"Beer Clean" Glass

Does anyone else obsess over this. After reading up on somethings I've recently decided to take matters in my own hands at home, I've always thought I kept my beer glasses clean but boy was I wrong. I did the salt test on it and failed miserably, which would explain why my lacing stank on my homebrew.

Anyway for the last day or so I've been putting Easy Clean in my glasses at various points. I got the idea from the need of something that's low suds (no suds FTW) and and odorless. While not 100% odorless it's pretty dang close. They sell stuff that like the bars use but it's expensive like 35 bucks for 8 pounds of it. I figure easy clean should in theory both clean and sanitize the glasses with over 30 minutes of contact time. I'm gonna experiment with this because Easy Clean I can get a 5 pound bucked for 14 bucks and that's more reasonable if it gives me great long term results (because of sanitation) If not I'll bit the bullet and get the Beer Clean Glass Cleaner things and then go with a 3 step system (cleaner and scrub, then cold water, than sanitizer which I'd just use Star San)

I just use the dishwasher. I'd rather drink my beer than get all TSA about lacing.

All my glasses have logos from stuff I either bought, or got for free from promos and I'd like them to stay as bright and clean as possible.

Once this batch is clean and dry I'll take a shot of my normal glass which was washed in normal dish soap vs my just cleaned in easy clean glasses.

hot water and nothing but.

although once in a while I'll use the pink powder sanitizer on them.

I just use the dishwasher and I get good head retention and nice lacing.

This is an extreme example for shock value but these are 2 similar aged glasses both around 3 years old. Only I cleaned with normal detergent (also think we have hard water which doesn't help, yes I know I should know the water chem of my place but I haven't gotten there yet)

But the glass on the right I just cleaned in the easy clean and the one on the left has what would be my guess as hard water and detergent film.



Now again this was more for shock value most of my glasses don't look like that, but I'm trying to get a much better clean. I'm still not 100% happy with the current clean since the glass is still holding some water droplets when air drying which will potentially create some problem areas but I'll live with it for now.

I just hand wash them before and after a session. Just hot water. They are crystal clear. If anything, I'd get a breath mat for underneath the glasses to let them air dry upside down

I have been washing mine in the dishwasher, don't use those fancy soap tablets. Just use regular old powdered dishwasher soap. Replace the jet dry with white vinegar(tip I learned here on HBT) and you get spotless glasses with no head retention problems.

Im curious to know how you guys think bars clean their glassware.

spoiler: they run them through a dishwasher

Straight6TT said:

Im curious to know how you guys think bars clean their glassware.

spoiler: they run them through a dishwasher

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Not exactly.

The ones that I know of that use a dishwasher all have spotty glasses and residue.

Some use a glass washer usually located under the bar that uses light detergent and then steams the glasses for a spotless finish.

Others have a triple hand wash sink which IMO works best.

Straight6TT said:

Im curious to know how you guys think bars clean their glassware.

spoiler: they run them through a dishwasher

Click to expand...

Bad bars...maybe some good ones, but not the great ones

Straight6TT said:

Im curious to know how you guys think bars clean their glassware.

spoiler: they run them through a dishwasher

Click to expand...

None of the beer bars I go to do that. While you can run them all through the dishwasher and it should be ok, if I'm at a bar that uses a dishwasher I'm probably ordering a coke. They all use the 3 sink operation I described above. What I'm hoping to do is do all 3 at once.

Now I don't think my glasses will have any serious issues any more because of some water spots, but I find it a challenge to get rid of them. And now that there's no dishsoap foam on them, I know I will

Nightshade said:

Not exactly.

The ones that I know of that use a dishwasher all have spotty glasses and residue.

Some use a glass washer usually located under the bar that uses light detergent and then steams the glasses for a spotless finish.

Others have a triple hand wash sink which IMO works best.

Click to expand...

Yup.

Actually the coolest and arguably the best setup (because you save time) is the jet stream cleaners which shoot water and stuff into the glass right before pour so you get maximum cleanage. Once I figure out what they're called I'm gonna figure out a way to build them into my future home bar.

AgentHubcap said:

I just use the dishwasher. I'd rather drink my beer than get all TSA about lacing.

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^I LOL'd. Totally gonna use that one day.

Wifey washes my beer glasses by hand with blue dawn . (We don't run them through the dishwasher for fear of removing the graphics)

I notice my first pint usually has no head (if pouring from bottle). Second ones onward are fine. I just sorta let the first beer do the job of removing any head-killing residues

Now pouring from the keg is fine, because with my first keg, the first pint was always foam anyways. I'd toss that one, and the second/third ones were fine. Still dialing in my carb level and pressures.

