Happy Holidays from Wickens

Happy Holidays from Wickens

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Happy Holidays from Wickens

Happy Holidays from the team at Wickens! We’re grateful for our customers and look forward to creating customized cleaning solutions with existing and new clients in the future!

As we head into this busy time, we hope that you can take some time to enjoy good food, cheer, and time with your loved ones. We wish you a joyous holiday season and a happy New Year – we can’t wait to see what new projects 2023 holds!

Happy Holidays, we’ll see you in the new year!

Holiday Hours

Our offices will be observing the holidays, but our fleet is available for contract work throughout the holiday season. If you have any cleaning, abatement, or remediation requests, please contact us to arrange an appointment.

Holiday Donation

This year, Wickens will be making a holiday donation to Mission Services and the Salvation Army.

Service Shutdown Cleanings

Many factories and other businesses shut down for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. At Wickens, we recommend this as an optimal time for an annual shutdown and turnaround cleaning service. Our team is happy to come in and perform cleaning while your workers are away.

For more information on our service shutdown cleanings, or to book an appointment, please contact us!


Wickens Dry Ice Blasting tackles the toughest jobs across Ontario, offering fire restoration, mould remediation, asbestos abatement, lead paint abatement, and more. Contact us today for a consultation or emergency service!

Roger White

The Benefits of Dry Ice Blasting in the Wine Industry

The Benefits of Dry Ice Blasting in the Wine Industry

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The Benefits of Dry Ice Blasting in the Wine Industry

When it comes to wine, quality is everything. Yet quality doesn’t only derive from a winery’s ability to produce the perfect blend of grapes, but also from the techniques that they use while making their wine.

Dry ice blasting has been used in the winemaking industry for over 10 years now, where it has been used as an environmentally-friendly cleaning technique that has reduced costs for wineries and has even created new techniques in winemaking.

Cleaning Wine Barrels

Dry ice blasting is an innovative technique to clean and reuse wine barrels, allowing wineries to extend the life of wine barrels and reduce annual costs. Cleaning wine barrels with this method has been analyzed under scientific study, where it was found that dry ice removes 98-100% of contaminants from the barrels.

Dry ice blasts inside the barrels, removing a thin layer of wine-soaked wood and tartrate crystals from any previous aging, allowing them to be used again. This helps vineyards and winemakers avoid purchasing barrels on an annual basis, saving them money, and leaving a positive environmental impact.

While removing contaminants, the blasting process has also been shown to have a positive impact on flavour, with increased notes of boisé and vanilla identified after aging wine in dry ice-blasted barrels.

Cryomaceration

Dry ice can be used not only for cleaning but also in the maceration and transport stages of the winemaking process.

Wickens Dry Ice Blasting offers dry ice blasting services for cleaning, and dry ice pelletizers to produce high-density dry ice pellets on-site, which can then be added to the maceration process as wine is prepared. This process will inhibit fermentation by reducing the temperature of the grapes.

Performing cryomaceration can impact the wine by creating a more organoleptic wine than traditional fermentation, inhibiting bacteria growth, reducing oxidation, and producing a higher quality colour, smell, taste, and feel in the final product.

Following the same technique of applying dry ice to grapes in travel, winemakers can prevent exposure to higher temperatures and slow down the chances of fermentation. This helps maintain the quality of grapes and avoid spoilage in winemaking facilities.

Food Safe Cleaning

Many cleaning methods require chemicals and additions that can impact the flavour or even safety of wines, but dry ice blasting is a non-toxic, food-safe cleaning method that is approved by the FDA.

Dry ice pellets are made of carbon dioxide, which is the only material used in dry ice blasting. As carbon dioxide sublimates and turns to a gas it disappears after use, leaving no secondary waste to clean up.

Dry ice blasting can be used to clean and sanitize wine barrels, wine barrel rooms, wine caves, and winery equipment to clean and protect from mould spores, bacteria, fungus, and more.

As wineries continue to introduce new changes to their processes and embrace new technologies, they will be able to further diversify their products, improve the quality of their wines, and make their production process more efficient.

For more information about dry ice blast cleaning or obtaining a pelletizer for use, contact us today.

