Bottle washing tips

My process of washing bottles is incredibly slow. I learned it from the papazian book... I soak the bottles for an hour in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of bleach for every 6 gallons of water. Soaking this way is pretty time consuming. Wondering if anyone has any other tips for a faster way of sanitizing the bottles.

I would get a bottle tree and a vitnator(may be spelled wrong). They work wonders at speeding up the process. I make a hot solution of PBW and water spray the bottles, then a quick hit with a bottle brush, then back on the tree. When I'm done with 20 or so I rinse the vitnator and put hot water in it and rinse all the bottles good. Last step is to put sanitiser in and hit them again. Then I'm good to go. I didn't mind bottling for a while but then I switched to kegging, what a difference. Once you keg your beer you will never want to bottle again. Yesterday I was able to keg 5 gallons of my light ale and my cider in under an hour sooooo much nicer than cleaning 50 bottles. Good luck and keep brewing

I use a jet bottle washer that hooks to the kitchen sink, and a vinator filled with star san. rinse the bottle, brush, rinse again, hit it on the vinator and set it aside... next. once you get a good rhythm going, you'll crank out 50 bottles in about 15 - 20 minutes.

Oxyclean and hot water soak, Jet bottle washer rinse.

+1 to the Vinator/bottle tree combo. I just got mine a week or so ago and it really speeds up sanitizing. For cleaning I'm still doing an oxyclean solution dunk, cap, and shake followed by a thorough rinse but that itself is a PITA and takes time. But at least my sanitizing process is insanely quicker.


Rev.

I just rinse them out right after use with the jet bottle washer and let dry on the bottle tree. store them upside down in boxes, than when I'm ready to bottle they get hit with the vinator filled with starsan. the process is fast and easy

I do oxyclean 30min soak, then put 55-60 bottles in dishwasher and do 2 rinse cycles.

+1 on tree/vinator.

It makes a huge difference in when you clean your bottle, I highly recommend cleaning, or at least rinse thoroughly right after you empty a bottle. If you don't the beer residue will cake and things will start to grow. If you do it this way all you have to do is sanitize right before you bottle.

The easiest way I have found is to fill your primary bottling bucket with 6 gallons mix of Star San cleaner hook up your bottling wand and fill all of your bottles. Let sit for about 15 min. Wash out with cold water. Sling water out of bottle.

superjunior said:

I just rinse them out right after use with the jet bottle washer and let dry on the bottle tree. store them upside down in boxes,

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Hmm... not so sure about that. While I too rinse well immediately after pouring out a beer, the beer bottle has been sitting for weeks bottle conditioning. A rinse will not clean out the inside. Proof in point, rinse one and let it air dry for a day or so and smell the bottle closely. There will be a residual smell from your last brew - at least there is on mine. Gotta at least give them some form of cleaning before sanitizing and rebottling. I don't use the Jet washer but just water alone doesn't seem enough.


Rev.

Krelja said:

I would get a bottle tree and a vitnator(may be spelled wrong). They work wonders at speeding up the process. I make a hot solution of PBW and water spray the bottles, then a quick hit with a bottle brush, then back on the tree. When I'm done with 20 or so I rinse the vitnator and put hot water in it and rinse all the bottles good. Last step is to put sanitiser in and hit them again. Then I'm good to go. I didn't mind bottling for a while but then I switched to kegging, what a difference. Once you keg your beer you will never want to bottle again. Yesterday I was able to keg 5 gallons of my light ale and my cider in under an hour sooooo much nicer than cleaning 50 bottles. Good luck and keep brewing

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Yah I've been wanting a kegging system. Last years tax return was spent on the brew kit... this years may be spent on a kegging system.

I just wash them out immediately after I pour a glass. I do so by filling the bottle 1/2 way up with water, covering the top with my thumb, and shaking it vigorously then pouring it out. I do this 3 times per bottle then hang them on a tree. I of course starsan them before I add new beer.

I have yet to experience an infection this way.

If a bottle does get left out without being washed out first I soak it in oxyclean over night and all is good.

StarCityBrewMaster said:

I just wash them out immediately after I pour a glass. I do so by filling the bottle 1/2 way up with water, covering the top with my thumb, and shaking it vigorously then pouring it out. I do this 3 times per bottle then hang them on a tree. I of course starsan them before I add new beer.

I have yet to experience an infection this way.

If a bottle does get left out without being washed out first I soak it in oxyclean over night and all is good.

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That is exactly what i do.

muse435 said:

That is exactly what i do.

