any reason to NOT use a bottle?

So here's my first post (i've done a handful of lingering, but no real reason to post yet). I have a raspberry wheat sitting in primary right now fermenting. Before I left school for the semester, I had my roomate give me what bottles he had from the last case he bought. I had asked him to rinse them all out before putting them away, he promised me he did. I also saved the bottles from mine, but made sure to rinse them. So I have two cases of bottles sitting in my garage. I opened up my case and made sure they were all still clean, which they were. I then opened up his case, and to my surprise, there was a nice mold cake in the bottom.

now I just bought a jet bottle washer, and tested it out on one of the moldy bottles. it blasted the cake out cleanly. My question is, now that I found out that I can blast the mold out, do you guys think that it's OK to use those bottles? I'd blast, run them through the dishwasher, blast again, sanatize.
I'm just extremely worried that there will maybe still be something residual that could mess up the beer, and possibly get people sick.

If I can avoid having to go buy more bottles, that'd be ideal, as the closest LHBS is an hour train ride, and then another half hour via subway to the shop. or I will go buy another case of something at the market and hope to finish it off before bottling time comes around

thanks guys!

I personally wouldn't use them but I come up with enough bottles on my own pretty quickly so I don't mess with anything that will take much effort to clean. You are probably fine as long as you clean them out really well.

Soak Then in Oxyclean for a day or two, rinse them out real well, and then they should be ready to use. Just Starsan them before bottling.

I would make up a Bleach solution and let it sit in them for an hour or two. After that rinse a few times and sanitize and they'll be ok.

Oxyclean gets rid of the mold cakes for me. After a few days of sitting in a Homer bucket full of Oxyclean water you start to see all the gunk floating on the top. Plus it's a nice easy way to get labels off.

If you're still concerned, you can always use a bottle brush and a visual inspection of each bottle.

Definitely sanitize before using.

With Bleach make sure you rinse several times, PBW is a brewery cleaner and will do the job very well too, Oxyclean will also work......3-4 hours for both is plenty....as stated above just sanitize right before filling with your brew.

I don't have any PBW, but I'll may get some oxyclean at some point today, and do it that way. is there a certain dilution I should do with oxy?
is bleach a better option that oxy? what sort of dilution should I use for that (to be honest, using bleach scares me a little for something like this)

and of course I plan on star-san'ing on bottling day

zeoalex said:

I don't have any PBW, but I'll may get some oxyclean at some point today, and do it that way. is there a certain dilution I should do with oxy?
is bleach a better option that oxy? what sort of dilution should I use for that (to be honest, using bleach scares me a little for something like this)

and of course I plan on star-san'ing on bottling day

Click to expand...

I just follow the directions on the jar of OxyClean.

What is the Standard punishment for a wayward roommate? Is he expecting to share in the malty beverage? Maybe you should have him clean them!!!

Another vote here for OxyClean, that stuff is amazing. Just soak the bottles for a couple hours with hot water, rinse well and sanitize before bottling.

that's the one I bought, I assume it's the correct one?

Yeah, that's it.

thanks a ton guys, this has been the quickest and i'd say the most helpful online community i've been a part of, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside

Bleach solution should do the trick. The bottom line is that glass should not hold scent, contamination, or flavor if cleaned, so a good soaking in a disinfectant should pretty much do the trick. Just rinse heavily.

That Oxyclean will do nicely. No need to let sit overnight unless you want to. An hour soaking will clean them up well. Be sure to sanitize them still though.

I've had the same problem with moldy bottles, and my bottle washer did a great job of clearing them out. Glass is non-porous, so you don't have to worry too much. I usually just blast them clean, then sanitize with starsan in my vinator, and bottle. Never had a problem. Though if you are worried, I'd second the Oxyclean soak.

They look great, I used the bottle washer then oxyclean then tossed them in the dishwasher (no soap) for good measure.
I'll sanitize them on bottling day

I've washed out mold from my bottles and used them before with good results, just be thorough.

And I don't know where you've been going for your LHBS but there is one in Nashua thats been there for years and one just opened up in Manchester.

Ive been pretty through I think

I'm actually back at home in NY, theres a pretty sweet LHBS in dover that I've been to once so far

I cleaned some moldy bottles I got from the drummer in my band using PBW, and then of course sanitized them (with Starsan) on bottling day as per usual. No problems whatsoever.

I would definitely use PBW or Oxyclean, just to make sure all of the gunk is out of there, and then of course make sure you sanitize thoroughly. But I wouldn't worry about the bogeyman of old mold -- an oxydizing cleanser + a good sanitizer will leave bottles as sterile as a Japanese nuclear power worker (too soon?)

Too soon? Maybe.
Hysterical? Yes.

I got mold out with hot water. Granted, I haven't used them yet (my first brew hasn't finished fermenting) but I don't see any reason to use PBW this time because a hot water soak for 30 minutes cleaned them out fine (and helped the labels peel off). I suppose it's possible that I'll regret this, but they appear perfectly clean on the bottom now and we'll see what happens after I sanitize and bottle.