bottle sanitizing

I'm going to be bottling my first batch of beer on friday. Should I sanitize my bottles right before I want to bottle or will the bottles be ok if i sanatize them a day or two before i bottle them.

that depends a lot on what you do after you sanitize them...
if you sanitize them today, then put them on the bathroom floor next to your toilet, they'll need to be re-sanitized. if you sanitize them and cover them with flamed aluminum foil, they should be ok.
that being said, i recommend sanitizing with a no-rinse sanitizer immediately before bottling.

Yeah, don't put them next to the toilet. I always clean them beforehand and sanitize before bottling.

Cool i'll sanatize them right before bottling.

First post for me and I will also be brewing my first batch next weekend.
So there are sanitizers that require no rinsing then? That helps a lot as my kitchen sink is probably the smallest sink I have ever seen.


dan

STAR SAN

no rinse use it.



buy it here or at your lbhs

make a spray bottle full of solution and you can spot spray it on equipment as needed.

do not use star san on aluminum.

I have both Star San and One Step. I am not doing this purposely but I have seen that I use one product for one thing and the other for other things. Like I use Star San for carboys. But when I want to fill a bucket and just dump things in to sanitize I use One Step. Seem to use One Step for bottles. Fill the sink with water and One Step and toss bottles in it. I'm an old One Step user so I suppose I just feel more comfortable with it, but it interesting that I seem to have different uses for each product. I do have to say that the warnings on Star San are a bit worrysome to me when I decide to read them.

Well I have to place an order for some supplies I didn't think about so I will just add this to the list. By the way, I bought a 5.5 gallon pot to boil the wort. Am I going to have boil overs with that or should I return it and get a larger pot?


Dan

Beer Snob said:

I have both Star San and One Step. I am not doing this purposely but I have seen that I use one product for one thing and the other for other things. Like I use Star San for carboys. But when I want to fill a bucket and just dump things in to sanitize I use One Step. Seem to use One Step for bottles. Fill the sink with water and One Step and toss bottles in it. I'm an old One Step user so I suppose I just feel more comfortable with it, but it interesting that I seem to have different uses for each product. I do have to say that the warnings on Star San are a bit worrysome to me when I decide to read them.

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I'm a huge fan of using the "proper tool for the proper job" and believe that as homebrews, we need to have huge toolboxes!

I used to use bleach and hot hot water and was happy with that for years and it worked as long as you had 30 mins to soak and at least that again to allow for rinsing and more time to allow for drying. After my time became valuable (read: killer promotion) I gave Star San a shot.

Star San used to make me a bit worried as I went from having to soak things for 30 mins and rinse real well to having to soak for two mins and not rinse. How strong is this stuff? When things worry me I tend to research and I found it said in a few different places that Star San is as safe as bleach to handle. I have come to love Star San as the fumes aren't as strong as bleach and don't linger around the house.


I do still use bleach as one of my tools. It cleans carboys with NO effort. Even the grungiest carboys have come out as good as new by soaking them in a bleach solution of varying strenth over night, no scrubbing. Rinse well the next day. Bleach helps keep your drains clear and is super cheap. Simply amazes me every time.

Willsellout said:

Well I have to place an order for some supplies I didn't think about so I will just add this to the list. By the way, I bought a 5.5 gallon pot to boil the wort. Am I going to have boil overs with that or should I return it and get a larger pot?

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When buying brew pots, the bigger the better. You will grow into it one day. I personally think you should 5.5 gallon is a tad small and would buy a minimum of 7.5 gallon, that way you are ready for full boils and all grain brewing in the future. Buy as large as you can afford. Do yourself a favor and buy a good quality stainless steel pot. A good pot will last a lifetime and make you many a batch 'o beer.

I guess it's important to remember to wash the bottle everytime you finish a beer otherwise you'll be washing 50 or 60 of them all in one shot on bottling day.

Now, a question about washing. I will be bottling my first batch later this week.
I bought 2 cases of bottles and read somewhere that you don't have to wash new bottles, only sanitize?


Tommy

Brewno said:

I guess it's important to remember to wash the bottle everytime you finish a beer otherwise you'll be washing 50 or 60 of them all in one shot on bottling day.

Now, a question about washing. I will be bottling my first batch later this week.
I bought 2 cases of bottles and read somewhere that you don't have to wash new bottles, only sanitize?


Tommy

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i would still give them a quick rinse with water before sanitizing to remove any dust or dead critters that may be lingering.... this is probably optional, though.

visual inspection and common sense should dictate whether you wash the bottles first or just sanitize...

Willsellout said:

...sanitizers that require no rinsing...my kitchen sink is probably the smallest sink I have ever seen...dan

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For you brewers lacking room/counter space I would recommend Iodophor over Star San when used in conjunction with a the pump style bottle washer that fits on top of a bottling tree.

