What method do you use to clean/sanitize your beer bottles?

What method do you use to clean/sanitize your beer bottles?

abefroman said:

What method do you use to clean/sanitize your beer bottles?

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If I have to delable, I soak bottles in oxyclean and warm water overnight. Then I scrub the outsides with a sponge and rise with my garden hose. If I'm not delabling, I rinse the bottle out with very hot water a few times (I like to do this as I drink so the yeast doesn't get old and gross in the bottle).

I let these dry and then store in closed boxes inside bags so they don't get dusty.

I sanitize with a squirt bottle of star san. Just squirt a few times into the bottles and around the rim.

To clean (after emptying): OxiClean Free and hot water in a 5-gallon bucket. Soak for 1-2 nights to remove residue and labels.

To sanitize (before filling): StarSan in a Vinator. 4 pumps in each bottle and then hang them on a sanitized bottle tree.

I soak in one-step scrub, rinse even tho one-step is no rinse, then use star San in a avvinatore (made by ferrarri, goes on top of their bottling tree), to sanitize before placing on the bottles on the bottling tree. Caps get soaked in the avvinatore after I sanitize the bottles. I'm actually soaking my Samuel Smith's imperial pint bottles as I peruse HBT to bottle my wife's brown ale in tonight.

I always rinse right after I empty them, then before bottling day, a ride through the sanitize cycle in the dishwasher and a skinny dip in starsan (the bottles, not me) and ready for some fresh brew

BrewForMe said:

I always rinse right after I empty them, then before bottling day, a ride through the sanitize cycle in the dishwasher and a skinny dip in starsan (the bottles, not me) and ready for some fresh brew

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+1 IMO rinsing right after pouring your beer out of the bottle is the single most important thing you can do to begin the cleaning process. This way you don't have to worry about getting that yeast cake out of the bottle.

Rinse with water after emptying, leave on counter until I get tired of them building up.

Soak in a sink full of hot water + Oxyclean to remove labels / any organic gunk, rinse with hot water, drain upside down in the dish drainer. I can soak 24+ bottles in my sink at one time, and 30-60 minutes soak is usually plenty. Sometimes the bottles need a quick wipe-down with the rough side of a sponge to remove the last of the glue residue. I have only occasionally needed to take the bottle brush to the inside of bottles to get em clean.

Sanitize by dunking in a sink full of hot StarSan, swishing and pouring out a couple times (dunk, bubble bubble bubble, pour, repeat), and draining upside down in the dish drainer.

I stash boxes of clean bottles and sanitize just before filling. I'll even dunk the dish drainer in the sink-o-starsan before I start rinsing the bottles to make sure it is sanitary It takes me 5-10 minutes to sanitize enough bottles for a batch of beer (2 dish drainers full of wet bottles is usually enough)

Btw, love the name. The Sausage King of Chicago!

RINSE IMEADIATLY after drinking, then on bottling day I put them in the dish washer with no soap to sanitize.

shawnbou said:

To clean (after emptying): OxiClean Free and hot water in a 5-gallon bucket. Soak for 1-2 nights to remove residue and labels.

To sanitize (before filling): StarSan in a Vinator. 4 pumps in each bottle and then hang them on a sanitized bottle tree.

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+1.

When I started brewing, I did not have enough dark bottle so I ended up using Corona bottles. In those clear bottles, you can see even the smallest amount of residue. This is how I realized that rinsing just after drinking is definitely not enough: the bottom of the bottle would be fine, but some residue would always remain in the bottle neck. This is why even if I quickly rinse right after drinking, I still soak overnight in oxyclean before bottling.

Oxyclean (free) for me everytime, then a shot of star-san just before filling!!

abefroman said:

What method do you use to clean/sanitize your beer bottles?

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To Clean

Soak in VERY hot water around 190 with pre mixed in PBW let soak overnight, leave a lil of the pbw in the bottom and shake like mad or clean with a baby bottle cleaner.

To Sanitize

Soak in VERY hot water around 190 with pre mixed in Star San, and let sit overnight.

I know it seems a long process but it has always worked wonders for me.

I soak mine in hot PBW, followed by a hot rinse, then on the bottle tree to dry.

I don't bottle much beer, but when I do, this is how I sanitize.

I have a 2 cup Tupperware measuring cup. I fill it up 3/4 with fresh starsan from my RO bottle mix. I then gently pour about 4 ounces in a clean beer bottle and with a rubber gloved hand, I put my sanitized thumb over the mouth and turn it horizontal. I rotate the bottle coating the inside, then gently drain back into the cup. Lastly, I dip the bottle mouth into the cup, and then place on the sanitized bottling tree to drain. The bottles are ready in 2 minutes.

Once drained, I will place a small piece of sanitized foil over the bottle mouth and it's good to go.

I used to use a Vinoator to squirt starsan into the bottle, but it created so much foam, I had to stop using it. This method leaves the least amount of sanitizing solution in the bottle while using less than 2 cups of starsan for the job.

i put mine in the oven at 300 deg for like 3 hours. my buddy told me to do it that way. i'm not sure it works, but i've never had a problem.

Jetwasher to clean

blast of Star San to sanatize.

rycov said:

RINSE IMEADIATLY after drinking, then on bottling day I put them in the dish washer with no soap to sanitize.

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Exactly my procedure.

beer_man_now said:

i put mine in the oven at 300 deg for like 3 hours. my buddy told me to do it that way. i'm not sure it works, but i've never had a problem.

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The heat doesn't weaken or break the glass?

There don't seem to be many proponents of Iodophor here...

