Reusing bottles

joeirvine · Jun 2, 2011

I have a few bottles (one case) I forgot to rinse and they have mold in them. Anyone still reuse these after a rigorous cleaning and sanitizing? It's been a pain to get the stuff out of the crevasses at the bottom of the bottle but I'd rather not scrap them.

honeybadger · Jun 2, 2011

Clean them like you've never cleaned before. Then clean them again. Then sterilize them (maybe this could be done in the oven?).

I've had a few bottles like this - if after all that cleaning there are still deposits in the bottom i'd play it safe and bin them.

buffalobrewer · Jun 2, 2011

soak in oxyclean/pbw and hot water. most stuff will rinse right out after a day.

gregger · Jun 2, 2011

^^^ +1. I've forgotten to rinse plenty of bottles. A soak in Oxyclean for a few hours, a darn good rinse in plain water, and a soak in sanitizer of your choice works great. Hardly any scrubbing needed.

mky375 · Jun 2, 2011

I've done that, boiling them in the brew pot will loosen all the gunk on the bottom.

Fill all the bottles then fill the pot about an inch or two over the tops of the bottles. When the water in the bottles boil it will lift up all the "gunk" on the bottom.

Oh and put a towel or something at the bottom or it will mark the bottom of your brewpot.

joeirvine · Jun 2, 2011

Hey thanks everyone, some great tips.

avidhomebrewer · Jun 2, 2011

I bought bottles from a liquor store years ago. You can't imagine all the crap that is in some of them. To get all of it out, in addition to removing the labels, I would fill the kitchen sink with a rather strong bleach water concoction and soak the bottles for about 24 hours. The bottles would be clean, labels would scrape off easily, and the wife would be happy - a sparkling clean sink.

Reusing bottles

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