Sanatizing EZ-cap bottles?

I bought some of these for my latest batch figuring people would be less likely to throw them away, plus I think they look cool.

But, I sanitized them by soaking them in One Step for about 20 minutes and when I started pulling them out to bottle, I noticed the wire assembly had started to corrode (a white corrosion all over).

Anyone else experience this or know of a better way to sanitize these bottles?

That will happen. I've had to replace the wire bales on mine.

I now just spray some Starsan on them, wait 30 then seal. I then rinse any extra off the wire bales and dry with a towel. That keeps the bales from corroding or rusting.

Now I just have to consider if I want to buy new tops for these.

Considering the extra work in sanitation and the fear I have of these not carbing right, I may just stick with normal bottle capped bottles.

When I get a batch of these bottle from the distributor I soak them in a solution of bleach for about 24 hours and then scrub them. I then rinse all the bottles and put them on a bottle tree. No corrosion issues. Once clean I just rinse after use and sanitize.

sigmund said:

When I get a batch of these bottle from the distributor I soak them in a solution of bleach for about 24 hours and then scrub them. I then rinse all the bottles and put them on a bottle tree. No corrosion issues. Once clean I just rinse after use and sanitize.

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I wonder if it was the cleaner I used or a defect in the cap assembly then.

I have some new ones left over that I'll end up using next bottling. Not sure what I'm going to decide to sanatize with though.

Star San seems to work well for me. Rinse them out with it and throw them on a bootling tree. Any foam that remains won't affect your beer so you don't have to rinse. I like easy.

Bigsnake said:

I bought some of these for my latest batch figuring people would be less likely to throw them away, plus I think they look cool.

But, I sanitized them by soaking them in One Step for about 20 minutes and when I started pulling them out to bottle, I noticed the wire assembly had started to corrode (a white corrosion all over).

Anyone else experience this or know of a better way to sanitize these bottles?

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the white crud is an oxidation layer caused by a reaction from the metal and the one-step solution. rinse the tops of the bottles off and next time use starsan or a bleach solution to sanitize(or dishwasher). you don't need to replace the wire frames right away,not until they're to weak to lock the lid down tight

eriktlupus said:

the white crud is an oxidation layer caused by a reaction from the metal and the one-step solution. rinse the tops of the bottles off and next time use starsan or a bleach solution to sanitize(or dishwasher). you don't need to replace the wire frames right away,not until they're to weak to lock the lid down tight

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Thanks, wish I knew that fact before

I'll get some Starsan to try out.

I scored 46 flip-tops, a bottling bucket, and some other ancillary stuff from CL last week ($20!). Being my first flip-tops, plus the unknown history of these particular samples, I have been soaking them in oxy-clean and water for the last 2 days. (Basically got them soaking b/c I knew I wouldn't have the time to rinse, etc until the weekend.)

They all had the tops clamped tight when I got them, the seals were pretty much flattened out, so I'm planning on replacing them. (Got a bag of replacement seals as part of the deal.)