first time sanitizing bottles help quick

I don't have starsan or anything what's the best way to clean bottles without having to go to my lhbs

Sanitation: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html

You really need to sanitize before you bottle. I run through the sanitize cycle of my dishwasher the night before and then rinse with starsan in a vintinator just before filling. That works if your bottles were rinsed clean from the last use. I suppose you could skip the starsan but I wouldn't advise it.

Mix 1 oz bleach with 5 gallons of water...after the bleach is diluted in water--- then mix in 1 oz vinegar. It is a safe no rinse sanatizer made from house hold materials and the recipe comes from Charlie Tally himself, the inventor of Star San. It requires a contact time of 30 seconds to be effective.

Honestly, I just run the bottles through the dishwasher and use the "heated dry" setting. I haven't had any problems.

Germelli1 said:

Mix 1 oz bleach with 5 gallons of water...after the bleach is diluted in water--- then mix in 1 oz vinegar. It is a safe no rinse sanatizer made from house hold materials and the recipe comes from Charlie Tally himself, the inventor of Star San. It requires a contact time of 30 seconds to be effective.

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I second this. I used to use this method before I upgraded to Starsan and a vinator. Just make sure you do as Germelli1 said and do 1oz bleach, then 5 gallons of water, and then vinegar. Bleach and vinegar together directly will make potentially deadly chlorine gas.

+1 to the dishwasher. I did that for quite a while with great results, until I was recently banished from the kitchen

profallout said:

I second this. I used to use this method before I upgraded to Starsan and a vinator. Just make sure you do as Germelli1 said and do 1oz bleach, then 5 gallons of water, and then vinegar. Bleach and vinegar together directly will make potentially deadly chlorine gas.

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I still use this if I am in a pinch without a sanatizer or lack the time to heat sterilize. I am pretty anal about keeping my bottles clean while storing them. Less chance of anything growing in them if there is no growth medium and all that is there is clean glass! Once I was REALLY feeling lazy and I just rinsed under the tap water set to the hottest possible hahaha. If CraigTube can get away with it, I gave it a shot.

You can also bake the bottles, which will sterilize them if you're into the whole overkill thing.

About 2 hours at 300 degrees according to John Palmer, but try to gradually increase the temps because it could weaken the bottles. Put foil over the tops before starting. Do it in the morning and let them slowly cool.

Germelli1 said:

Mix 1 oz bleach with 5 gallons of water...after the bleach is diluted in water--- then mix in 1 oz vinegar. It is a safe no rinse sanatizer made from house hold materials and the recipe comes from Charlie Tally himself, the inventor of Star San. It requires a contact time of 30 seconds to be effective.

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Is the vinegar required? I am out at the moment

bgrayson726 said:

Honestly, I just run the bottles through the dishwasher and use the "heated dry" setting. I haven't had any problems.

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Does your dishwasher really get the inside of your bottles clean, or is this simply a sanitizing procedure after you put clean bottles in there?

I don't mind sanitizing my bottles, its the damn cleaning with Oxyclean and rinsing each one after.

Well I always rinse my bottles after pouring, so my bottles are pretty clean.

Cwetherford said:

Is the vinegar required? I am out at the moment

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Vinegar is not required but you have to up the amount of bleach and you will also have to rinse out every bottle which is a huge pain in the ass and introduces you to possible contamination through your tap water. I believe that with bleach only, you would use 1 Tbs/gallon of water. Someone please correct me if my ratio is off.

I've bottled with using the dishwasher on high heat as sanitizating. It doesn't clean the bottles which is why I wash out each bottle as I pour.

The beer can stay in the fermenter a few days longer. Go to the LHBS and buy Iodophor or StarSan or to the grocery store for the vinegar to use with the chlorine bleach.

Cwetherford said:

Is the vinegar required? I am out at the moment

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profallout said:

Vinegar is not required but you have to up the amount of bleach and you will also have to rinse out every bottle which is a huge pain in the ass and introduces you to possible contamination through your tap water. I believe that with bleach only, you would use 1 Tbs/gallon of water. Someone please correct me if my ratio is off.

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Fallout knows his stuff! The vinegar acts to lower the pH increasing the sanatizing capacity of the bleach. I don't know how lemon juice or other acidic liquids would suit this purpose so I can'r recommend anything there.

You would up the bleach to 2 oz (1 tbs) and have to rinse after. Tap water is typically clean enough to rinse with but if you go this route try and boil it first or rinse with the hottest setting possible.

Personally I would boil enough water to dunk the bottles in after you rinse them or enough to pour into the bottles, shake up and dump back into the bucket.

Its not ideal but you can get by!

smyrnaquince said:

The beer can stay in the fermenter a few days longer. Go to the LHBS and buy Iodophor or StarSan or to the grocery store for the vinegar to use with the chlorine bleach.

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Thanks for pointing that out...I forgot to mention you can only do this with chlorine bleach...not that new "Chlorine Free" bleach!

Jamminjoenapo said:

I've bottled with using the dishwasher on high heat as sanitizating. It doesn't clean the bottles which is why I wash out each bottle as I pour.

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Same here. I do a rinse/shake/rinse directly after pouring each bottle. This gets any sediment out. All I do at that point is run them through the dishwasher without soap, and the steam is the sanitizer.