I have been using Iodophor to sanitize my bottles for several batches and it has worked great. I'll either batch soak in the sink with 12.5 ppm solution and let drip dry for a short time or pour some in, shake well, letting some spill around the lip, and pour out, allowing to drip dry (usually will do the entire batch, and then start bottling with the first ones sanitized). In as low of a concentration as it is in, any residual iodophor solution is undetectable.

I rinse with hot water within a day or two of drinking, then run them through the dishwasher. On bottling day I run them through the dishwasher on sanitize adding some idophor to the first cycle.

mperceau said:

+1.

When I started brewing, I did not have enough dark bottle so I ended up using Corona bottles. In those clear bottles, you can see even the smallest amount of residue. This is how I realized that rinsing just after drinking is definitely not enough: the bottom of the bottle would be fine, but some residue would always remain in the bottle neck. This is why even if I quickly rinse right after drinking, I still soak overnight in oxyclean before bottling.

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This is similar to how I discovered that rinsing (my bottles) after drinking wasn't doing as good a job as I thought it was. I started using 20 Oz. clear soda bottles and saw some residue. Looked a little closer at the brown bottles and saw the same thing. Now periodically (a Q1R for you Navy PMS guys) it's a 24 hour Oxy soak and Star San/vinator sanitizing prior to bottling.

abefroman said:

What method do you use to clean/sanitize your beer bottles?

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Hot, soapy water & a bottle brush; a thorough rinse in cold water (X2), and Starsan to sanitize.
BTW, if you rinse the bottle well as soon as it's empty, it will save you a LOT of work later.
Regards, GF.

beer_man_now said:

i put mine in the oven at 300 deg for like 3 hours. my buddy told me to do it that way. i'm not sure it works, but i've never had a problem.

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no, it shouldn't harm the bottles. i've seen this method recomended on here before. i reckon its similar to what i do with the dish washer, but with dry heat instead of hot water.

I have soaked them in a sink full of OxyClean and then run them through the heat cycle in the dishwasher right before I bottle. As soon as the heat cycle is finished, I wait for the bottles to cool and take them right from the dishwasher as I bottle.

To delable or clean out mold and gunk from bottles.



To rinse-



To sanitize using either starsan or iodophor.

Revvy said:

To delable or clean out mold and gunk from bottles.

To rinse-

To sanitize using either starsan or iodophor.

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exactly how i do it. Won't be doing much delabeling anymore though thank god. Started getting wise and buying Guinness draft bottles, not my favorite beer but still a decent brew and a knife takes care of the heat shrink or whatever it is label on there. Rinse it out when it's done. once i've got 12 collected i blast them with the jet bottle washer. Bottling day, jet bottle washer again, then vinator with starsan or iodophor, then to the bottle tree.
Between the vinator, jet bottle washer, and bottle tree i can honestly not even come close to explaining how happy i am that i purchased those early on. I didn't have to bottle a batch with out them and wouldn't want to.

rinse well after use .. store upside down, and then a few hours before I am going to bottle, I run them thru the dishwaser on the sani mode, no soap .. this works for me and it's very simple and cheap .. the key is the rinse after use ... it must be very, very thorough.

I try to keep my bottles clean so that I only have to sanitize on bottling day. Usually do this by rinsing every bottle after drinking from it. As far as newly aquired "dirty bottles" I put them into a 2 day water bath with Oxyclean and TSP and that usually kills and removes labels/mold gunk, what ever. Then rinse them well and store them clean until ready to use. On bottling day I fill up a rubbermaid tub with a few gal of starsan and water and usually soak my bottles until ready to bottle. It works well for bottling wand, autosyphon and anything else I can fit in there also. It seems to me the most efficient way for me.

beerloaf

Dishwasher on sanitize, no soap, heated dry.

shawnbou said:

To sanitize (before filling): StarSan in a Vinator. 4 pumps in each bottle and then hang them on a sanitized bottle tree.

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The Vinator and bottle tree is the BEST! It makes sanitizing very easy.

I usually do a hot wash first. Then I go to some easy clean. I then bust out my vinator with some star san and blast the bottles with that . I also take my spray bottle that has star san in it and spray the mouths of the bottles just to be safe. I like when you are done with the vinator you get a hat of foam to put on your head.

This thread has been extremely helpful to my delabling and cleaning process. I'm on my 5th batch and have a little over 100 bottles I've delabled. Just tried oxyclean and it made delabling a sinch. Now all I have to do is get a vinator for sanitizing my bottle for my next batch.

For those of you that do the Oxy or PBW & water soak over night, do you ever end up with a white residue on your bottle, case I think it os called?

I soak my bottles in oxyclean to remove labels and clean them on the inside. Then I run them in the sanitize on my dish washer. No problems yet and it's super easy.

That's good to know. I just remember reading somewhere that Oxy has a tendency to leave a caked on residue which i'm sure you could scrub off but that kind of defeats the purpose of sokaing them to being with!

I got a batch just sitting overnight in hot water. We'll see how that goes!

Mase said:

For those of you that do the Oxy or PBW & water soak over night, do you ever end up with a white residue on your bottle, case I think it os called?

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We call it scale, it's really common, it's just residue from the oxyclean as the water it's soaking in evaporates or reacting with minerals in the water. Usually a weak acid solution like vinegar and water, lemon juice and water, even a dillution of starsan and water usually breaks it down. Then lots of rinsing.

Thanks Revvy! That's what I was trying to recall. Perhaps I can cut down on the soaking time to prevent such evaporation.