My bottle brush won't clean the very bottom. Suggestions?

My bottle brush only scrubs the in sides of my bottles but does a poor job of cleaning the very bottom of the inside where most of the crud is. Have any of you found a brush or method that will clean the very bottom of the bottle better?

Get a new brush, OR soak them babies with some Oxyclean overnight and then use a brush, it will come out a lot easier!

I just use a bottle washer that attaches to the faucet (like a little pressure washer). It is really cheap and work great to clean the bottles. You can get them at any LHBS.

First, rinse your bottles immediately after pouring. When you get ready to bottle, soak them in Oxyclean (Free) for at least 2 hours. I use the bottle brush after soaking just as a precaution to loosen everything that the Oxyclean didn't. Put each bottle on a bottle jet for a few seconds and then into the dishwasher. Sanitize, and you should be good. But the best step is to rinse each bottle thoroughly right after pouring.

I just rinse really well after pouring with hot tap water...making sure there is no sediment left behind. If you don't do this, then you're just creating more unnecessary work. Then on bottling day I sanitize and bottle. Have not had any ill effects.

When my friends bring back moldy beer bottles, they soak in bleach for a few days and get a good scrub. The bottles also get cleaned really well

I cut the loops off of my bottle brushes and use them as a drill bit when cleaning my bottles.

If it's too short you need a longer brush.

PBW! nuff said

Beerbeque said:

My bottle brush only scrubs the in sides of my bottles but does a poor job of cleaning the very bottom of the inside where most of the crud is. Have any of you found a brush or method that will clean the very bottom of the bottle better?

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I feel your pain i just got done cleaning 2 cases of bottles that have been sitting in a buddies garage since last summer. pbw soak jet washer and there was still stuff on the bottom the brush only has a single line of bristles on the bottom I am looking at resturant supply stores for something better. Dont know what i will find

if you soak with hot oxy, then fill bottle a little less then half with hot water place thumb over mouth of bottle and shake the hell put of it, i have done this with some really stubborn gallon carboys and they have come out spotless

For the stubborn ones I use a spoonful of sand and a little bit of water.
Swirl and shake until it's clean.

I bought a bow-and-arrow set from the Dollar store with the suction cup arrows, cut the suction cup small enough to fit in the bottle, and then glued a piece of scrubber sponge pad onto it. Works great for getting scum off the bottom of the bottle, and only cost a dollar.

You can always bend your brush, I was having the same problem, now it's no longer an issue.

To clean the bottom of a bottle, you need a bottle brush which has a long handle so that you can reach the bottom easily. Then you need to rotate your wrist to make the sponge head clean the bottom in 360 degree.

I have used many of the above methods. You can buy bottle brushes on Amazon that have bristles sticking off the end too. My final method before kegging was to rinse three times with hot water as soon as empty. Stubborn bottles got a hot water and soap soak. If that didn't work, I recycled them. I saved craft beer bottles, or bought them at the beer distributor for the 5c deposit. Keep enough bottles on hand to discard those with stubborn stains.
Now I keg.