The Iodophor does not bubble up like Star San does when using the washer.

But make sure you rinse the Iodophor sanitized bottles well or your beer will be ruined.

Robbw said:

But make sure you rinse the Iodophor sanitized bottles well or your beer will be ruined.

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What?

Robbw said:

But make sure you rinse the Iodophor sanitized bottles well or your beer will be ruined.

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Io is a no-rinse sanitizer. It leaves no taste or odor in the beer, as long as you let the bottles dry before adding beer. Works great every time and leaves no bubbles (like Star San).

I fill my botteling bucket a few inches from the top with water and idopher. fill bottles standing up at the bottom, let them soak for 3 minutes, drain, & put them on the tree to dry. By the time I'm ready to start botteling they are ready to go.

No rinse needed, no off flavors.

If you have a small sink (or don't feel like having to clean all the dishes and counters every time you bottle) this is a great way to go.


Also a bottle washer is a good investment. Blast the insides of the bottles with no effort.

I get used bottles and soak them in super grunge remover from home brew heaven, the lables come off easy unless they have the plastic coated kind (Sam addams is the best to deal with), and blast the insides out with hot water (you do have to rinse them well, it leavess a residue when it dries). Put them back in the boxes. Then sanitize them on botteling day.


I always rinse the bottles out after I finish them, makes reusing delabled bottles so much easier. Sanitize and be done with it.

Robbw said:

But make sure you rinse the Iodophor sanitized bottles well or your beer will be ruined.

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Iodophor is a no- rinse sanitizer...........

I just dunk my bottles in the toilet to rinse before bottling. Is that wrong?

Is it possible to use the dishwasher to sanitize? I use one step, which is used 1 TbpP to 1 gallon. So if I put 2 tbsp (dry) into the dishwasher along with my bottles- would I have sanitized bottles when it was done? I could use the no-rinse setting (or not). Do they have to "soak" or would this do it? It would be so much easier in my kitchen to do it this way. Then I could just bottle as I take them out of the dishwasher. I'm always looking for the easy way, but I want to do it right.

Lorena

I wouldn't trust the dishwasher to be able to clean the insides of the bottles, or even if they were already clean to get the sanitizer in every corner of the bottles.

What works for me - and maybe there's a slightly easier way that doing this, but it's not THAT much work:

1. Clean all bottles with soap and hot water ASAP after drinking.
2. Rinse and soak in a Home Depot bucket full of sanitizer. Have to do this in batches, but not too many.
3. As they come out, I place them upside down in my clean, empty dishwasher (to use as a bottling tree). I have been then running them through - without soap or anything else - on the sanitize cycle, which I know gets them nice and hot and will dry them off for me, but this step is probably redundant and if I had a real time crunch I would probably skip it (just let them drain in the dishwasher).

I do leave them in the dishwasher after they've gone through the cycle and bottle from there. DOn't see the need to buy a bottle tree when the dishwasher does the same thing.

gruntingfrog said:

I just dunk my bottles in the toilet to rinse before bottling. Is that wrong?

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It depends on if you're using a no rinse sanitizer.

lorenae said:

Is it possible to use the dishwasher to sanitize? I use one step, which is used 1 TbpP to 1 gallon. So if I put 2 tbsp (dry) into the dishwasher along with my bottles- would I have sanitized bottles when it was done? I could use the no-rinse setting (or not). Do they have to "soak" or would this do it? It would be so much easier in my kitchen to do it this way. Then I could just bottle as I take them out of the dishwasher. I'm always looking for the easy way, but I want to do it right.

Lorena

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You can use your dishwasher to sanitize your bottles period, without using any chemicals, provided they're already clean. Just make sure there's no soap or Jet Dry in the dishwasher as this will leave a film on your bottles. It's actually the heat or drying cycle that sanitizes the bottles, so you only really need to use that cycle, but I used to let it run for the whole cycle anyway. Also, this way sound obvious but you never know, place the bottles upside down in the dishwasher to allow ant water to drain out, sorry, had to be said.


This was what got me through the last few batches of bottles before going to kegs. Hope this helps!

Spyk'd said:

You can use your dishwasher to sanitize your bottles period, without using any chemicals, provided they're already clean. Just make sure there's no soap or Jet Dry in the dishwasher as this will leave a film on your bottles. It's actually the heat or drying cycle that sanitizes the bottles, so you only really need to use that cycle, but I used to let it run for the whole cycle anyway. Also, this way sound obvious but you never know, place the bottles upside down in the dishwasher to allow ant water to drain out, sorry, had to be said.


This was what got me through the last few batches of bottles before going to kegs. Hope this helps!

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There is some contention on using dishwashers to sanitize bottles. If it works for you, fine. I'll never trust a home unit to achieve a high enough temperature and hold it long enough to accomplish proper sanitization level.

bikebryan said:

There is some contention on using dishwashers to sanitize bottles. If it works for you, fine. I'll never trust a home unit to achieve a high enough temperature and hold it long enough to accomplish proper sanitization level.

