Question about cleaning with PBW

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Code

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Location
Sandy Eggo
I had 40 used bottles with lables on them that I wanted to clean and remove the label. I made a 6 gal solution with 2oz of PBW, and then put all the bottles in the solution and let soak for 3 hours. The lables came off beautifully, and any glue residue left on the bottle was easily removed with a gentile scrub from a cleansing pad. I rinsed the bottles with hot water afterwards and they look squeaky clean, however my question is before I sanitize, should I give the bottles a second PBW bath? I ask because the solution the bottles were in prior to me rinsing them was very murky, and I'm not sure if a hot water rinse would remove any film possibly created from the glue? What do you guys think?

:drunk:
 
I do a similar soak with Oxyclean. When the bottles are done soaking, I do a rinse in my basement utility sink to take off the film/residue. Then, before I bottle, they get another rinse with StarSan (seconds before the beer goes into them).
 
just give it a good rince and you should have no residue worries. Give them a soak in a little starsan (5min or so) before you fill them, there will definatley be no glue residue.
 
I agree with the StarSan rinse. The PBW soak can leave the bottles feeling very slippery - because PBW is a caustic cleaner. If you rinse with the acidic StarSan it will neutralize the PBW and leave you with a very clean bottle.
 
I delabel with PBW, but don't leave them in the solution that long- maybe an hour. Then they're rinsed -thoroughly- and when ready for bottling, I use Star San for the inside and then run them through the dishwasher. I discovered it's much more economical of Star San to use a "vinator" or "sulfiter" pump to squirt Star San up inside the bottles.
 
Back
Top