Washing bottles sucks!

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greg75

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Man, oh man, nobody ever wrote about this in the homebrewing books! :cross:

I've been saving my Sam Adams empties, which I don't think will be a problem when it comes to cleaning (except removing the labels, perhaps). I've saved up about 50 bottles over the last 5-6 weeks. I want to start another batch soon, but I didn't think I'd be able to collect the necessary bottles for another batch on my beer drinking alone. So, I decided to go to the liquor store and ask to buy any returnables they had. I got to go back where they store them, and there were three cases I found suitable. Two were Old Milwuakee, and one was Schlitz. I passed on two Miller High Life cases because the bottles are clear glass, and I think that's not desirable for homebrewing.

Anyway, I just paid the return rate on the cases ($1.20 each) for a grand total of $3.60 I was pretty pumped about this, because empty cases are $8.99 at LHBS. I kind of wish I would have just bought the prewashed bottles, now, however.

At first I didn't think they were that bad to clean. After letting the bottles soak in hot soapy water for about ten minutes, I'd peel off the labels as best I could, and then let them soak another ten to fifteen minutes, at which point the glue and remaining paper would wipe off relatively easily. I cleaned the insides with the bottle brush that came with my equipment kit, thoroughly rinsed, and hung on the bottle tree. All was good.

Then, I hit the gross stuff. I loaded another eight bottles in my sink (that's all that fit in there at a time), and it smelled like an ashtray in the kitchen. It was a very strong odor. Sure enough, one of the bottles had about four cigarette butts in it. :mad: I suppose it's not a huge deal, but it just kind of disgusts me, all the same. When I finally finished the case, about seven or eight bottles were full of butts.

I've since peeked at the other two cases, and sure enough, they all have several bottles filled with spent cigarettes in them, as well. I suppose it's a small price to pay in the end, though.
 
Yeah, I had the same revalation about returnables, and the same experience. After being pleased to buy one case of them for a nickel apiece, I decided I would stick with Sam's and other micro-brew bottles also. I now look at it like this - I am buying great micro-brew beers at almost a ten dollar discount, since I am getting a case of empties along with the case of beer.

By the way, if you ever see Troeg's, a micro from the Harrisburg PA area, pick up a case. It is real good stuff - it runs about $25 a case or so and they bottle condition the beers, so if you felt the urge, you could harvest the yeast along with the empty bottles. I bought a sampler case - three ales plus a hefe.
 
SteveM said:
Yeah, I had the same revalation about returnables, and the same experience. After being pleased to buy one case of them for a nickel apiece, I decided I would stick with Sam's and other micro-brew bottles also. I now look at it like this - I am buying great micro-brew beers at almost a ten dollar discount, since I am getting a case of empties along with the case of beer.

By the way, if you ever see Troeg's, a micro from the Harrisburg PA area, pick up a case. It is real good stuff - it runs about $25 a case or so and they bottle condition the beers, so if you felt the urge, you could harvest the yeast along with the empty bottles. I bought a sampler case - three ales plus a hefe.

By bottle conditioning, you mean they carbonate beer like we homebrewers, by adding sugar? And, by harvesting yeast, you're referring to the sediment at the bottom of the bottle, correct? I've bought Blue Moon before, and it's an unfiltered wheat, with lots of crud in the beer. Is this what you're referring to?

How do you harvest the yeast? It seems very intriguing. Do you let it dry out, or do you remove it from the bottle and hydrate it? This is something I'd really like to try when I get more experienced with homebrewing in general.
 
I feel your pain. But if homebrewing is in some small amount about saving dough, then paying $14 + S/H for a case of new empties doesn't work very well. I did that once out of pure necessity, but never again if I can help it.

Actually, you know, I find the label removal and cleaning to be somewhat zen-like. I recently was donated a bunch of really, really nasty old bottles that had been sitting in a shed somewhere for an indeterminate period of time without ever having been cleaned...so don't ask what they smelled like or what floated out of them. Anyway, I just go down to our basement bathroom (which is where I clean and sanitize stuff) and filled a big plastic storage container with bleachwater. I submerge the bottles and let them soak until I have a free minute, then I'll use one of those razor scrapers that I used to take off my car registration decals to get the labels off. I've quickly learned which producers I like (Spaten, Buffalo Bills both fall off without any scraping, Sam Adams scrapes off pretty easily, Smuttynose isn't bad either; Gem English Ale SUCKS. I scraped and scrubbed and there is still stuff on there to this day!) The stuff that pops out of the bottles is nasty, of course, but in the end, I find the entire process to be rewarding in a way, like I earned that beer through hard work and determination, rather than just taking the easy way out and plunking down $14 for new ones.

That's not to say that I don't hurl expletives about quite often, especially when the label is very difficult to get off, and/or the razor slips and I cut myself (you should see my poor hands!) :D
 
A little tip for the future once you get your bottles clean and filled with homebrew: rinse them IMMEDIATELY after pouring a glass, then store them upside down. Then at bottling time all that's left is to sanitize.
 
I use all plastic bottles...and put the lids back on right after I am done...the sediment will stay wet (for years) and makes rinsing easy. Check out the review section, bottlewashers, the double one..I did a review on one I use. I makes cleaning the inside easy...not really good for the outside.

Cheers.
 
ablrbrau said:
A little tip for the future once you get your bottles clean and filled with homebrew: rinse them IMMEDIATELY after pouring a glass, then store them upside down. Then at bottling time all that's left is to sanitize.

Ok, now I hope this isn't too dumb of a question but this is the second time I've heard this, once was from my LHBS.

