Any tips for bottling?

Hey all,
Gettin to the point of bottling my first few batches and was wondering if anyone had any tips for cleaning/delabeling bottles. Right now we soak the used ones in a bucket to get the labels off then dry them on a bottle tree. Then when it comes time to bottle we submerge them in cleaner..scrub with the bottle scrubber and sanitize.

Any tips to speed this up? Does a dishwasher work for cleaning the bottles, or is the long way he best?

Thanks

I soak a labeled bottle in Hot Water & OxyClean, rinse and pull off the label if needed (usually it just falls off). Then do another Hot water / OxyClean bath. Then use a sanitizing solution at bottling time. Has worked for me so far.

You mean besides the Stickey at the top of this section actually ENTITLED bottling tips?

Sorry, no......

.... Sorry man, using the mobile app and it doesn't show sticky threads.

HAHAHA!!!

But seriously, I soak my bottles in hot oxy for an hour or two to help peel the labels off. if they don't come right off, they go in the trash. It's not worth the effort to have to scrap for 20 minutes!

Then the outside of the bottle gets a wipe with soapy water (or whatever you prefer) to remove any remaining adhesive. Then a quick swish inside with the bottle brush.

Rinse and hang upside down in upper dishwasher rack to drip dry.

At bottling time I pull them out and spray the inside with a couple of squirts of Starsan and put on dishwasher rack to drip again. Grab and fill with beer!

No reason to let them drip completely dry. Starsan can be used wet with no worries about affecting beer quality or flavor. I just like to let it drip for a few minutes while I get the bottling bucket prepared.

When you are done drinking a beer, rinse it out 2-3 times to remove any sediment and it will not really need a brushing.

Hi. I soak mine in a ice chest /cooler full of water and about 3/4 cup of bleach for about a week .I then take them out and the labels usually come rightoff with a little rubbing. I then take them and put a little hot water in them and use a bottle brush to get any crud out of the inside. rinse with hot water and air dry and they are ready to use. Never had any problems.

1) 15 mins dunk in Hot Water and OxyClean
2) Shake the bottles, pour solution out.
3) Wash in dishwasher with no soap.
4) Rinse inside and out with warm tap water.
5) Sanitize, then dry on rack (I have no bottle rack, so I use my dishwasher rack).

I rinse my bottles good after drinking them so I usually have no gunk in them.

revvy said:

you mean besides the stickey at the top of this section actually entitled bottling tips?

sorry, no......

Click to expand...

:d

Not really for cleaning them that seems well covered but when it comes time to fill them I like doing it over the open door of my dishwasher. Sanitize the bottles on short wash with heated dry then open the door and fill from there. Very compact and no worries about the little bit that spills. Found it on here when I first started forgot who suggested it but it is the best for WAF that I have found on bottling day.

my empties get rinsed then go into a 20gallon fish tank with starsan/H2O mixture to wait until the next bottling session. The tank holds enough bottles to make a 5 gallon batch. On bottling day, pull bottles out, drain/pour excess back into fish tank, bottle and start process all over again with fresh starsan/h20 mixture. The tank holds more bottles that a bottling bucket and is big enough to put the auto siphon into for sterilization.