cleaning bottles

I have recieved some old stubby bottles and they are in need of a good cleaning, I am told to just use the sanitizer on them but will this work good enough? can I use soap and just rinse 4 or 5x please someone help me.......

soak them in a solution of bleach and water over night, rinse, scrub with a bottle brush if needed, soak in clean water overnight to get rid of any bleach residue, then just sanitize normally before bottling and you're good to go

I use oxiclean now. Soak them for a good few hours and rinse, rinse, rinse. Make sure to examine every bottle to ensure a good cleaning. Use sanitizer (Star san is popular here) right before bottling.

Even after a soak in Oxy-Clean you should use a bottle brush while sanitizing. For my first batch I used an Oxy-Clean soak to take labels off and still found a nice chunk of mold floating in my sanitizer bath- which I thought would be redundant.

wow thats was quick, thanks for the info

What do you guys use to sanitize your bottles in and how long to soak in sanitizer?

I use Oxyclean and a good scrub to clean all my bottles. Then I sanitize in Iodophor just before bottling.

TheJadedDog said:

I use Oxyclean and a good scrub to clean all my bottles. Then I sanitize in Iodophor just before bottling.

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How long do they have to sit in the sanitizing solution?

BlatzBeer said:

How long do they have to sit in the sanitizing solution?

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It depends on the sanitizer; Iodophor requires 2 minutes of contact at the correct dilution and is no rinse (I think StarSan is the same but I could be wrong). Whatever you choose as a sanitizer, make sure you read the directions and follow them in order to get the best results.

Star san is the same at 2 min soak and no rinse.

I actually prefer to sterilize my bottles in the oven. Put clean bottles in a cold oven, each covered with a small piece of foil. Crank it up to 350*, when it hits that, set the time for 1 hour. when the timer goes off, turn the oven off and let them cool back down. For me, it's less of a pain than dunking 50 bottles in sanitizer, plus the bottles end up sterilized rather than just sanitized which provides that extra piece of mind.

This method does take longer though. I usually start this on Saturday night and bottle Sunday morning (takes about 1-2 hours for the bottles to cool). Since I prefer debauchery to church, this schedule works for me, though.

i'm using C-Brite. It doesn't say how long. I'll probably wait 2 minutes or so...

StarSan rocks. Iodophor stains everything and smells.

Danny013 said:

StarSan rocks. Iodophor stains everything and smells.

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I'll start using that on my next batch...I did smell something...Cheers.

Danny013 said:

StarSan rocks. Iodophor stains everything and smells.

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You're probably mixing it too strong if you're getting a strong odor and heavy staining

As for soaking bottles in buckets of sanitizer, don't it's a waste of sanitizer, get one of these http://morebeer.com/view_product/15682/102303 and one of these http://morebeer.com/view_product/15677/102303 This little combo has saved me countless hours and gallons of Iodophor

cnbudz said:

As for soaking bottles in buckets of sanitizer, don't it's a waste of sanitizer, get one of these http://morebeer.com/view_product/15682/102303 and one of these http://morebeer.com/view_product/15677/102303 This little combo has saved me countless hours and gallons of Iodophor

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I've been considering those for a while now. But, I've spent way too much this year. Would a cheap spray bottle do just as well for sanitizing bottles?

Has anyone else tried the oven method? This is the first I've heard of it.

I haven't tried the oven method and don't plan to because it will seriously reduce the life-span of the bottles. That said as described earlier is probably the best way of heat treating because it slowly increases and decreases the heat. If you want to try it remember a slow increase in temp and cool down will minimalise thermal shock. Also I think that if you put a pan of water on the bottom of the oven you only need to hit 100*C (not sure of conversion) because steam will steralise alot quicker and at a lower temperature than dry heat. Good system for someone with a ready supply of bottles.

Personally I use a soak solution because its what I have to hand. When it runs out I'm definately going for a no rinse. I don't mind the soak time because it is steraliser rather than a sanitiser and a simple two bucket approach works well. Fill one with solution and one with water. Soak bottles in first, rinse in latter. Takes about a half hour most of which is spent getting bottling system ready. Dishwasher also doubles as a great drip dry station and is easy rinse!

saskman said:

I have recieved some old stubby bottles and they are in need of a good cleaning

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I got a case of these and realized after cleaning all of them them that they didn't work with my bench capper because there are two ridges near the top that are too close together to work with my capper- although I'm sure that not all stubby bottles are the same. To cap them with a bench capper I had to turn them a quarter turn after pressing down, then press down again- rotating and pressing down at least four times. I eventually recycled them all. I suggest you make sure they work well with your capper before going to the trouble of cleaning them. I'm not sure how they would work with a butterfly capper because I don't have one because it looks to me like you need three hands to operate one. Good luck.

newell456 said:

there are two ridges near the top that are too close together to work with my capper- although I'm sure that not all stubby bottles are the same.

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Sounds like they were originally twist off caps...

the stubby Canadian beer bottles (that I have anyways and that I have seen) have a bit of a space between the 2 spaces on the bottle top.

I've said it before but i've got to say it again. Cascade dishwasher detergent. It's the homebrewer's version of caustic soda. (but what about head retention? Ever had bad head retention in a glass washed in a dishwasher?) The big breweries use caustic soda to clean everything. Oxi-clean removes alot of the grime and cleasn pretty good but dosn't completely clean like castic soda. Star san is a great product but dosn't completely kill ALL the bugs. Iodophore does. If you are not on city water/sewer using starsan is your best bet though bubbles and all. Iodine does BAD things to septic systems.