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So a number of you guys don't ever wash the bottles? You just rinse them like mentioned after beers been sitting in them for several weeks or even months? I mean, I do exactly what you guys do after I finish pouring a bottle, but I later do an oxyclean wash. If a rinse has been working fine for you guys with no noticeable effects than hmm... wonder if I should try it. Certainly would be easier, I just have a hard time getting over not washing at all when a beers sat in the bottle for extended periods. I'm not worried about infection as I sanitize also, just some residuals that can maybe cause odd smells or off flavors. Then again... I *am* using plastic bottles, maybe it's different with glass?


Rev.

No reason to ever use bleach (Clorox). Take that out of the equation as soon as possible. You will burn holes in your jeans and kill trillions of innocent yeast cells in your quest for sanitization.

I rinse very thoroughly after emptying bottle into glass. Store so nothing can fall/crawl into bottle. Inspect & sanitize before using.

Rev2010 said:

So a number of you guys don't ever wash the bottles? You just rinse them like mentioned after beers been sitting in them for several weeks or even months? I mean, I do exactly what you guys do after I finish pouring a bottle, but I later do an oxyclean wash. If a rinse has been working fine for you guys with no noticeable effects than hmm... wonder if I should try it. Certainly would be easier, I just have a hard time getting over not washing at all when a beers sat in the bottle for extended periods. I'm not worried about infection as I sanitize also, just some residuals that can maybe cause odd smells or off flavors. Then again... I *am* using plastic bottles, maybe it's different with glass?


Rev.

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Yeah, plastic will hold onto smells that glass won't.

But, I've noticed if I just rinse my glass bottles that have had homebrew in them and let them dry upside down overnight they will have a film in the bottom after they are completely dry.

So, now, I rinse and then pour a little straight bleach in each one and let it sit till I open the next one. Just keep pouring the bleach into the next emptied bottle (reusing it) for ~ 1 week.

Rinse/dry the bleached ones and store in a cabinet. On bottling day I look thru them to check for cleanliness, dunk them in starsan and bottle.

I'm going to go broke because of you guys. After reading this I checked out the vinator and I think I'll be getting one since I doubt I can convince SWMBO to run 3 cases of bottles through her dishwasher for me before bottling day on friday

StarCityBrewMaster said:

I just wash them out immediately after I pour a glass. I do so by filling the bottle 1/2 way up with water, covering the top with my thumb, and shaking it vigorously then pouring it out. I do this 3 times per bottle then hang them on a tree. I of course starsan them before I add new beer.

I have yet to experience an infection this way.

If a bottle does get left out without being washed out first I soak it in oxyclean over night and all is good.

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I do the same exact thing with no problems at all using the same bottles over and over again.

In the past i have just rinsed and shake the bottle after using them and stor them upside down inside. As long as there was no smell i would just sanitize, but there was never any smell. Now that i live in an apartment and have to keep my bottle tree on my balcony so SWMBO will be happy. I keg now but will be using some of my bottles. i plan on using oxiclean then sanitizer, but that is only because they are stored outside.

I have never had any off flavors in my bottled beer, but i could have been lucky. It is probably better/safer to clean them completely. Or just get a kegging system, it much easier.

msarro said:

I'm going to go broke because of you guys. After reading this I checked out the vinator and I think I'll be getting one since I doubt I can convince SWMBO to run 3 cases of bottles through her dishwasher for me before bottling day on friday

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Well the good news is the Vinator is cheap and so are bottle trees. I ordered my bottle tree and Vinator from LabelPeelers.com for like under $40 (plus shipping charges of course):

http://labelpeelers.com/bottle-drainer-tree-45-capacity-p-2571.html

http://labelpeelers.com/bottle-rinser-italian-vinator-p-3529.html

Their site seems slow today so give it time to load. I received everything quickly and am all set.


Rev.

Where do you buy Oxyclean? Online or can you get it at Walmart or something....

Burtonair01 said:

can you get it at Walmart or something....

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Yep. Just buy the unscented Oxyclean "Free"

Burtonair01 said:

Where do you buy Oxyclean? Online or can you get it at Walmart or something....

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The walmart sun oxygen cleaner is $1.96 for the small container and works wonders.

Whenever I get bottles from a friend I soak in oxyclean......if they are from my brews I just rinse right after drinking with hot water and then sanatize before bottling with the vinator and starsan.

StarCityBrewMaster said:

I just wash them out immediately after I pour a glass. I do so by filling the bottle 1/2 way up with water, covering the top with my thumb, and shaking it vigorously then pouring it out. I do this 3 times per bottle then hang them on a tree. I of course starsan them before I add new beer.

I have yet to experience an infection this way.

If a bottle does get left out without being washed out first I soak it in oxyclean over night and all is good.