If its a glass that I know just came out of the dishwasher, a shot of water to rinse, and if its one of my beers so I want an honest idea of what kind of head or lacing I'm getting, I pour a small sip into the glass, cover it with my hand, and give a good shake, coating the inside with foam. Drink the sip (or toss), continue on with the pour. Read about this somewhere and it works pretty well.

It's good to use hot water to rinse a glass, but I would never *just* use hot water. Detergents act as surfactants, with hydrophobic and hydrophilic ends. As the hydrophilic end bonds to water, the hydrophpbic end will bond to oils on the glass. As the water washes away, it literally drags the oil off of the glass. To me, this is essential because it removes fingerprints, lip smudges, and residue from the glass much easier. You could wash a glass with just hot water, and the hydrophobic oils on the glass may never get rinsed away. Oils on the glass will then reduce head retention. See, chemistry can be fun!

I just use dish soap and hot water, sometimes oxyclean if I'm feeling fancy. I'm obsessed with not leaving soap residue on dishes so I rinse like crazy anyway.

I loved the TSA reference.

But I salt clean all of them. But being lazy I end up setting glasses aside on the sink and grabbing clean ones, then when there's no room on the side of the sink because of all the beer glasses THEN I salt clean them.

I just found a really cool spongey baby bottle cleaner from the dollar store that is one of the best things I've used so far to clean them.

Need more info on using salt to clean glass. Google only got me hits (no pun intended) on how to use salt to clean your bong.

All that info including videos I posted is in the "Proper Pint Glass Care" thread.

Clean however you want. When you are going to pour a beer, do the follwing.

Open Coors, pour some in glass, swirl around, pour out. Add Homebrew. Done.

Beer us a great cleaner. After the first one the glass is usually clean. 😎

hoppyhoppyhippo said:

This is an extreme example for shock value but these are 2 similar aged glasses both around 3 years old. Only I cleaned with normal detergent (also think we have hard water which doesn't help, yes I know I should know the water chem of my place but I haven't gotten there yet)

But the glass on the right I just cleaned in the easy clean and the one on the left has what would be my guess as hard water and detergent film.

Now again this was more for shock value most of my glasses don't look like that, but I'm trying to get a much better clean. I'm still not 100% happy with the current clean since the glass is still holding some water droplets when air drying which will potentially create some problem areas but I'll live with it for now.

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Um, dude, here you are getting all anal about glass cleanliness yet your microwave has gunk all over it and wrappers from lord knows what jammed under it. WTF?

Rick

F250 said:

Um, dude, here you are getting all anal about glass cleanliness yet your microwave has gunk all over it and wrappers from lord knows what jammed under it. WTF?

Rick

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Now thats funny right there. I dont care who you are, thats funny.

not only that the cat is walking all over everything

F250 said:

Um, dude, here you are getting all anal about glass cleanliness yet your microwave has gunk all over it and wrappers from lord knows what jammed under it. WTF?

Rick

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Clearly the man has his priorities straight.

Don't forget to fill out that warranty on the microwave, it's stuck to the spoon behind the left side of Chi-Chi's Chimichanga wrapper. I'll bet if you send it in now you can still get a years worth of coverage once it blows up from all the metal stuff you've been putting into it.

I run them through the dishwasher with all the other dishes, with a vinegar rinse, and I get great head retention and plenty of lacing. You can fill the rinse aid reservoir of your dishwasher with regular white vinegar for a cheap and effective alternative to commercial rinse aids. Vinegar also happens to be one way to get a glass "beer clean". Saves money and a lot of time.

I have great lacing and good head retention with glasses from the dishwasher. I don't do anything special. I like lacing and who doesn't like head retention but I just care more about the taste than the look of it.

kaconga said:

I have great lacing and good head retention with glasses from the dishwasher. I don't do anything special. I like lacing and who doesn't like head retention but I just care more about the taste than the look of it.

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+1, if it tastes good who the F@@k cares.

I feel like people are WAY too anal about this.

The most discerning gentlemen serve their fermented beverages in "Roxy Trollies" glasses in my estimation. Anything else would be uncivilized!!

http://curioshop.multiply.com/photos/album/21/Roxy-Trolley-Bag-P2500-only-1pc-left

Watched the vid posted by Revvy... Pretty interesting stuff.

Did a quick test and it looks like I'm gonna need to add salt to my bulk buy list!

You guys don't get any scratching from this method? Would something like table sugar have the same effect? In other words, is there some salt property or just the abrasive quality of the grains that has this effect?

Yeah, I use a dishwasher and I had wash as needed. always with soap. I have never had any issue with head retention. But then again I thoroughly wash and rinse all of my dishes.

F250 said:

Um, dude, here you are getting all anal about glass cleanliness yet your microwave has gunk all over it and wrappers from lord knows what jammed under it. WTF?

Rick

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Haha I know my kitchen was a mess. I promise it's cleaner now. Even then keeping my beer glasses clean is still number 1 priority