PITCH BOTA BAGS
How to store your wineskin when unused?
How to recover a wineskin when the pitch has clumped at the bottom?
How to heat your wineskin and spread the pitch?
A high percentage of all incidents with pitch wineskins may be easily solved by warming your bota bag up and spreading the resin inside. Either because of long periods of disuse or because pitch moved inside creating a leak, the following videos show what you can do to completely recover it.
What if my wineskin creaks?
Pitch is based on pine or juniper resin. As any natural resin it tends to harden witth low temperatures. That is the reason why it may get to creak in those cases. This is perfectly normal and we can easily revert it bringing our bota bag close to any heat source (radiator, heater) or placing it under the sun.
One thing we must avoid in these cases is to press the bota as this might create leaks in resin inner coverage
How do I leave the wineskin on a day-to-day basis, full?, empty?, lying down? standing up?
HOW TO PREPARE A PITCH WINESKIN
Heat the wineskin in the sun or near a radiator.
Inflate the wineskin by blowing gently through the rim, do not force it. If it offers any resistance, heat it up again.
Throw away this first wine and the wineskin is ready for use. The first few days, change the wine frequently. The walls of the wineskin should not stick together during these first few days.
What to do if the wine in the wineskin becomes sour?
Is it convenient to grease the wineskin on the outside?
ALL-PURPOSE BOTA BAGS
How to store your wineskin when unused?
Can an 'All-Purpose' wineskin become "wine-soaked"?
No. The lining of our ‘All-Purpose’ wineskins is food-grade TPU, which neither absorbs nor transfers flavours: wine always tastes of wine, and water of water.
If you use your bota bag often and want the characteristic flavour that pitch gives, a pitch-lined wineskin is the one for you.
Which is better, the 'All-Purpose' or the pitch wineskin?
It depends on the intended use for the wineskin. In the case of Las Tres ZZZ, these wineskins differ only in their inner lining, all other elements being of equal quality.
The flexible food-grade TPU lining takes liquids that pitch does not tolerate, such as fizzy drinks (including wine with soda) and spirits over 30º, and it can be chilled in the fridge.
It is also better for water, as it doesn’t give it any flavour. Another point to keep in mind is that pitch wineskins last longer the more they are used, while long periods without use can be fatal for them.
So if you do not plan to use it regularly, it is preferable to opt for an ‘All-Purpose’ wineskin.