Bottle Sanitizing with Starsan

So I'm sick of using Bleach to clean my bottles, even though it's pretty straight forward, it's time consuming.

I think I read on here that someone just uses a Spray Bottle to squirt a little Starsan in each bottle and then hangs it on a bottle tree, then bottles. Since I rinse each bottle with the hottest tap water I can get( about 130*) after drinking the beer, I figure a couple shots of starsan in the bottle at bottling time will take care of any potential problems.

I'm trying to avoid soaking bottles in a solution of anything if possible. I searched this site for quite a while, but couldn't find anything that covered it quite this way. I'm pretty confident that this method will work just fine, but thought I would get some feedback anyway.

I use a vinator/sulfiter (sold at wine-making shops) to spray a jet of Star San into my bottles. It was discussed (with pics) in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-do-you-starsan-your-bottles-54769/

Call me paranoid, but when I bottle I soak them in a 5 gallon bucket of star san I keep at all times. I pull out 6 and fill and cap, get 6 more, etc. Overkill? Probably...

FlyGuy said:

I use a vinator/sulfiter (sold at wine-making shops) to spray a jet of Star San into my bottles. It was discussed (with pics) in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-do-you-starsan-your-bottles-54769/

Click to expand...

sweet, thanks for the link, I knew there was a thread about it somewhere

Yep, Vinator + StarSan + bottle tree is the way to go. Just make sure to spray down the bottle tree in sanitizer first. I make my priming sugar solution first, then sanitize my bottles while the priming sugar solution cools off a bit. As soon as I am finished sanitizing, I can begin bottling. No need to let the bottles dry.

There is nothing wrong with soaking the bottles in sanitizer, if you already have a bucket to do it in, but that method does take a lot longer.

I mix up about 3 gallons of StarSan in a bucket, submerge 12 bottles or so and allow to soak for 3 or 4 minutes. Those are hung on a bottle tree and 12 more go into the bucket.
I think that would be quicker than spraying the inside with a spray bottle trying to make sure to wet the entire surface. I feel just better about a complete soak.

The Vinator sprays the whole inside surface of a 32 oz bottle in one squirt. Most people do it 2 or 3 times just to be sure, but the whole process takes maybe 5 seconds per bottle. It's not like a typical hand spray bottle. It shoots out a thick stream.

I also dunk the whole mouth and neck of the bottle in the Vinator reservoir before I hang it.

Thanks everyone

alpo said:

I also dunk the whole mouth and neck of the bottle in the Vinator reservoir before I hang it.

Click to expand...

Same here, although I cheat a bit.

I may be skirting death with 30-second starsan wet contact instead of 120-seconds*, but my bottles are always very clean. My actual step by step looks like this:

1. dip bottle upside down in vinator reservoir as described by Alpo
2. pump on vinator as normal
3. let it sit on the vinator nozzle and drain while I fill the current bottle
4. repeat

So I always have a bottle in my hand filling, and one draining on the vinator spout. Moves pretty fast, and I still think I'm killing the majority of the buggies.


*although I think the BBR podcast with teh starsan guy said the killing happens in 30secs but the FDA test is 2mins so that is what they put on the package

The 2 minutes are still in effect. It is wet time, not submersed time. When the spray occurs the bottle won't be completely dry for a while so that time counts as wet contact as well.
All is well, infections are dying.

I use swingtops too, so I actually dunk the mouth/neck/cap assembly into the reservoir a second time as I pull it off the tree and immediately before I fill the bottle.

Something about all those moving parts and surfaces worries me.

For what it's worth, I've never had an infection (doing my 7th batch tomorrow), but I am pretty anal about the sanitation.