how to use Dishwasher for sanitizing?

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ahoym8e

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I heard someone tell me I can use my dishwasher to sanitize my bottles, and that most modern dishwwashers have a sanitizing cycle.

I have a modern dishwasher, and I see potscrubbing cycle, and High temp wash and heated dry, but no sanitizing cycle...

does anyone know?

thx
 
Oh boy...I'm going to say no, but there are going to be just as many people that say they do it all the time with no problems as say no. So....Let the argument begin!! Rofl...
 
ahoym8e said:
I heard someone tell me I can use my dishwasher to sanitize my bottles, and that most modern dishwwashers have a sanitizing cycle.

I have a modern dishwasher, and I see potscrubbing cycle, and High temp wash and heated dry, but no sanitizing cycle...

does anyone know?

thx
Click to expand...

I would go with the High temp wash, with the heated dry on. Is there just a rinse cycle, with dry heat on? that would be the best...'sanitizing' is a relative term describing the level of microbes. I find that just cleaning and rinsing bottles is 'sanitized' enough for me.

whatever you do DONT USE SOAP. And dont put nasty ass dirty bottles in there and expect them to come out all strerile.

If you clean and rinse your bottles prior to putting them in the washer, they will already have a low level of microbes, and the rinse/dry heat will make that level even lower.
 
Bjorn Borg said:
I would go with the High temp wash, with the heated dry on. Is there just a rinse cycle, with dry heat on? that would be the best...'sanitizing' is a relative term describing the level of microbes. I find that just cleaning and rinsing bottles is 'sanitized' enough for me.

whatever you do DONT USE SOAP. And dont put nasty ass dirty bottles in there and expect them to come out all strerile.

If you clean and rinse your bottles prior to putting them in the washer, they will already have a low level of microbes, and the rinse/dry heat will make that level even lower.
Click to expand...

I would add - rinse the bottles after serving, while the beer is still fresh.


:mug:
 
My new from the store, with beer drained from them in my glass, bottles get rinsed and placed into the dish rack in my sink. Then they go into the dishwasher for label removal when there is a load of dishes ready to go, and finally they get a soaking in Star San before bottling. I'm being careful. No use in spending like 6 or so hours on a batch and have it go bad in the bottles.
 
I put all the bottles in the bottom rack, spout down. I used the high temp rinse and b-bright instead of soap. Before that I had soaked the bottles in B-brite solution.

I'll report any bad bottles if they occur.
 
I've never used the dishwasher to sanitize bottles, but I suggest running the washer empty with no soap first to make sure no soap residue from the dishwasher gets on the bottles.
 
eviltwinofjoni said:
I've never used the dishwasher to sanitize bottles, but I suggest running the washer empty with no soap first to make sure no soap residue from the dishwasher gets on the bottles.
Click to expand...


This sounds like a good idea. Plus, when I need to get stuff extra clean, I throw a good slosh of bleach at the bottom right before starting the cycle and then I run the rinse cycle twice.. that may work with the bottles....
 
I did this recently, I used the hi temp wash, had to do to cycles because I could only use the bottom rack. It worked fine though, not one single bottle was contaminated. Still, I don't plan on doing it again, I just use the iodaphor now.
 
i got a new dishwasher months ago that comes with a sanitize cycle. I am leery though so I have done this method:

I always rinse out my bottles after pouring them. So I fill up a bucket (or 2) with a bleach solution and let them sit for a few hours, overnight, whatever. I them take them out and put them in the dishwasher. No soap, no cleaning agents, nothing. I run the bottles thru the Sanitize cycle with Heat Dry. Leave them in for a while after they are dry, and don't open the door until you are ready to bottle. Because bleach is very volatile, it will all be gone. No bleach stank! I still fill my bottles by hand (22oz only) so I put the bottling bucket on the counter over the dishwasher, and leave the door open. I use a spigot with tubing to fill the bottle, and then next one is right there waiting. Simple (as far as bottling by spigot goes) and can be done with one person.
 
mrkrispy said:
i got a new dishwasher months ago that comes with a sanitize cycle. I am leery though so I have done this method:

I always rinse out my bottles after pouring them. So I fill up a bucket (or 2) with a bleach solution and let them sit for a few hours, overnight, whatever. I them take them out and put them in the dishwasher. No soap, no cleaning agents, nothing. I run the bottles thru the Sanitize cycle with Heat Dry. Leave them in for a while after they are dry, and don't open the door until you are ready to bottle. Because bleach is very volatile, it will all be gone. No bleach stank! I still fill my bottles by hand (22oz only) so I put the bottling bucket on the counter over the dishwasher, and leave the door open. I use a spigot with tubing to fill the bottle, and then next one is right there waiting. Simple (as far as bottling by spigot goes) and can be done with one person.
Click to expand...


That is my process - almost identically. The only difference - I will use BTF instead of bleach if I happen to have some around.
 
I did the Dishwasher route, then filled bottles with Star San and drained. Problem was, those big Star San bubbles remained in the bottles (even though I tipped them upside down for a couple of hours.) Question is: will the acidic taste of the Star San ruin my beer taste? Do I need to rense the bottles with boiled water before botteling? Seems like a waste of time. Is there something better than Star San that doesn't leave behind an acid taste?
 
Thought I read somewhere in the forum that a dishwasher would not get enough water in each of the bottles to be much of use.
 
GOD said:
Thought I read somewhere in the forum that a dishwasher would not get enough water in each of the bottles to be much of use.
Click to expand...

yea, they won't get water up into the things.

remember there is a difference between clean and sanitary. something must be cleaned before it can be sanitized. sanitation can be done with heat alone, so....

dishwashers cannot CLEAN your bottles, but I am willing to accept that they could get hot enough on their DRY cycles to SANITIZE them (provided you CLEANED and RINSED the bottles before you put them into the dishwasher.)

-walker
 

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