Used Bottle cleaning help...

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ohill1981

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I just acquired some bottles from a friend of mine and was trying to clean them out. Can someone tell me an easy way of cleaning these? I have clorox and Star San. But i was kinda hoping to save the star san for when i sanitize all of my equipment since it is so expensive. Can soaking in Clorox help? Or should i use boiling water? any suggestions would be great!
 
I heard of running them through the dishwasher WITHOUT detergent, and on the heat dry cycle will clean and sanitize them. The heat is what does the sanitizing. The person I heard it from said he had been doing it for a long time without a single problem, but i've never tried it myself.
 
Well i ran them through the dishwasher without soap a couple of times and still some are gunked up... Have not took the bottling brush to them yet. Do folks soak them in a clorox or Star san over night ?
 
I use OxyClean (industrial strength) to clean them. Let them soak, then use a bottle brush. Repeat if necessary. The OxyClean will leave a residue. It is harmless, but looks unsightly. So, I rinse completely, then set the bottles on the tree to dry.

Once they are cleaned, then sanitization is in order. I use the dishwasher, on the dry cycle. I go through 2 cycles to be extracareful. This is the sanitizing step, it does not clean them.

In fact, running the bottles through the entire dishwasher cycle (with no soap) won't clean them. The water can't get into all the places good enough to clean.

This is especially important the older the bottles get. Older equipment has a higher chance of growing mold spores and other contaminants. Because of this, I clean the bottles with water and a brush after I use them, then repeat the cleaning (with the OxyClean) before I sanitize them for bottling.
 
Are you using the brush when you actually see some sort of deposits in the bottle? In the case of mold / crap really stuck in there, I just toss the bottle, I found that no matter how much I used the brush it never got the outer ring on the bottom. All my friends are contributing to the cause and saving bottles that are pop top by rinsing them out thoroughly and upside down into the cardboard box, when they get a case they give them to me.

I washed by immersion in dishsoap and a through rinse, then dry upside down dry, then later that day I immersed them in star san mixture and bottled immediately, still had foam on them from star san. When I bottled last weekend I tossed 2 bottles out of the 2 cases I pulled to use when washing. (I still have 4.5 cases of empties around to pull from so I"m not short on bottles). Is brushing really necessary if you are not allowing crap to form inside (and tossing ones that do get some stuff)

What I am doing is a thorough rinse on the bottles when first used, then storing them upside down in the cardboard box case to ensure water drains out and it minimizes dust and cat/dog hair getting inside the bottles. When bottle time comes I follow the procedure above. I foudn the brush was so stiff it was a PITA to use and just made a holy mess of spray crap everywhere... so i stopped using it and just toss bottles with crud in them...
 
My method of cleaning bottles from the recycle center:

Step 1: Get big tub
Step 2: Fill with bottles
Step 3: Dump about 3/4 a cup full of oxyclean
Step 4: Fill with hot water
Step 5: Dunk bottle in until completely submersed or at least bottles are full of water/oxyclean
Step 6: Wait 24 hours
Step 7: Rinse each bottle 2-3 times in water

Done, oxyclean gets all the gunk and labels off no problem, haven't had to use my bottle brush yet.
 
I've cleaned a ton of old and mold encrusted bottles and NEVER needed a bottle brush...that's the point of the OXY in oxyclean the fizziness breaks the crud up...also a jet bottle rinser is a good help as well...

drawing.gif
 
Oxyclean it is then, not that I had not seen the other 1 jillion posts about it just have not bothered to get some yet :)
 
I bought some at a local store a few weeks ago. Not only does it clean bottles, clothes, and dishes. It leaves my sink shiney and clean. My wife appreciates that.

:D


When I have been cleaning my bottles. I usually fill up one side of my sink, throw in a half scoop of oxy clean. Then let it sit for a half hour, or longer depending on where I got the bottles and how clean they were to begin with.

When I clean the bottles that I have drank the fluid from. I will not use the brush. Since I rinse after use. But if I am cleaning bottles bottles that have been given to me. I will soak for a prolonged period in oxy clean, then run the brush through it a few times.
 
I just run em through the dishwasher WITH detergent and make sure the hi-temp wash setting is on so the heating element turns on during wash, rinse and drying cycles. The dishwasher has a long rinse cycle that is longer then the wash cycles so i don't worry about detergent residue and if you want to be extra careful just run it through the rinse cycle an extra time.

I have never had a single problem this way.
 
A few times i've had mold that just wouldn't come off (given the bottles by neighbors). When i get one of these i do my usual method of cleaning but occasionally it doesn't get all the mold off. Even a bottle brush wouldn't get it off. What i like to do is fill the bottle with a little bit of straight bleach. I let that sit for a while and will then swirl some.

Generally, the mold and residue comes right off in a clump. I'll then drain and recheck. It doesn't work each and every time, but it does seem to get the mold off most of them and this last batch hasn't had any issues with the bottles that took my 'special treatment'.
 
I throw out bottles that have tough gunk or caccoons or nasty stuff that just won't come off with a couple hour soak in oxyclean. I have better things to do than waste too much time on cleaning old bottles.

As far as the dishwasher, I really don't trust that machine to get much water at all up into the bottle. Certainly not a strong enough jet to remove tough dried on gunk.

My attitude comes from being a bartender for a couple years. Pretty much the most disgusting thing in the whole bar was the corner where we stored our cases of empties. The science experiments in those bottles were enough to put me off beer while I worked there.

If it weren't for Oxyclean I wouldn't bother with used bottles at all. I'd rather spend the $10 on a case of gleaming new, special, for my beers only, bottles.

And OP. If you are finding Starsan expensive you are doing it wrong. Properly mixed and diluted it comes out to like 10 cents per gallon of sanitizer. There is no better dime spent in this hobby.
 
We'll i heard from a lot of people that OXYCLEAN is really hard to rinse and that PBW worked just as well, but was easier to rinse. So i will give a 1lb of that a try for a while... If i am not happy on to OXYCLEAN i suppose.
 
I soak all my bottles in oxyclean for 24 hours when cleaning and removing labels. If its a bottle I drank from i dont bother with the oxyclean as I know I rinsed it out right after pouring. I use my JET bottle washer on those with hot 130* sink water and they come out squeaky clean. Have never had an issue rinsing oxyclean off the soaked bottles either. A few seconds under the sprayer and on the JET washer and they're oxyclean free. It's really the way to go. I use it to clean all my not metal items.
 
I usually leave a few bottles on the left side of the sink and a few days later they are magically cleaned and de-labeled.

I Love My Wife :)
 
We'll i heard from a lot of people that OXYCLEAN is really hard to rinse and that PBW worked just as well, but was easier to rinse. So i will give a 1lb of that a try for a while... If i am not happy on to OXYCLEAN i suppose.

I've heard that too but I haven't really experienced it. I just rinse till it's gone. You can tell. Takes a couple seconds under the faucet. Worth it for the cleaning power. And I'm with Tim, the only time I need Oxy is the first time to really clean the inside and remove labels. After that, I rinse immediately after pouring and I use cap labels.
 
Just cleaned my first set of bottles using advice from all of you. Oxyclean rocks! Labels and all other junk gone in an hour. Thanks.
 
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