How do you clean your bottles?

bobbydigital · 05-31-2007, 12:57 AM

When done with a bottle of beer i empty the rest. then pour hot water in it and empty it....
then on bottle day i do it again, but this time with soap and hot water, keep watering it til all soap is out....and a quick rub with the bottle brush...........

then i let it take a quick 45-1minute dip in santatiser......

this good? too much? too little?

**Bobby_M** · 05-31-2007, 01:16 AM

I think the second soap and water washing is extra work. As long as you don't have any grunge in the bottle, just a dip in sanitizer is all you need. If you want to really speed up the sanitizing process, drop 10 bucks on this thing:

http://brewbyu.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=hd1&Product_Cod e=6794&Category_Code=WASHRINSE

A little sanitizer in the bowl, bottle upside down, pump pump and let drip... move on to the next bottle.

Jim Karr · 05-31-2007, 01:24 AM

After drinking a brew, rinse two or three times with tap water. Drain upside down, when dry store upside down (if possible).

To re-use, sanitize for a couple of minutes.....then refill. Never had a bad bottle!

Try to do as little work as possible. Let the sanitizer kill the beasties!

Axegod · 05-31-2007, 01:28 AM

See my review of in the Review section under Bottling :Fermtech The Double Blast Bottle Washer - BW-02

It make washing very quick - even the worst bottles will be blasted clean.

Cheers.

Lowndsie · 05-31-2007, 01:54 AM

I used to scrub every bottle after it got used with a bottle brush and bottle cleaner. Then I'd rinse it out and store it for next use.

These day's I just rinse them two or three times then store them top down. Then on bottling day I sterilise them. Its much easier this way and I havent had any problems yet.

Barley-Davidson · 05-31-2007, 02:01 AM

I give mine a good rinse after pouring and store them on the bottle tree.
On bottling day I use 1.25 gal of starsan solution to sanitize my bottling bucket, then I syphon a few ounces into each bottle, shake well to coat and back on the bottle tree.
I bottle in a utility sink so I can do about a case at a time like this. It goes quick and I don't need a ton of sanitizer.

Pirate Ale · 05-31-2007, 02:09 AM

What about the bubbles startsan leaves in the bottle after you dunk and rinse them? Any harm in them being in the bottle?

Barley-Davidson · 05-31-2007, 02:17 AM

They drain out while I rack from the secondary into the bottling bucket, and I put them on the tree in order so I'm filling the dryest bottles first.
I have thought about using Iodophor for bottling instead, but I haven't had any problems with the starsan.

cclloyd · 05-31-2007, 02:41 AM

After the initial hot water rinse and the ritual de-labeling I store them covered until bottling day then rinse again and sanitize a case at a time in the oven at 200F for 20 minutes. I've had zero problems with contamination and it gets me past the mental block of having sanitizer in my beer.

**raceskier** · 05-31-2007, 03:12 AM

I rinse mine and leave them until I get a 5 gal bucket full. The I soak with B-Brite in hot water to get the commercial or my labels off and clean the insides. I dry on the bottle tree and cap with aluminum foil. Palmer gives a dry heat sterilization temp chart in his book. I use 350F for 1 hour. I usually wait until a day or so before bottling, but with the foil caps, they're good as long as you leave the foil on.