are my bottles clean enough?

Ok after I finish a brew I usually rinse out the bottle till it looks visible clean then i store the bottles on my counter. When it comes time to bottle a batch I just rinse the bottles with sanatizer and fill and cap. Usually I use new store bought bottles this was the first time I reused my bottles. Does this sound good or should I rinse the bottle after the use and then soak in cleaner then sanatizer?

I use a cleaner then sanitizer.

I'm a little paranoid about little bits of things possibly sticking to the inside of bottles. This is what I do:

After I pour a beer, I give it a good two-three rinses, shaking it up, and checking that the yeast trub is gone. Then I soak the bottle in some Oxyclean. There's no timetable here, I usually wait till I have a bunch of bottles. Then I rinse with my garden hose. It shoots water into the bottle at great speed, knocking out whatever maybe left.

On bottling day I spray Star San.

Alternately, instead of the whole Oxyclean song and dance, sometimes I just squirt some dish soap in the bottle when I rinse it (after pouring a beer) and call it a day until bottling time comes around.

If you have a vinator or one of those sink "bottle cleaning" attachments, you wouldn't have to use a hose.

onipar said:

...sometimes I just squirt some dish soap in the bottle when I rinse it (after pouring a beer) and call it a day until bottling time comes around.

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dish soap right in the bottle? wouldn't that mess with head retention?

Typically, the only thing I do differently from OP is to invert the bottle to drip dry and put a little bit of foil (or some sort of cover) over the bottle top once it is dry. I don't want any dust or creepy-crawlies to get into the bottle while I am not using it. You just have to make very sure that you do get all the crud out before you dry it (which always is a good practice, no matter what else you do).

If I am concerned about a bottle (e.g., there is some stubborn sediment), that bottle goes into the "wait until I have some PBW mixed up, so I can do a soak" box.

There is no need to sanitize until right before bottling.

Also, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, put dish soap into anything that will hold my finished beer.


TL

SimonHucko said:

dish soap right in the bottle? wouldn't that mess with head retention?

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*Shrug* Not sure. I rinse it out really well; I figured it was the same as using any other type of soap. As long as it's rinsed out well it should be okay...I hope. I figured it isn't any different than washing the cups I drink beer out of with dishsoap.

If I'm making a big mistake here that I'm unaware of, please tell me.

onipar said:

If I'm making a big mistake here that I'm unaware of, please tell me.

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well, you're the one drinking beer out of those bottles, so I assume you'd notice if none of them had any head. could be a bigger or smaller issue depending on what style you brew...

hey, if it works, it works. I'm just surprised.

SimonHucko said:

well, you're the one drinking beer out of those bottles, so I assume you'd notice if none of them had any head. could be a bigger or smaller issue depending on what style you brew...

hey, if it works, it works. I'm just surprised.

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Well, I'm new to this. Have only brewed a couple beers so far, so I'm sure there's stuff I still don't know.

I know people use special brewery cleaners for long soaking and equipment, but I guess I never really thought about it in terms of the bottles. You know, I wash all my dishes and cups with it. It rinses off without any smell or residual soap layer.

I guess I better search this. :cross:

EDIT: Well, I read a few threads about it. It looks like a lot of people say not to use it, and if you do to rinse really well. And some others say they use it with no problem. Then a few that say it's ruined their beer in the past. As best I can tell, the beer that was ruined probably had to do with the soap not being rinsed out well enough. I dunno, I haven't had any problems, but I'm not going to stand here and recommend it if it's controversial. Stick with Oxyclean.

I rinse my bottles out really well, put a cap full of bleach in each one, fill up with water, let it sit for 30 mins, then rinse each bottle at least 3 times.

I clean my bottles after empting them. Put them on the bottle tree upside down. Then just prior to bottling I sanitize . I let them drain for 30 minutes +/- and fill. No soap ever.

SWMBO got me a 90 bottle tree for mah birfday. Best thing ever.

When I'm done drinking a bottle, i rinse it out in the sink, and throw it on the tree. When I have enough labeled bottles, i do a batch of them in the sink w/ oxiclean, and they go back on the tree with the unlabeled bottles. Then, come bottling time, i take the whole tree, sit them in a sink of sanitizer for a few minutes, then prop them back on the tree. Then I just bottle right from the tree.

Starsan FTW.

I too was told any kind of soap is bad.

EDIT: My current bottling setup

ive had bottles that had mold in the bottom of em, threw them in the dishwasher with NO SOAP, put it on sanitize mode, then just bottle the beer right like that. have never had a problem. sanitize mode gets REDIC hot, nothing will live

liebertron said:

ive had bottles that had mold in the bottom of em, threw them in the dishwasher with NO SOAP, put it on sanitize mode, then just bottle the beer right like that. have never had a problem. sanitize mode gets REDIC hot, nothing will live

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Sounds like you have just been plain old lucky.

I believe dishwashers only get up to 160-170. Even if they get up to 200 or even boiling (highly unlikely), botulism dies at like 250. Hence pressure canners for canning low acid foods.

Not that your mold has any botulism in it, but just sayin.

What is PBW? A no rinse cleaner?

TexLaw said:

Typically, the only thing I do differently from OP is to invert the bottle to drip dry and put a little bit of foil (or some sort of cover) over the bottle top once it is dry. I don't want any dust or creepy-crawlies to get into the bottle while I am not using it. You just have to make very sure that you do get all the crud out before you dry it (which always is a good practice, no matter what else you do).

If I am concerned about a bottle (e.g., there is some stubborn sediment), that bottle goes into the "wait until I have some PBW mixed up, so I can do a soak" box.

