Using Dishwasher to sanitize?

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73Bronco

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I didn't want to steal the thread below about moldy bottles. I have the same issue. My plan is to give them a good scrubbing in hot water and then an overnight soaking in Oxyclean to take care of the mold and remove the labels. My question is about using my dishwasher to sanitize my bottles. I read about this on a different brewing forum and wondered if this is a good idea or not. They said to run the dishwasher without any detergent and let the heat from the drying cycle kill any bacteria in or on the bottles. I would give them time to cool and the bottle right away. I have reservations about this technique but just wanted to hear what you guys think.
 
I washed a bunch of donated bottles in the dishwasher once and it worked really well and the drying cycle heated up the bottles enough to kill any bacteria.
 
I typically keg my beer but when I do bottle I use my dishwasher to santize my bottles. I make sure the dishwasher is set for Hot Prewash and have never had an issue. I also make it habit to clean my bottles individually after I pour a beer.

I'm sure there are guys here that will frown upon the dishwasher but it works for me and in my opinion thats all that matters.
 
My dishwasher has a sanitize setting, and it's nice to have all the bottles lined up. I use the dishwasher door as a table and fill bottles on it. Easy clean up if you spill a little.
 
Does your dish washer get above 180*F? There are only a few out there that do, or at least a few years ago that was the case when I was in the market for a new one.
Even at 180* there are still living beer spoilers in the mix.
I hate to make suggestions when you didn't ask (or did you), but....Star San or any other good sanitizer can be your best friend when brewing or bottling. I mean, you don't run your carboy through your dishwasher right? So why the bottles? Time, perhaps?

Me.. Not a big fan.
 
You can use a dishwasher to clean and heat sanitize your equipment. Don't use detergent or any drying agents.

I personal clean them in an overnight bath of oxiclean and use starsan to sanitize.
 
I used a dishwasher for a couple of years without a problem. The ones with a NSF sticker are the ones that are certified to get the temp high enough, and long enough, to kill off bacteria (see my sticker below). There is a pastuerization curve that shows the relation ship between temp and time (see below). I logged the temp in my dishwasher (see below).

I quit using the dishwasher and just used starsan and a vinator and a bottling tree. It was easier (for me).

Dishwasher_NSF_Statement.JPG


P5120002.JPG


Dishwasher_Sani-Rinse.bmp


Beer_Pasteurization_Curve.jpg
 
Jaybird said:
Does your dish washer get above 180*F? There are only a few out there that do, or at least a few years ago that was the case when I was in the market for a new one.
Even at 180* there are still living beer spoilers in the mix.
I hate to make suggestions when you didn't ask (or did you), but....Star San or any other good sanitizer can be your best friend when brewing or bottling. I mean, you don't run your carboy through your dishwasher right? So why the bottles? Time, perhaps?

Me.. Not a big fan.

I wish my carboy would fit in my dishwasher. ;)
 
I wish my carboy would fit in my dishwasher. ;)
Agree! I put all my post boil stuff in the dishwasher on brewday and run a no soap, antibacterial wash. I leave the door shut and only open to pull out things as I need them. That includes my 50' x 3/8" dia immersion chiller. It goes right from the dishwasher to the kettle.
 
I didn't want to steal the thread below about moldy bottles. I have the same issue. My plan is to give them a good scrubbing in hot water and then an overnight soaking in Oxyclean to take care of the mold and remove the labels. My question is about using my dishwasher to sanitize my bottles. I read about this on a different brewing forum and wondered if this is a good idea or not. They said to run the dishwasher without any detergent and let the heat from the drying cycle kill any bacteria in or on the bottles. I would give them time to cool and the bottle right away. I have reservations about this technique but just wanted to hear what you guys think.

I'd just soak in oxyclean for 2 hours max. If you leave them overnight you will get some white residue on the bottles especially if you have hard water.
 
