Need Bottle Cleaning Tips

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I spent last night washing 90+ bottles for two batches I am bottling tomorrow. Let me first say that sucks. All bottles were bottle-brushed regardless of most not having any residue or buildup in them at all. I cleaned them in a tub of Oxi-Clean and will rinse once more today and finish with a Star San dip. What I find most frustrating is that a bottle brush cannot effectively remove the buildup on the bottom because the metal frame that the bristles wind around contacts the bottle before the bristles and does little to no good. What other procedure or tool can I use to effectively remove any haze or slight buildup at the bottom of the bottles? Thanks much.
 
The oxy clean soak and a faucet mount bottle washer should really work well. Hot water through the bottle washer really removes most stuff.

and Thumbs up for being in Indiana too! :)
 
I find a long and hot soak in OxyClean followed by a warm and thorough rinse and vigorous shake usually gets the crap out of the bottles with little to no brushing. If the crud is still in there, I just throw the bottle out and grab another. I don't have time to waste on stubborn bottles....there's beer a-waitin'! (I usually have at least a spare 6 pack of empty bottle just for this reason)
 
Basically what has already been said, but I personally prefer using PBW for that extra kick. Get the water as hot as possible and mix the right ratio of PBW and water, let them soak, I haven't needed a bottle brush in quite some time if you just use a bottle rinser afterwards. Just my 2 cents. (oh, and just to be that guy, I'd suggest you just keg ;-) )
 
I will have to repeat the hot Oxy soak. I bought the inverted bottle sprayer from my LHBS and wouldn't you know I don't have a faucet to connect it to. Pretty much knew it but bought it anyways.Guess thats the one thing I missed on the contractors prints for my new house. A bit of re-engineering in the laundry room and I'll be in biz I suppose.

I have many extra bottles available. The UOA (units of agony) factor was applied to labeled bottles vs cruddy-bottom bottles (B side to fat-bottom girls :fro:) and c-b-b won initially. I may rethink that one.

What is the ratio of OxyClean:water?

Thanks guys and a "thumb back to ya" fergusmj. :mug:
 
I will have to repeat the hot Oxy soak. I bought the inverted bottle sprayer from my LHBS and wouldn't you know I don't have a faucet to connect it to. Pretty much knew it but bought it anyways.Guess thats the one thing I missed on the contractors prints for my new house. A bit of re-engineering in the laundry room and I'll be in biz I suppose.

I have many extra bottles available. The UOA (units of agony) factor was applied to labeled bottles vs cruddy-bottom bottles (B side to fat-bottom girls :fro:) and c-b-b won initially. I may rethink that one.

What is the ratio of OxyClean:water?

Thanks guys and a "thumb back to ya" fergusmj. :mug:

Honestly, I'm really liberal with the use of OxyClean. It's not an exact measurement per se, I just dump at least 2 heaping scoops into the water and more as I go. My personal opinion on OxyClean is more is better. I'm also probably a little more liberal on the StarSan too, but that's because I have a TON of it right now.
 
I think what you’re seeing is calcium carbonate. It precipitates out of solution when OxiClean is used with hard water. It won’t hurt anything. I usually clean it off the outside and don’t worry about the slight residue inside.

If it bothers you, you can switch to PBW, it won’t do that. I don’t use it because it’s hard on my hands, and I don’t like to wear rubber gloves for more than a few minutes.

I question the need for a StarSan dip. Why not use a spray bottle? Many of us do. I spray them after rinsing and use the dishwasher as a bottle tree.

I’m with you on the bottle brush. Lots of people don’t use ‘em, to which I say ewww. I don’t know why nobody sells a decent bottle brush. Same thing with a carboy brush.
 
The trick with the bottle brush is to bend the end so that the side of the brush makes contact and the point hits the side. I never used a brush either until about 6 months ago I had about 50 bottles, many of which had crud. I looked at my carboy brush and said DUH! It does make it a little harder to get the brush in, but it does work.

BTW, I also just bought a 3' long tubing brush. It reaches the center of the tubing so you don't need to replace stained lines as often, as long as they are under 6'
 
I just pour hot water into the cruddy bottles and let them sit for a bit. Shake em up and the crud will come out. Of course I rinse mine out as I empty them as well.
 
This is just an idea but as a chemist I have access to many acids such as Nitric and Phosphoric. I too was lazy with bottles and found I have about 4 cases of 12 oz bottles with a stuck on sediment in the bottle. I tried hot water soak with Star San but the acid is too dilute to really do much. So I am going to try 30% HPO4(Phosphoric Acid) and 30% HNO3 (Nitric Acid) and see if a small amount will break it up for sparkling clean bottles. If either works Ill try to scale it down to use the weakest concentration possible. Im think most people could to a 50/50 dilution of acid line cleaner or maybe even star san to help with stuck on lazy mess.
 