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Ever have a baby? Ever sterilize bottles? How'd you do it? We used a steamer that sterilized with heat. We later found out that we could have used the dishwasher for this, but the counter top unit was very convenient as those of you with babies know how many bottles you go through. The fact is, you don't need to sterilize your beer bottles, merely sanitize. In this way, the dishwasher is actually overkill. Unless you have an old rickety model, go for it, I've never had a problem. As a matter of fact, alot of newer models actually have a "sterilize" mode on them.:cross:

If you use a bottle washer and Idophor to sanitize your bottles, do you have to wash them for 2 minutes (recommended contact time), or does rinsing them 1x and allowing them to dry suffice?

I am wondering if the time it takes things to dry "counts" as part of the 2 minutes? I really don't feel like using one of those pump bottle washers for 2 minutes on each bottle. That would take forever!

Spyk'd said:

Ever have a baby? Ever sterilize bottles? How'd you do it? We used a steamer that sterilized with heat. We later found out that we could have used the dishwasher for this, but the counter top unit was very convenient as those of you with babies know how many bottles you go through. The fact is, you don't need to sterilize your beer bottles, merely sanitize. In this way, the dishwasher is actually overkill. Unless you have an old rickety model, go for it, I've never had a problem. As a matter of fact, alot of newer models actually have a "sterilize" mode on them.:cross:

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This isn't an issue when the babe drinks draught milk.

I probably oversterilize, using the dishwasher and the sterilizing solution, but soaking the bottles in solution and draining them helps if my initial cleaning job WASN'T 100%; I don't trust the dishwasher to actually get water inside the bottles. Using the dishwasher (with the sanitize cycle) means that I'm got dry bottles and they are kept in a sterile environment until I need them. So, overkill in one sense, but then again not really.

the_bird said:

This isn't an issue when the babe drinks draught milk.

I probably oversterilize, using the dishwasher and the sterilizing solution, but soaking the bottles in solution and draining them helps if my initial cleaning job WASN'T 100%; I don't trust the dishwasher to actually get water inside the bottles. Using the dishwasher (with the sanitize cycle) means that I'm got dry bottles and they are kept in a sterile environment until I need them. So, overkill in one sense, but then again not really.

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You've voiced my concerns pretty well. You can't count on the dishwasher to get a stream of water into the bottles well enough to coat the entire inside of the bottle. It also won't produce a good enough steam concentration to circulate throughout the entire cabinet, let alone to get up inside all the bottles. The drying cycle sanitizes by steaming the water off the contents, and if your bottles don't get thoroughly coated by water during the wash/rinse cycle (and they won't), then sanitation will be spotty.

As I said, if it works for you, fine. I just don't/won't trust it. Sanitizing dishes is easy, and sanitizing glasses is easy, but bottles - that's another story because of their odd shape.

It doesn't get much easier than dunking bottles in a 5 gal bucket and emptying them out. Just rinse your bottles after you poor a glass and sanitize right before bottling.

Having read through this thread I want to make sure my process should work. I was planning on using my bottling bucket, fill with water and a no rinse sanitizer (probably Star San), sanitize a bottling tree, santize bottles, and then be ready to go since the bucker will be sanitized too. Does this sound like it will be sufficient? (I was planning on using my primary fermentor in a similar manner on brew day, please tell me if this is a bad idea).

That's what I do (with Idopher), no issues to date.
I usually make sure to get the sanitiser all the way up the sides of the bucket, just in case.

The steam/water does not need to circulate thru the bottle. The bottles need to be completly clean on the inside prior to being placed in the dishwasher. It is not the steam coming into contact with the bottle, but the heat [that created the steam] that sanitizes the bottles (dishes, baby botles, ect.).

On brew day I'm usually also transfering from primary to secondary on the same day, so I soak everything in the primary including the racking cane and tubing, then transfer to the carboy to sanitize the inside of the racking cane. Just remember the primary bucket is a few gallons larger than the carboy. The sanitizer will overflow the carboy every time. And it's gaurenteed that if I walk out of the room just for a second, I will forget the transfering to a much smaller container is going on. Well untill about a second before there is no more fluid in the bucket.

hmmm wish I had read ths last week.....

I just finished my first batch, and bottled last week. I used bleach tabs in the sink, which each bottle was left in for about 5 minutes, vigorously rinsed with the bleach water, and then rinsed with screaming hot tap water.

I just cracked my first beer tonight (after 1 week in the bottle) and had no problems with carbonation. The beer was warm so it tasted a little different that what I'm used to, but other than that no worries.

We'll see this weekend when I intend to drink all 48 of 'em.....from the sounds of this thread I may have some problems with skunky beer.