Best way to prep bottles?

I've got a BUNCH of freebie bottles that I've delabeled, now I need to get them
"Clean" for bottling. Not sanitized, I've got starsan for that.
Whats a good way to get the germs out before I put my beer in them, since I have no idea whe they came from? I've got about 150 to do, so I'm looking for a production type setup.

Thanks,

I use PBW ( powdered brewery wash) and i scrub them inside and out with a bottle brush, especially around the mouth of the bottle, also make sure you you get the inside bottom seam well. I fill the sink on one side with the PBW for washing, and the other side of the sink stays empty so I can run the water for adequate rinsing, each bottle needs to be thoroughly rinsed 2 -3 times to get all the PBW out.

Then just starsan and go?

birdley123 said:

Then just starsan and go?

Click to expand...

Yep... PBW, Oxyclean etc. rinse well and then star san prior to bottling. If the bottles are really cruddy we'll use the kettle to heat up several gallons of water, add some PBW and let them soak for a spell. Then just use the bottle brush, rinse and star san. We brew a lot of Belgians and bottle a lot and have an assembly line set up..

Yes starsan just before bottling, I submerge as many bottles as I can in a 5 -6 gal bucket and pull about 12 out at a time for bottling, rotating more into the starsan at the same time, also leave your caps in a measuring cup of starsan taking them out as you need them.

You may want to look into a vinator and bottle tree if you don't already have them. Essential for any sort of bottling IMO. Also, bottle tree is great for just drying your freshly rinsed empties every night.

Did I say every night?

Well, most.

If the bottles I get have lefrover dried beer. I oxyclean them in a rub of water for an hour, and rinse. The day of bottling, star san them.

After that its easy to maintain clean bottles. Immediately after drinking, rinse with cold water and star san the day of bottling.

I should be good, I got a vinator and a bottle tree yesterday. Also bought one of those "fast-racks" on a whim. Pretty slick!

Then you are set. As a previous post mentioned, if you just rinse every bottle after pouring and put it on the tree, you will have no problems. Day of bottling, give a couple pumps on the vinator and you are good to go.

I get free bottles from a local bottle scoop from time to time. I agree with you, I don't know where they come from, so try to be extra certain that they are clean. I use one of the big red buckets, like you get from smart and final:


I soak the buckets in oxyclean overnight. Then us a brush to clean out any gunk and scrape labels- the oxyclean helps weaken the glue for the labels, which is a bonus. I be sure it's warm by tossing in a few gallons of boiling water with the hose water into the bucket. I can do about 30-40 bottles in a batch. I try to be sure that the inside of the bottles is clean with visual inspection and willingly toss any that don't pass the inspection- they are free anyway, right? Then a soak in iodophor over night, rinse and then a run though the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle, then ready for a star san rinse and drip dry on the bottle tree while I prep the bottling bucket.

Obsessive? Most certainly, but the bottles are free, and I know they are clean when I am done. A couple days of sporadic work to do a few batches of bottles and I am set for a few batched of homebrew. Paying 12 bucks-18 bucks for a case of bottles that don't even come with beer kills me.

Just be sure to give the bottles a good look when you are cleaning them and toss them liberally is something won't come out- not worth ruining a bottle of your good beer on because you missed a mold or bacteria colony.

I delable/wash in PBW, dry and put away. When I get a full batch, I fill up the dish washer and run on sanitize mode, using no soap. On bottling day I fill each bottle with Star san for a minute or two, drain and fill with beer. Maybe overkill but better safe than sorry.

You're triple sanitizing. To each his own, but I think cleaning thoroughly will make the bottles ready for a single sanitization round.

I like to use a bottle jet washer ($12) that attaches to my faucet. I do the soak on newly aquired bottles and some basic cleaning there, but every bottle goes to the jet washer before going into the dishwasher for a soap free wash and heat sanitize.

I'm a big fan of the bottle jet washer. Get a Y hose adapter and you can do 2 at once. Also, my wash station is in the
Laundry room next to the hot water tank. I'll crank that up to get an extra hot rinse before dosing them with a shot of sanitizer.

As for bulk label removal I use a Rubbermaid tote with an / 1step type product and hot water. Let that soak for a while and the labels generally slide right off. Can do a couple of cases at a time and my loving Gina doesn't get pissed that I snagged her kitchen sink.