 

Roger White

How to Utilize Dry Ice Blasting in the Cannabis Industry

How to Utilize Dry Ice Blasting in the Cannabis Industry

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How to Utilize Dry Ice Blasting in the Cannabis Industry

Cannabis farms and greenhouses require an eco-friendly and easy-to-manage cleaning method. The chemicals used during the cannabis cultivation process require detailed cleaning, slowing down production and cutting into the bottom line.

Imagine a cleaning method that removes all those problems: an all-natural, non-toxic cleaning method that can be used while production is moving, with no residue to clean up? It exists, and it’s the perfect method for cannabis production: dry ice blasting.

Dry ice blasting uses carbon dioxide (CO2) in the form of solid dry ice pellets. Dry ice pellets sublimate to a vapour form once they hit the surface, leaving a clean, dry surface without any residue.

Using dry ice blasting in your cannabis production facilities can simplify your cleaning process, assist in managing pests, and promote sustainability. Introducing these factors can optimize and promote your business as efficient and forward-thinking.

Cleaning Simplified

Dry ice blasting is non-abrasive, non-toxic, non-flammable, and non-conductive. Machines don’t need to be turned off to be cleaned, keeping your cannabis farm’s production lines, dryers, and extraction equipment on schedule.

Oils, resins, and debris can often be difficult to remove on equipment and tools, but dry ice blasting uses CO2 at such a cold temperature that these materials are immediately frozen and blasted from surfaces. It makes a challenging process easy while avoiding any chemical residue or water cleanup.

Dry ice blasting also makes difficult to scrub areas easy to clean – the pressure utilized by the blasting methods ensures detailed areas and hard-to-reach ceilings of cannabis production facilities are cleaned effectively and quickly.

Pest and Bacteria Removal

Dry ice blasting sanitizes passive air filtration systems, ensuring structures are consistently clean and that no mould, pests, or bacteria are left behind to grow and contaminate any production areas.

Blasting can be used to remove debris of different forms and manage pests like spider mites. This method can quickly remove these contagious contaminants from all tools and equipment, meaning you can return to normal production practices faster than you would with other cleaning techniques.

Sustainable Practices

Sustainability in business practices is coming to new heights, and customers are now looking for companies to utilize environmentally friendly methods in their everyday practices.

By promoting dry ice blasting as a cleaning method, you can enthuse your customers that you are using all-natural methods in your process and qualify yourself as a more eco-conscious cannabis farm.

Dry ice blasting is an effective, swift cleaning method that can ensure a proper clean and a good name in your customer’s books.


Reach out to Wickens Dry Ice Blasting today to learn how you can purchase or rent a blaster to use at your cannabis facility, or hire us to assist you with your blasting needs.

Roger White

Get A Quote for Restoration Services Within 48 Hours

Get A Quote for Restoration Services Within 48 Hours

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Get A Quote for Restoration Services Within 48 Hours

Getting an estimate for restoration services has never been easier with the new quoting tool launched by Wickens. Fill out the form on our website and get a free quote within 48 hours. For quotes on complex projects, the Wickens assessment team will require a site visit.

Wickens has the expertise and workforce to handle large loss restoration projects from start to finish across Ontario. With a mobile fleet always at work and a wide range of specialized cleaning and abatement techniques, the Wickens team can respond to emergencies with the quickest turnaround time.

Why Choose Wickens?

Wickens is the ideal subcontractor partner for residential, commercial, and industrial restoration projects. If you work on a large loss project or require support treating damage by fire, smoke, lead paint, asbestos, or mould, our team of experts can work round the clock to quickly restore any facility and make businesses operational with minimal downtime.

Wickens uses eco-friendly techniques such as dry-ice blasting to clean diverse surfaces from metal to wood to brick. You can choose to work with us confidently as we are certified by ISNetworld, Avetta, and IICRC.

Get your free quote for Wickens’ restoration services within 48 hours and discuss your needs with us.


Wickens Dry Ice Blasting tackles the toughest jobs across Ontario, offering fire restoration, mould remediation, asbestos abatement, lead paint abatement, and more.

Contact us today to discuss a restoration project or emergency service!

Roger White