Sanitizing Flip Top Bottles

I usually soak my bottles in a bleach solution then blast them with hot water using a bottle washer and finally run them through the sanitize setting on my dishwasher (without soap of course) right before bottling. Is this a little overkill? When using fliptops, I take off the wire fliptop and do the same procedure, except I handwash the ceramic piece with hot water then spray a solution of starsan on them before bottling. What is the easiest way to sanitize the fliptop bottles (and tops)? I don't want to corrode the wire and/or seal by soaking in bleach. I don't bottle too much any more now that I got my keg setup, but when I do (2) 1 gallon ciders (I don't drink it enough to warrant a 5 gallon batch), I want an easy way to bottle them and my flip tops seem to be the answer. Comments?

Why not just go to a one step sanitizer as that is as easy as it gets. I always took the rubber seal off and cleaned/sanitized them before bottling. I never took the wire off as I would soak them in iodaphor and let them drain on the dishrack as I bottled.

I do the same as Blender only I use StarSan. Doesn't get any easier than using a good no rinse sanitizer.

+3 StarSan and a Vinater.

+4




Plus use your dishwasher racks (clean / sprayed with starsan from a spray bottle) to hold your bottles as they drip and wait for you to fill them.

+1 starsan ,but now Im wondering about the corrosiveness of starsan lonterm on my fliptops, as of yet I don't see any rust.

I got some discoloring on the wire after leaving the tops in starsan for ~30 mins.

dstar26t said:

I got some discoloring on the wire after leaving the tops in starsan for ~30 mins.

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Yep, you sure will since those bails are not stainless and Starsan is acidic. I found that out the hard way a long time ago.

I now pour about 8 ounces of starsan in the bottle, then cover the opening with my thumb (I have a rubber glove on), tilt the bottle horizontal, then rotate it a few times, then gently pour the starsan back into the pouring cup. My last act is to dip the mouth of the bottle in the Starsan before placing it on a bottle tree to drain.

I have the vinator, but it foams up the starsan too much IMO. The above method takes less than 10 seconds per bottle and uses about 16 ounces of sanitizing solution.

I usually make up at least 2 gallons of a starsan solution and dump it in my bottling bucket. I then fill as many bottles as I can with the solution and set them on the counter as I fill them. When I run out of solution, I dump them all back in the bucket and dip the whole neck in the solution before putting the bottles on the tree. I then continue on until all my bottles are ready for bottling. I haven't seen an discoloration of the bails on my bottles yet.

My wife and I just fill a bucket with star-san, soak the bottles for 30 seconds to a minute (without taking the gaskets off), and put them on the bottle tree to drip. Then just start filling.

The steel cages are cheapo so if they go bad - it's no big deal.

I'd take the gaskets off before soaking, since you never know if gunk from the last brew got under it.

Per Ed's comment, yes star-san does foam up alot with a vinator, I just dump it back in my 5-gal bucket of star-san and re-fill when the foam gets out of control.

After I drink from them, I rinse a few times with hot hot water, then spray with Star San. Then before I fill again, I spray with Star San, shake around, dump, then fill. Never had any issues.

I don't treat them any differently than regular bottles. Wash after use, sanitize before bottling. I do immerse bottles to sanitize.

You do get some corrosion on the bails, but I've been doing this for 12 years now...