I rinse out my bottles with a tiny shot of dish soap and hot water after I drink them, then dry. Put them through the dishwasher twice before bottling, using 1/2 detergent the first cycle, and no detergent the second cycle. Never had any problems.
 
I used my dishwasher to sanitize for a year or so, and I never had any problems. I've switched to star-san and a bottling tree because it's faster, much less noisy, and doesn't require any pre-planning.
 
Dishwasher works great as others said since its basically a giant bottle tree, i could fit over 30 22's into my old dishwasher, im sure i could fit more into my new one if I wasnt kegging.

That said, i would pull them one at a time out of the dishwasher, use a vitnor and spray some starsan solution in it, shake it out, then fill until the top which pushed all the starsan foam out, remove bottling wand, perfect headspace.
 
I never had OxyClean / Sun cleaner on hand until recently, and I haven't used it yet, but what I have always done is submerge all my bottles in a big tub of water with about 1 cup or so of ammonia in it (never measured, just dumped some in). Even with old nasty bottles growing plenty of mold in the bottom that I got from friends, everything comes floating right out - and the labels come right off, too! I may fill them up again a bit and shake them to loosen something stuck inside, but that's 1 in 20 at best. After that, I put them all in a box and save them until bottling day, then I pull out 50 or however many I need for the batch, run them through a hot rinse and heated dry cycle in the dishwasher, and bottle straight off the rack. Never had a problem yet!
 
I have washed hundreds of bottles in the dishwasher on sanitize (2006 GE model). Now, I don't put in bottles that I get from other people or if I forget to rinse the old beer out. Dried beer is downright nasty, and I don't really know if the dishwasher would get it out. So, I rinse all mine after drinking, and then I throw them in immediately before bottling.

Has worked great so far. The only thing is I never time it right, and I think it takes around 2 hours for the cycle to complete. I wind up waiting on the bottles.
 
I always rinse my bottles after drinking from them and then store them in my basement until I'm ready to bottle. At that time, I usually soak my bottles overnight in Oxyclean to make it easier to remove the labels and then they go straight my dishwasher to sanitize and it has worked beautifully for me.
 
Anyone have issues with bottle necks breaking when putting on the caps? I've heard that washing the bottles in water hot enough to sanitize can weaken the glass and cause the bottles to break when capping.
I snapped one and figured I was just hulking on it too much. SWMBO broke one and I knew the bottles were weak. Just kidding babe. Actually she earned some points when she broke one and made a complete sentence out of the f-bomb. Nobody got hurt but I figured my neck could be next so now I'm extra nice when she's helping me out on brew days.
 
My old man has used the dishwasher to clean his bottles on bottling day since the 90's and I do to sense I've been brewing. Works great.
 
There are two issues at work here: bottles are CLEAN and bottles are SANITIZED.

CLEAN means the amazing science projects that grow at the bottom of a beer bottle and/or the junk that people put into an empty beer bottle have been removed with a good cleaner [aka OxyClean] and a bottle brush.

Once they are CLEAN, they need to be SANITIZED, which means that any microorganisms living on the glass have been killed. Bottles can be sanitized by heat...a dishwasher works, and so does an oven. StarSan works well, too, and is a fast method to sanitize.

When I get bottles that I've never used before, I ALWAYS soak them in OxyClean. That takes the labels off and my bottle brush and I then attack the inside of the bottle.

If the bottles I plan to use for bottling have been used BY ME before, I know they are CLEAN. I SANITIZE in my dishwasher.

glenn514:mug:
 
I don't even bother with the bottle brush. if soaking in oxyclean for 8 hours and being rinsed several times doesn't get it done then I might as well nuke em from orbit
 
Anyone have issues with bottle necks breaking when putting on the caps? I've heard that washing the bottles in water hot enough to sanitize can weaken the glass and cause the bottles to break when capping.

Yep, Summit bottles. They seem rather thin, I'll never reuse them again.
 
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