Bottling Question

Is it ok to sanitize bottles in the dishwasher on the heavy heated cycle and heated dry? Also, is it ok to put the sugar (after it has been boiled) into the bottom of the bucket and rack on top of it? Do I need to stir it in? Any advice would be great (it's my first time bottling.)

For all of my batches thus far, I've just washed my bottles in the dishwasher, given them an extra rinse after the washing cycle, and called it good. I make sure to use non-scented dish soap. The extra rinse is probably more for peace of mind, but it could also get rid of any dish soapy residue. This method has always worked for me, but if anybody thinks it's a bad idea, I'd like to hear their arguments...

I also do as you described with my priming sugar -- dissolve it into water, throw it in the fermenter, then rack on top of it. This has always resulted in an even mixture.

I wouldn't boil the priming sugar, though. Just get the water hot enough that it'll completely dissolve the sugar.

If you use the dishwasher I wouldn't use soap. The soap can kill the yeast which is important for carbonation. Maybe your dishwasher is really good and the rinse will certainly rinse the residue off but I don't trust mine. I have used the dishwasher on high heat (once) and didn't have any problems, but didn't want to take what I thought was at least a small risk as water would have to be extremely hot to completely sanitize, so I quit doing that.
After using beer bottles make sure you rinse them so they are clean and then all you really need to do is sanitize them, not clean them. This saves a lot of time.

I used this to sanitize, worked great. Although this doesn't help you for bottling immediately unless you can get to your LHBS.
Austin Homebrew Supply

I don't recommend a dishwasher. If you simply rinse the bottles right after you empty them they will be clean. Then all you need to do is sanitize them. Dishwashers will not sanitize. You need over 180 degree water for 20 minutes to sanitize. A dishwasher will not do this and you really don't need to go through this. Powdered sanitizer will sanitize in 30 seconds in lukewarm water.

People mistakenly think they need really hot water to sanitize. If you use a sanitizer such as Cleanitizer or One Step, it only takes a 30 second soak and the water doesn't need to be hot.

Fill up your sink with luke warm water. Put 2 clean bottles in the sanitizer, filling them completely up and leave them. Now fill 2 more up and leave them. At this point the first 2 you put in there are done. Empty them, no need to rinse. Then put 2 more in and then pull out the second set. Pretty simple and quick.

Just make sure that you rinse the bottles a couple times with just water when you empty the bottle and the bottles will stay "clean". No need to clean them. Even if there is some dust on them they are still clean. Just sanitize them.

I have been doing this for 18 years and never had a problem.

Forrest

I use the dishwasher on hot cycle for wine and beer bottles. No soap. The bottles have to be clean to begin with. I find this much more convenient than running sanitizer through them. Dishwashers get plenty hot enough to sanitize for food spoilage organisms that could live in beer.
Just my 2 cents.

I rinse empties, and store then away. When it comes time to bottle, they go into the dishwasher on pots & pans, sani rinse. 50+ batches and not a single problem.

I give my priming sugar a little stir once all my flat beer in racked on top of it. Nothing to major, just a time or two around the bucket with a sanitized spoon.


Zac

Thanks for the info. I bottled today and hopefully it went well. I guess I'll find out in a few weeks!

Austinhomebrew said:

You need over 180 degree water for 20 minutes to sanitize.

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Sorry, Forrest, that's not true. It's more like 30 seconds. The FDA Food Safety Code (as adopted by most state and local health authorities) gives more than one option for heat sanitizing dishwashers as well. For example, A single temperature, stationary rack dishwasher needs only to reach 165dF for sanitization.

My dishwasher has a "Heated Rinse" cycle that only gets to about 145dF (I called the manufacturer). But it also has "Heated Wash" and "Headed Dry" settings. Between those 3 settings, I'm confident my dishwasher works fine for sanitizing clean beer bottles. I've sanitized over 1000 bottles this way and have never had an infection (bottle-related or otherwise).