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This is exactly what I do. I rinse my bottles really well, then throw them in a bin. At bottling I use a vinator with starsan. That's it all I do... cleaning with oxyclean worries my a bit so I overrinse everything and then it takes me forever to get bottles clean.

I soak them in a large-ish plastic tub with oxy clean/warm water mix & then sink mounted jet bottle washer and vintilator just prior to bottling. I like the idea of storing upside down in the box/case until bottling day.

I prewash/sanitize/dry mine. after they dry out, I cover the openings with a 2*2 square of aluminum foil, to keep critters from moving in. That can be a nasty surprise if you life in Black Widow areas

I always rinse bottles after use.

Then when bottling I fill a small cooler with bleach water and dunk the bottles in and fill them about half full and set them aside till I get them all half full. I then take two at a time and plug the opening with thumb and shake like heck...then empty out and rinse with jet bottle washer. Never soaked for more than 5 - 10 minutes and never had a single bottle go bad.

I usually put them through the dishwasher and has done a great job so far but then again the dishwasher I use is really good on its sanitary cycle and drying cycle. Of course there are always a few that have to be soaked and brushed out...

Another tip is when your done cleaning the bottle, tip them upside down in the box for storage and make sure all bottles are dry if they are going in a basement to prevent mold.

Here's how I clean bottles (assuming the labels have already been removed):

First, it's easiest if you rinse out your bottles right after you pour the beer out, so they don't need much cleaning - no dried beer or mold in there.

While I use Oxiclean for most cleanup, I use PBW for bottles because it doesn't leave a while film on the bottles like Oxiclean does. The PBW is expensive - I think I'm going to try the homemade version (Oxiclean and TSP/90) - here's a thread about that:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/home-made-pbw-safe-glass-safe-general-182939/

So I soak some bottles in a PBW solution in a bucket for a few minutes, sitting upright, then take them out, still filled, and set them next to the bucket, then add more empty bottles to the bucket to let soak while I rinse the first batch. I do this on the counter next to my sink. I have a faucet adapter on the faucet, and a "Y" attaches to that so I have two separately controlled outlets. On the rear outlet of the "Y" I have a jet bottle washer - nothing on the front outlet. I set the front control so that it's just barely on and get a fine spray coming out. Now I take a bottle, dump the PBW solution back into the bucket, then rinse the outside under the spray, rinse the inside with the jet washer, another quick rinse on the outside, and hang on the bottling tree. By the time I get the first batch rinsed, the second batch has soaked, so I pull those out and set them on the counter next to the bucket and refill the bucket with empty bottles - repeat till done. But if your bottles are really filthy or still have the labels on, you're going to have to soak them longer.
Normally, I don't need to use a bottling brush.

I use a vinator and StarSan to sanitize immediately before bottling.

after u drink it, wash it with water twice.

ive left em on the shelf for 3 months, then sanitized and bottled. no probs

StarCityBrewMaster said:

I just wash them out immediately after I pour a glass. I do so by filling the bottle 1/2 way up with water, covering the top with my thumb, and shaking it vigorously then pouring it out. I do this 3 times per bottle then hang them on a tree. I of course starsan them before I add new beer.

I have yet to experience an infection this way.

If a bottle does get left out without being washed out first I soak it in oxyclean over night and all is good.

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+1 on this also.

I never let any type of soap/detergent touch my bottles, I'd rather on some off chance (nearly impossible) get some small off flavor from leftover yeast than some terrible flavor from soap.

Rinse, shaking vigorously, 3 times after pouring, let it drain/dry in the sink.
Store upside down in a box.
On bottling day I have a bucket filled with Starsan. I dunk the bottle, shake it, drain and fill it up with beer. No problems.

muse435 said:

+1 on tree/vinator.

It makes a huge difference in when you clean your bottle, I highly recommend cleaning, or at least rinse thoroughly right after you empty a bottle. If you don't the beer residue will cake and things will start to grow. If you do it this way all you have to do is sanitize right before you bottle.

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muse435 said:

That is exactly what i do.

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Myself as well. Giving a heck of a rinse out prevents crud from growing at the bottom of the bottle and saves plenty of time in the end. It also makes cleaning the bottles 60 small sessions instead of one marathon.

msarro said:

I'm going to go broke because of you guys. After reading this I checked out the vinator and I think I'll be getting one since I doubt I can convince SWMBO to run 3 cases of bottles through her dishwasher for me before bottling day on friday

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I've heard that it isn't recommended as not too much dishwasher water gets up into the bottles where it needs to be. If you want another easy batch sanitation method you could look into baking your bottles. Most important part: Raise and lower temperature SLOWLY. To lower temp you'd almost be best to just leave them in the oven overnight (with it off). They'll be cool by morning.