Old Flip Tops

1st time bottler here with a quick question.

I lucked up several weeks ago & ran across a 12 pack of flip top bottles that an ex-military man was selling at the local flea market. He said he acquired them while in the service in Germany & they are really cool.

My question is this. Thes gaskets on all the bottles are trash of course but when I flip the tops, the gaskets are so dry rotted that they are sticking to the bottles & the tops. I am basically having to rip them off & scratch the residue off with a knife.

Is there any way to free them up in order to save cleaning time? Can I soak them in warm, soapy water or am I resigned to scraping the stuff off?

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

I would soak them in hot soapy water, and avoid scraping them if you can. once you soak em off, get a non abrasive cleaner and go over the ceramic. I just did a batch of beer bottled 20 of them in these typ of bottles... easy as pie.

Hot water and OxiClean Free, that'll fix em! Let them soak for a few hours and everything will come off with a sponge, then rinse them and put new gaskets on.

i can't help ya for sure, but i would try soakin in oxiclean like mentioned above.

otherwise, I clicked on this thread b/c i thought it said "old flip flops" and I was trying to figure out what that had to do with brewing. is been a long week

l1ranger said:

i can't help ya for sure, but i would try soakin in oxiclean like mentioned above.

otherwise, I clicked on this thread b/c i thought it said "old flip flops" and I was trying to figure out what that had to do with brewing. is been a long week

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Have another beer, dude. That'll fix u right up.

Thanks for the advise guys.

I did exactly what ya'll suggested & it fixed them right up.

My husband (SMMBO, ) flipped when he came home & found the bathtub full of beer bottles. That was fun to watch!

Had my first bottling experience yesterday & all went well, as far as I can tell. Guess we'll know in about a month.

Preciate you-uns!

If you soak them in oxyclean, take the metal clips off. If you don't, they may corrode.