

I don't hand wash any glasses, but do hand wash my decanters. What about you?

[Derek T.]

I do both, for both glasses and decanters, but my normal MO is to put glasses in the dishwasher and hand-wash the decanter. Only when the decanter starts to look a bit stained do I put it in the dishwasher.

[Gary Richardson]

I do the same as Roy. I machine wash my glasses, but hand wash the decanters. I am not even sure why, except that the glasses easily fit in the dishwasher, but the decanters do not. They are too "top heavy" and unstable when put upside-down in the machine.

-- Gary

[Carl D]

I hand wash Reidel Vinium & Waterford crystal glasses, but all the generic ones go in the dishwasher. Decanters are always hand washed.

[Tom D.]

I usually hand wash everything. But at times I use the dishwasher, with the tiniest amount of detergent, never at a high-heat setting, always hand dry.

[Andy Velebil]

I used to hand wash them all. Then I remodeled the kitchen and finally got a dishwasher...now I'm in love. Glasses go into the dishwasher and I still hand wash decanters.

[Glenn E.]

I hand wash Reidel Vinium & Waterford crystal glasses, but all the generic ones go in the dishwasher. Decanters are always hand washed.

+1

Occasionally I'll run my Reidels through the dishwasher just to give 'em a good blasting, but since I normally reuse the same glass every night it's easier to hand wash it than run the dishwasher every day.

[Eric Menchen]

I handwash my IVDP glasses, although I suppose they could go in the dishwasher. Lesser glasses go in the machine, and we have some other stems that won't fit.

Eventually the dishwasher will leave a residue on glass that you can't remove. On the other hand, the automatic dishwasher soap does rinse off more easily than hand soap, which isn't such a factor for wine, but can kill beer head. Whenever I hand wash glasses, I always invert and thoroughly rinse with a sprayer.

[Peter W. Meek]

Ask Eva.

[Peter W. Meek]

I lie. I know very well that we put them in the dishwasher.

It brings up a philosophy I have about clothes: run them through the washer and dryer. If they don't survive, well, they weren't my kind of clothes after all.

[John M.]

I usually put glasses in the dishwasher; if doing a lot of them, I'll sometimes add a second run with a rinse again just to remove residual soap.

The decanters are always hand washed and I never put soap into the inside. I also took a 1 x 6, drilled and inserted a dowel so I can dry my decanters upside down so as not to get any mineral deposits on the bottom.

[Marc J.]

I hand wash everything. With hand washing I can make sure that every speck soap is removed and I don't risk breaking any of the stems.

[Derek T.]

Ask Eva.

There was a time when every Gentleman would have given a similar answer

[Peter W. Meek]

Ask Eva.

There was a time when every Gentleman would have given a similar answer

You will note that I instantly qualified that!

[Eric Menchen]

The decanters are always hand washed and I never put soap into the inside.

Once in a while I clean decanters with PBW, "An Alkaline Non-caustic, Environmentally and User friendly CIP cleaner."

[Moses Botbol]

I hand wash every port or wine glass. Nothing worse than digging out broken pieces from the dishwasher. Not worth the risk. I can wash 60 glasses in around 15 mintues.

[Roy Hersh]

So what do you guys do to remove the stains that eventually form in your decanters?

Although you may thing this sounds nuts, twice a year, I take a capful of bleach and pour it into about 64 oz. of water and pour that into 3 decanters. I swirl it around and let them sit for about fifteen minutes and then pour that liquid into another decanter until all have gone through the process. I then rinse them out thoroughly several times in hot water and finally a couple of times in cold water. It has returned my dull and stained decanters to looking like new. Twice a year seems to work for me.

How do you go about it?

[Russ K]

to get scale off of decanters, I use ice and salt. put about a few tablespoons of sea salt in there with a bunch of ice cubes and swich it around madly. works pretty well.

[Eric Menchen]

So what do you guys do to remove the stains that eventually form in your decanters?

That's where the PBW comes in. It dissolves organics and protein. Although not a cleaner, I also have StarSan, an acid, which can dissolve other stuff. After that, I suppose I could use CLR, but I've never had to for a decanter. Better living through chemestry

[Moses Botbol]

So what do you guys do to remove the stains that eventually form in your decanters?

How do you go about it?

I have a very easy solution. I just throw out the decanter once its stained...

In all seriousness, I just put a few tablespoons of dry rice in the decanter with a small amount of soapy water to swish around the and stains come right out.