There is no need to sanitize until right before bottling.

Also, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, put dish soap into anything that will hold my finished beer.


TL

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I agree with this. No soap. Ever. Rinse well, right away, and you won't have dirty bottles to bgin with. But if there is something in there, it goes into PBW or oxiclean with a few others. Then rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse. I have a bottle tree in my basement, where I store them upside down. Then sanitized right before bottling.

I had mold issues when I didn't hang them upside down even if they seemed dry, probably because my basement is a bit damp.

Off-topic, but it's great to "see" you again TexLaw!

Jacktar said:

What is PBW? A no rinse cleaner?

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No, Powered Brewery Wash is a nice cleaner, but there really isn't any such thing as a "no rinse cleaner". All must be rinsed off, before sanitizing.

One-Step cleaner claims to be no rinse, but it's not really. You must rinse off the dirt/debris/etc before something can be sanitized! And you don't want oxyclean or PBW in your beer anyway.

Yooper said:

No, Powered Brewery Wash is a nice cleaner, but there really isn't any such thing as a "no rinse cleaner". All must be rinsed off, before sanitizing.

One-Step cleaner claims to be no rinse, but it's not really. You must rinse off the dirt/debris/etc before something can be sanitized! And you don't want oxyclean or PBW in your beer anyway.

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I use Diversol but it seems to take forever to rinse to the point where there is no "chlorine" smell. I only use this from time to time and prefer to do like the OP because the rinsing with diversol takes so much time and water.

Lex nice set up. Well ill see how this batch turns out. I let every bottle sit in a starsan mix for about 5 min each before bottling. But there was one bottles when i poured out the starsan solutioni t came out tinted brown. So i soaked it again. Next time I know to just soak them all in a cleaner. On another note... How do u guys like the botteling tree?

I thought the bottle tree looked like money that didn't need to be spent until I tried one. Amazing.

liebertron said:

ive had bottles that had mold in the bottom of em, threw them in the dishwasher with NO SOAP, put it on sanitize mode, then just bottle the beer right like that. have never had a problem. sanitize mode gets REDIC hot, nothing will live

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Well, sanitizing mold probably won't work well. I mean, you didn't kill it at all.

That's really gross to me. But I also wash my dishes in the dishwasher after rinsing them off, as dried on stuck food debris grosses me out also. Anything not clean would be disgusting to me, even if you sanitized it first. I mean, I use Lysol in my toilet but don't eat out of it even though it's sanitized.

I just rinse out the bottles as I empty them, and turn them neck-down in the dish drainer. When I need them for bottling, I sanitize with Iodophor. Bottle, chill, drink, repeat as necessary.....

My $.02

I give each bottle a good rinsing out and keep a bottle brush near the sink to get anything that sticks. Bottling day I fill the tub with water and cleaner and submerge all the bottles. I then quick rinse and put the bottles in the dishwasher with no soap. My dishwasher has a high heat mode and a heat dry mode. More than enough to rinse and kill everything. I am also on city water which has a small residual of chlorine but none left once the water goes through my heater and the dishwasher. Never had an infected beer.

As rarely as I actually bottle, I have used the dishwasher with a DROP OR TWO of dishwasher soap (no more) on already visibly clean (no mung in the bottom) bottles, on a quick wash cycle. I then run a sanitize cycle once or twice without any soap.

I do this the day before bottling so they have time to dry and have never had an issue with using a tiny bit of soap. I cannot imagine that soap is the issue, inasmuch as incomplete rinsing would be.

Furthermore, I always rinse bottles right after emptying them contents. If I find any with with solids/debris in them, they go into the recycling bin. Mostly because I'm lazy, I guess, and I don't feel like taking the time to scrub them out.

All that said, I'd rather watch paint dry than bottle, but there are some times that it is unavoidable.

I don't use beer bottles i use plastic 1 litres,
What had pop in before.
I empty them and put in a little washing up liquid and fill with water then put the lid on.
I leave them like this for a while untill i come to use them, (stops that empty bottle smell)
(piece of mind also)

Then i wash them out till no bubbles from washing up liquid, folded by sanitizing them. (Youngs sanitizer currently using)

I rinse each bottle about 3 times after emptying it of its contents, shaking the water up before dumping it. Then I let it dry inverted in the dish strainer and then store in boxes. Prior to bottling I soak them in hot StarSan for about 20 seconds then sit them on the counter until they are all sanitized, then fill and cap.

I have had moldy bottles as well.. I soak those in a bucket filled with bleach and water for about a week, then rinse well and soak in vinegar and water for a day, then rinse well again and soak in Oxyclean for a couple of days. After that it is the same process as for a regular bottle. (Rinse, dry, sanitize, fill)

unionrdr said:

You don't have to toss the ones with dried funk in them. Just soak'em in PBW for a few minutes,& the dried funk floats right out. And I mean,even the ones that grew hair & came to life! Not hard or time consuming. I may be lazy at times,but I'm more of a cheapskate.

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I guess I should have been more specific.

Unfortunately, I am not lacking in bottles. It seems that the more folks that know I brew, the more bottles come my way (including useless twist-offs).

My friends think that I am a recycling plant, now
At least a few times a month, I'll come home from work and there will be a case of bottles on my porch with a note...

"Hey, thought you might be able to use these"
:cross:

The brass bottle washers that you hook up to your sink are great. They will blast anything out of the bottle, and only cost aroung $10. You may need an adapter for a kithen sink, but they usually fit a slop sink perfectly.