@caioz1jp I'm sure you know, but starsan is a Phosphoric acid sanitizer (albeit at a much lower concentration than 30%). The soil on your bottles may not respond to acid attack- detergent like PBW or oxyclean really is the best option for heavy soil. Acids are better for sanitizing as they kill microbes.

Remember, you cannot sanitize a surface that is not clean.
 
Proper rinsing of used bottles is the most important step in effortless bottle cleaning. Leaving yeast residue in your bottles is the best way to have a nightmare come cleaning time!
 
Am I the first to type out the obvious? Just buy a co2 tank, regulator and keg. Nuff said!
 
According to Palmer in "How to Brew": If you are diligent in rinsing your bottles promptly and thoroughly after each use with your homebrew, only the sanitizing treatment will be necessary before each use in the future. By maintaining clean equipment you will save yourself a lot of work.
 
ncbrewer said:
According to Palmer in "How to Brew": If you are diligent in rinsing your bottles promptly and thoroughly after each use with your homebrew, only the sanitizing treatment will be necessary before each use in the future. By maintaining clean equipment you will save yourself a lot of work.

+1 I do this. Takes 10 seconds to rinse the bottles after you pour them.
 
I just got a bottle jet to clean more properly. Ill probably pick up some bleach to realy clean them out. If oxy clean doesnt work. To me this is more of principle since i have about 4 cases of 12 oz bottles and about 6 cases of 22s. The 12oz are my fault for not cleaning but the 22s were given to me by a co worker. As for the comment about kegging, I normally do keg my beers but i have been making alot of complex specialty brews that I want to age but also need fermentor space. I am deffinitly planning on picking up mores kegs as aging vessels as well as dispensing kegs.
 
According to Palmer in "How to Brew": If you are diligent in rinsing your bottles promptly and thoroughly after each use with your homebrew, only the sanitizing treatment will be necessary before each use in the future. By maintaining clean equipment you will save yourself a lot of work.

I live in a 575sqft condo, so my bottles got stored outside. I am extraordinarily diligent about rinsing my bottles, but I still found mold and maggots in my "clean" bottles. Now I rinse each bottle when I pour it into a glass, drain the remaining liquid a few minutes later and the put some foil on the top so I can put them outside.
 
I used straight clorox bleach in my worst bottle. HOLY WOW they look brand new. Only issue is i could smell a little bleach after bottle jetting. My next test is to see what the maximum dilution of bleach in water is effective. All i know is it looks like im set on bottles for a while.
 
I live in a 575sqft condo, so my bottles got stored outside. I am extraordinarily diligent about rinsing my bottles, but I still found mold and maggots in my "clean" bottles. Now I rinse each bottle when I pour it into a glass, drain the remaining liquid a few minutes later and the put some foil on the top so I can put them outside.

The mold might be from the water left in the bottles - there is still some after coming back and draining them. I drain mine, too - but then I store them overnight upside down in a rack to air dry. No mold so far.
 
I just got a bottle jet to clean more properly. Ill probably pick up some bleach to realy clean them out. If oxy clean doesnt work. To me this is more of principle since i have about 4 cases of 12 oz bottles and about 6 cases of 22s. The 12oz are my fault for not cleaning but the 22s were given to me by a co worker. As for the comment about kegging, I normally do keg my beers but i have been making alot of complex specialty brews that I want to age but also need fermentor space. I am deffinitly planning on picking up mores kegs as aging vessels as well as dispensing kegs.

Are you counterpressure filling those bottles or old school straight from the fermenter bottling for aging purposes?
 
When I get bottles from friends or relatives, I am always amazed at the "science experiments" that occur in the bottoms of some bottles. I am also amazed at the huge variety of plain, simple CRAP some folks stick into empty beer bottles. Getting them cleaned out is all part of the challenge of brewing.

For really, REALLY crudded-up bottles, cut the end off the bottle brush and put the shaft end into an electric drill. Insert brush into bottle and turn on the drill. Bend the shaft at a slight angle, if necessary, to get all the crud in the bottom corners.

And, if all efforts to clean the bottle fail dismally...RECYCLE the bottle!

glenn514:mug:
 
image-564010741.jpg

I made this out of pvc. Washes 6 bottles at once. Bottle sits on top of the pvc pipe and you can blast away the grime. Hook it up to the kitchen sink and turn on the hot water to sanitize them.

I am working on a way to add a cleaner in line to sanitize better.

Cost me about $10.

Would be willing to make for people if you didnt want to make your own.
 
fc36 said:
Are you counterpressure filling those bottles or old school straight from the fermenter bottling for aging purposes?

When i bottle i use a spigot bucket with priming sugar. I do plan on trying to keg carb and bottle but i just dont see a need for it except to take brew to a party. Like i said i try to bottle specialty beers that have comllex flavors.

Also for those that need a reminder. Bleach works amazingly to clean the worst of the worst. Just get something that you can easily squirt into the bottles and use just enought straight bleach to cover the bottom of the bottle. Heavy mold bottles may need two soakings.
 
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