thebigo

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So I just submerged 120 bottles in oxiclean in my tub in VERY hot water. As I had expected they started to float so I had to hold them down with my hands...ouch. Thats what I get for doing all my bottles at one time.

Do the bottles have to be upright or will the oxiclean do its job as long as the entire bottle is filled with the solution?

mosquitocontrol

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No should be fine. Just wait until you have to rinse. Your back will be so sore. Good luck,

thebigo

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thank you mosquitocontrol...I tend to be overly concerned about cleanliness. I will have to see how this all comes out but my sore hands will be sure to let you know.

Q2XL

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You are right. Your back will be hurting. I just cleaned about 200 the past 2 days. I am tired of it.

Wade E

Recipes 

I dont bottle beer(Keg it baby!) But I do bottle wine and soaking them and delabeling them sucks but when you get them all fro free its worth it in the end! I usually do about 45 at a clip with OxyClean in there with them.

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Brewing

Cpt_Kirks

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I once cleaned six just received kegs in the bathtub. Filled the tub with hot oxy water and let the cornies soak, then scrubbed the crap out of them. They were NASTY.

I picked a weekend when SWMBO was out of town, and got all the nasty black crap cleaned up before she got back. She never knew...

JVD_X

Recipes 

So true.. my wife gets pissed every time I clean the cornies in the tub. She bought me a tub mat but haven't told her that I won't use it because it's a bacteria factory.

BTW - use a metal dowel (like a metal racking cane) to push the bottles down rather than use your hands.

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- JVD_X

thebigo

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As for soaking cornies in the tub...

will the rubber handles on the keg start leaving black marks everywhere? If so what's the best way to clean the entire keg without this happening (or is this inevitable)?

Cpt_Kirks

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Not black marks so much as "black dirt". Little bits of black plastic or carbon.

It washes out of the tub just the same are regular dirt.

I generally wash new kegs outside, but I think that was last January and outside was a bit frozen at the time.

Jumbo82

Recipes 

I've done the tub thing before and found it to be a major pain in the .... back. Now I take bottles and set them upright in buckets. Then I heat up (usually I'm re-heating) some PBW in my electric kettle and fill the bottles and bucket (fill bottles first or they will float). The next day I empty the used PBW back into my kettle to be re-heated, rinse the bottles, and do another batch. I usually do three buckets at a time since my kettle is 15 gallons. This system works so well for me that I use it for every empty bottle, not just ones that need the label removed. Sure, its overkill, but I have piece of mind knowing that on bottling day there isn't a single speck of filth in any of my used bottles.