Questions on sanitizing and cleaning bottles.

I'm going to bootle my first batch of beer and I had a couple of questions about the bottles. A couple weeks ago I soaked my bottles in hot water and bee brite. This removed the labels and the visible crud inside the bottles. I then rinsed each of the bottles with water. I have a jet cleaner but I don't have a threaded faucet so I haven't been able to use it. All my bottles look clean. I'm planing on soaking all of the bottles in iodoform and then filling them. I'm guessing I should let the bottles drip dry first am I right about that or should I bottle right away. Is there anything else I should be doing?

I would recommend a bottle tree for drying. I also have a jet washer that I use, but I just connect mine to the hot water line that goes to my washing machine. So the bottle tree helps me move 45 sanitized bottles at a time from the basement up to where I do my bottling. I don't have a tv in the basement

It sounds like you're taking the right precautions as far as sanitation. A bottle brush wouldn't hurt either for getting crud out. Another good practice is to rinse out your bottle once right after you finish the beer. I'm assuming you plan to reuse your bottles.

Iodophor is an effective sanitizer as long as the surface is wet. In other words, the Iodophor will knock out the bad bugs that are on the bottle when you soak it, and knock out any bad bugs that happen to float in on the air and land on your bottle as long as it is wet.

I use a bottle tree, which inverts the bottles and let's the bottle drip so there isn't a pool of Iodophor in there, but I don't leave the bottles so long that they dry out. Even if they did, the bottles being inverted would help keep out the bad bugs floating around in the air.

What I do is soak them in the iodofor for 2 mins. Pour out the extra solution. I dont air dry just make sure you dont have a puddle on solution in the bottle and you should be good.

DrewschBag said:

Another good practice is to rinse out your bottle once right after you finish the beer. I'm assuming you plan to reuse your bottles.

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Great advice! I rinse the bottle out in hot water right away, visually inspect that it is clean, then put it inverted in the dish drainer so it drys - so no mold or mildew take hold in the wet bottle. If you do that, you don't need to wash the bottles again before bottling, just sanitize.

Thanks guys for all the great advice, I was thinking about getting a bottle tree but I didn't want to buy one just yet. I've sunk a fair amount of money into this hobby and I kind of wanted to hold off buying more stuff. I was thinking of just pulling out my bottom door of my dishwasher and using that to let them drip dry. The outside of the beer bottles have some glue residue on it so I was thinking about running the bottles through dishwasher to get rid of that.

Also, have you seen the Vinator? http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/vinator-bottle-rinser.html. This plus the bottle tree were a good purchase for me, made bottling easier. FWIW, I found both at my lhbs.

james138 said:

Thanks guys for all the great advice, I was thinking about getting a bottle tree but I didn't want to buy one just yet. I've sunk a fair amount of money into this hobby and I kind of wanted to hold off buying more stuff. I was thinking of just pulling out my bottom door of my dishwasher and using that to let them drip dry. The outside of the beer bottles have some glue residue on it so I was thinking about running the bottles through dishwasher to get rid of that.

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Yup, we all make choices about what we buy and when. Most of the members of my homebrew club have systems that are far more expensive than mine - but mine is the right scale for me now. And my beers score well.

For the glue residue, if the dishwasher doesn't work, you could soak in either hot water or hot water with oxyclean and then when the residue is soft, just wipe it off with a dish cloth.

If you use the dishwasher, don't use dish detergent - that stuff almost never rinses completely off.

I rinse after pouring evry beer and drain When im ready to bottle i rinse them all wother bottle washer and then 'rack' sanitizer into the bottles, swirl the bottle around, invert into the bucket with sanitizer to drain and set on the counter ready to bottle. Way easier than immersion and the swirling leaves some foam for contact time.

Pappers_ said:

If you use the dishwasher, don't use dish detergent - that stuff almost never rinses completely off.

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On this subject, is it a problem if the dishwasher normally uses detergent, even if it isn't using it in this instance?

I tried washing my bottles without detergent, opened up midway through, and there were suds everywhere. So I ran a second cycle without detergent, and there were still suds. I'm not sure how many cycles it takes to eliminate them, but I imagine they're at least lessened.

I recommend soaking bottles in 3 gallons hot water with a cup of ammonia to remove the labels. Let them sit for a while (hours or days) then the glue usually wipes right off. Of course, it depends on the bottle - some brands use glue that will dissolve in cold tap water, others appear to require a blow torch.
Using your dishwasher as a bottle drying rack is a fine idea.
I personally rinse bottles immediately after use, the soak them for a couple of days in 3 gallons of water with 1/4 cup of chlorine bleach (one batch lasts weeks and will handle several cases of bottles). On bottling day I run the bottles through the dishwasher on the Sani-Rinse cycle, heat dry, with a tablespoon of One Step.

So I was going to start to bottle today but I'm not able to attach my bottling "wand" to my spigot for my bottling bucket. Has anybody else ever had a problem like this? I cut the tip of the nozzle off the spigot to allow the wand to fit in but it's not working. No matter how hard I push I cant get it in. Any advice? And yes I'm aware some of this reads like a dirty joke.

I don't attach the bottling wand directly to the spigot, but rather tubing goes in between them. In other words, the spigot fits inside the tubing, as does the bottling wand.

Pappers_ said:

I don't attach the bottling wand directly to the spigot, but rather tubing goes in between them. In other words, the spigot fits inside the tubing, as does the bottling wand.

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+1 If you have an auto-siphon, the 3/8" ID tubing is what is used for this, just cut a piece approx 4" long and , wa-la, you have your connector. Good luck with this, hope it works out for you. I love bottling day. one step closer to drinking it!!!

james138 said:

So I was going to start to bottle today but I'm not able to attach my bottling "wand" to my spigot for my bottling bucket. Has anybody else ever had a problem like this? I cut the tip of the nozzle off the spigot to allow the wand to fit in but it's not working. No matter how hard I push I cant get it in. Any advice? And yes I'm aware some of this reads like a dirty joke.

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I cut about an inch off of my racking hose and use that to attach it to the spigot.

Thank you guys so much! That makes perfect sense, I only wish I would have asked be for I cut half of the spigot off!