sanitizing bottles

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fatbob

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My family and I have been saving bottles for a while to use for my homebrew. Today I thought I would gather them up & soak them overnight to sanitize tomorow. I didn't rinse them after drinking & now they have a fuzz growing in the bottom. I thought that I would use some pbw & a bottle brush tomorow then put them in the dishwasher to sanitize. I put the bottles in a big cooler & covered with water then poured some One-Step in the water. It takes a pretty big cooler to cover up 50 bottles so I put in a pretty big quantity of One-Step because it was a 60quart cooler. Should I just throw them away & get new bottles or will they be OK. I learned the lesson that the bottles need to be rinsed after using.
 
The fuzz is easily removed by PBW, or my choice of cleaner: Oxyclean (Free - the unscented version).

Soak in very hot tap water with a scoop (or whatever the directions call for - don't put too much in or you could have some residue problems).

After an hour or two soak, any labels will fall off and the fuzz will loosen and float out of the bottle.

Rinse each bottle at least 3x in really hot tap water and visually inspect for any stubborn fuzz. A few may need a bottle brush scrubbing, the others won't.
 
I second the Oxyclean Free. You can buy it at Target or Walmart. It removes the fuzz with no problems. My approach is to soak overnight in the Oxyclean solution overnight and then soak in regular tap water for another night and then rinse. Since I found Oxyclean, I have never used a brush.

I sanitize by using a dish washer and that has worked well.
 
My dishwasher will not do enough bottles in one batch so I am planning on getting the first batch in the dishwasher so it will be done when I am ready to rack into my bottling bucket and when I get the first batch bottled I'll start the dishwasher again. It won't hurt to leave it in the bottling bucket until its all done will it? Also there must be a better way to soak 50 bottles than to use 60 quarts worth of cleaner/sanitizer is'nt there?
 
My dishwasher will not do enough bottles in one batch so I am planning on getting the first batch in the dishwasher so it will be done when I am ready to rack into my bottling bucket and when I get the first batch bottled I'll start the dishwasher again. It won't hurt to leave it in the bottling bucket until its all done will it? Also there must be a better way to soak 50 bottles than to use 60 quarts worth of cleaner/sanitizer is'nt there?

Yes, you rinse the bottles when they are empty, so they are clean. Then, when it's time to bottle, I use a vinator to squirt some sanitizer up in them, and stick them on the bottle tree. It takes about 6 minutes to do about 50 bottles.
I mix up a gallon of sanitizer, and store it in a gallon milk jug and just use a little for bottling. I sanitize the bottling bucket and siphons and hoses first, then sanitize the bottles.
 
Oxyckean and hot water will get most of the moldies out of there (I know from experience...I'm not always dilligent in rinsing right away *hangs head in shame*)

But definitely invest in one of these Jet bottle washers (best 10.99 you'll ever spend out side of an auto siphon)

Jet%20bottle%20washer.JPG


Put this on your faucet (you will probably need the garden hose to sink adapter so get that when you get the jet washer, if they don't have it, you can get it at a hardware store, it is a standard adapter.)

That will blow the gunk outta the bottles...But until you get one, hot water and oxyclean, rinse thoroughly and severely sanitize.

:mug:
 
Last night I soaked the bottles in a cooler with one-step & today when I pulled them out the labels peeled right off but there was still fuzz & black stuff in them that wouldn't come out even with a brush. So I put them back in the cooler & this time I put Oxy-Clean in the water. I'll let it soak over night again & try it again in the morning.
 
Well; I soaked the bottles overnight in the Oxy-Clean. But now I have a lot of residue on the bottles so I am soaking them in water hoping it will come off.I am thinking of washing them with some dish soap & then starting over. At least all the fuzz & mold is gone now.
 
Some people get residue if they add too much Oxyclean, and I suspect that your water could play a role in the residue, since some people have the problem, and some people don't (myself included).

I believe some people who have had residue problems with oxyclean ended up using vinegar to remove it.

It may end up as lots of work, but you should end up with clean bottles. It is also a lesson in remembering to rinse out bottles well after emptying them to prevent dried-on beer residue and mold.
 
Thanks for the suggestion about the vinegar to take the residue off. I worked well. I'm sure that I just put too much Oxy-Clean in. I started soaking bottles for my second batch which is a oatmeal stout. I bottled up my first batch tonight. It was a Liberty cream ale. I had it in a primary for about 10 days, then put it into a carboy for about 3 1\2 weeks. There seemed to be more foam than I thought there would be when I bottled.
 
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