First-time cleaning of commercial beer bottles

So I'm getting ready for bottling my first 5-gallon batch, and it'll be my first time using glass bottles (used PET bottles in the past).

I am planning on cleaning some Sam Adams bottles to use for the first time. I don't have a bottle brush (as recommended in John Palmer's book) to clean the inside of the bottles. My plan is to thoroughly rinse them, then stick them all in the dishwasher with some regular dishwashing detergent to zap them clean. And before bottling, I'll soak them for a few minutes in sanitizer.

Will this be OK?

I find a soak in hot water with a shot of oxyclean to be the easiest way to clean bottles. Rinse thoroughly before sanitizing.

I use a cheap 5 gallon bucket to do a 12 pack at a time but whatever will hold the water and bottles will work just fine.

Cheers.

BSD

This-

+ Hot water + Overnight Soak +

the dishwasher likely does little for cleaning the inside of the bottles...I did this a few times years ago and finally concluded loading and unloading the dishwasher was a waste of energy IMO...

Revvy said:

This-

+ Hot water + Overnight Soak +

Click to expand...

Color me stupid, what the heck is that on the right? Something to rinse the bottles with after soaking?

Yes it looks like it is something to rinse with. I've been debating the purchase. They have some slick working ones at my local brew shop.

Exactly it's called a jet bottle/carboy rinser. Basically it's a high pressure attacment for your sink. In fact unless my bottles have mold or thing sediment in there because I didn't just rinse them out immediately, usually i don't even bother with the oxyclean any more and just do a hot water rinse on the bottles.

An overnight soak in Oxyclean will loosen the labels and all the crud inside the bottles. A good rinse should be good enough hold up each bottle to a light to be sure.

Invest in the jet washer, a Vinator and Starsan, it will make your bottling experience much better.

BTW you will probably need a thread adapter for your kitchen faucet for the jet washer.

I use the same exact setup as revvy. That's all you need really. I have a brush but never need to use it.

Awesome video, thanks Revvy.

I don't have a LHBS nearby so I'll just put one of those jet washers in my next online order. I'll be sure to Oxyclean these bottles overnight then. Thanks for the advice, everyone!

I have the jet spray washer. It works great. I rarely soak the bottles and I use the bottle brush for those bottles that have a yeast ring. Also I bought the sink hookups for portable dish washers. I use it to quickly attach my jet spray washer to the sink faucet. I bought it at Home Depot. It works great.

One other thing about the jet spray washer, they last a long time. Mine is 15 years old. It was the first accessory I bought after I bought my original kit.

I pile all my bottles in a 35 gallon trash can. When I get about a foot from the top, I mix up some oxyclean solution, 1/4th scoop per 5 gallons HOT water, and soak 3-6 hours. Any labels that don't come right off get scraped off with an old credit card and scrubbed with a green scrubby. Then I have an RV hose hooked up directly to my hot water heater with a jet bottle/carboy washer on the end. I rinse the inside thoroughly and set in the dish washer. Then I run the dish washer with no detergent using sanitize mode. I store the bottles in boxes and right before I bottle I rinse them with either an iodopher or GSE solution.

P.S. forgot to mention that I rinse over another garbage can (I work in the garage) and both garbage cans of water get dumped in the garden.

Just try not to use soaps or dishwasher detergent as they can leave thin layers of residue that can cause low head formation. Oxyclean and a bottle jet work wonders. Like revvy if rinsed after use, only the bottle jet is needed.

Also try and pick up a vinator sanitizer for bottling day.. cuts bottling time in half vs soaking in sanitizer.

Thanks for the tips It's good to hear how everyone else does it.

One more thing. I use a knitting needle to dislodge any citrus wedges someone might have left in a bottle.