I always rinse well immediately after pouring my beer. I shake it up good in there for a few fills and shakes. Before brewing I may even run the bottle washer into them for good measure.
But I usually place them upside down in the dish rack until dry then place them "right side up" in the case when dry.
What is the purpose of storing them upside down in the case?

Tommy
 
WELCOME! First wash SUCKS!!! Overnight soak in amonia and water usually take off the labels. No getting arround the first good scrub to get clean. I also store cleaned bottles in my basement in a 30 gallon trash barrel of either water and bleach or water and iodophor, etc. Pull and rinse when ready to bottle and your done. As posted, make sure you rinse your bottles after pouring a good frosty to remove sediments and just toss in the barrel.

:)
 
Brewno said:
Ok, now I hope this isn't too dumb of a question but this is the second time I've heard this, once was from my LHBS.

I always rinse well immediately after pouring my beer. I shake it up good in there for a few fills and shakes. Before brewing I may even run the bottle washer into them for good measure.
But I usually place them upside down in the dish rack until dry then place them "right side up" in the case when dry.
What is the purpose of storing them upside down in the case?

Tommy

None, really. If you're sure the bottles are dry when you put them in the case I guess it doesn't matter. I just did it that way to keep dust out. I know it's not likely in a closed case, but what the heck.
 
I got all of my bottles from friends who drink a lot of beer - within a couple weeks I had 250. I just filled a garbage can (could fit ~125 in there) with hot water & oxyclean (~5-7 scoops) - a soak in there overnight and most labels were floating in the water - the others didn't require any real scrubbing, just a wipe with a sponge to get the remaining glue off. A quick rinse with a bottle washer and they were clean & ready for sanitizing.

Sanitizing was a similar operation - I filled a garbage can with an iodophor solution - let them soak emptied them out & covered with aluminum foil. Now most of my bottles are pre-sanitized and ready to rock at a moments notice (knocks a lot of work off bottling day).
 
ablrbrau said:
None, really. If you're sure the bottles are dry when you put them in the case I guess it doesn't matter. I just did it that way to keep dust out. I know it's not likely in a closed case, but what the heck.

Ok thanks.

Actually I let them dry for awhile then put them in the case and close it but even there I'm not sure it matters. I don't think any dust would be a big problem since it would be minimal and then rinsed out during sanitizing. I'm not even sure how much of a problem it would be if they weren't completely dry before being placed in the case as long as they were "mostly" dry. They are getting rinsed pretty well when the get sanitized. I think any sticky or gunky residue is a problem.

Thanks

Tommy
 
Ya... I avoided the whole bottle thing all together. When I was reading up on the hobby, I immediately identified two things I KNEW I wouldn't enjoy - sanitation and bottling. I knew I HAD to eliminate one.

Simple solution - KEG!

You can always get a counter-pressure filler later if you want to do a six pack here and there.
 
ablrbrau said:
A little tip for the future once you get your bottles clean and filled with homebrew: rinse them IMMEDIATELY after pouring a glass, then store them upside down. Then at bottling time all that's left is to sanitize.

I've been doing that with all the empties that I personally drank (Sam Adams, mainly, along with some Rogue, and a couple other micros). I think I'll still wash them this once, but yeah, that'll be great knowing I won't have to do this again (unless I get to the point where I have a three brew rotation going...at that point, I may just buy empties at LHBS)
 
Perhaps I will seem a bit money laxed. I am not incidently. Counting pennies here. But I can say I have never used returnables. I live in an aparment so I dont have A LOT of space. I have bought enough bottles to cover three batches over the course of the brewing. When I get enough empty bottles to bottle another batch it's bottling time if I have it in the secondary. Since I am not giving a lot away I dont need to buy bottles often now. I just don't think it's worth the hassle. I hate hassle. Although I am now drinking some good store bought stuff to test out brews so I might remove the labels from them since I know where they came from.
 
Well, I've been saving my bottles for a couple of weeks now getting ready for my first big bottling day. I've got two and a half cases cases of assorted 12 oz Sam Adams, Breckinridge Breweries, and squat bell-shaped Negro Modelo bottles and some Fuller's 16.9 oz bottles, All I've been doing is rinsing them a couple of times with water immediately after pouring and sticking them in a box in my garage. Fill half way with water, shake a bit, dump, repeat. They all seem to come out quite free of sediment and debris by doing that. Obviously, old dirty bottles with butts and grunge in them would be a different story.

It'll be a couple of weeks yet before I need them, but I suppose I'll go ahead and get the lables off now. I know it will be a bother, no matter when I do it.
 
beer4breakfast said:
It'll be a couple of weeks yet before I need them, but I suppose I'll go ahead and get the lables off now. I know it will be a bother, no matter when I do it.

Yeah... do it now. After an evening of cleaning the labels off and possibly having to soap-scrub and rinse them again (to remove highly concentrated bleach or amonia or whatever you end up using) you won't want to even SEE another bottle for a while.

I'm very close to buying a kegging set-up. My only problem is that I would need to get yet another fridge. I've already got a friedge for fermenting (set at about 68°F) and a chest freezer for hops and grains....

-walker
 
I'm rapidly traveling down the path toward kegging, and I haven't even bottled once yet. But, like you, I've already got a standalone deep freeze and two fridge/freezers. Having grown accustomed to have all that capacity, I don't want to convert any of it to a kegerator, and I don't know where I'd put another fridge.

Guess I need a bigger house, because I really need at least two more refridgerators (one for cornies, another for controlled fermentation).

And I thought I was going to save money by brewing my own... :drunk:
 
Teedocious said:
I got all of my bottles from friends who drink a lot of beer - within a couple weeks I had 250. I just filled a garbage can (could fit ~125 in there) with hot water & oxyclean (~5-7 scoops) - a soak in there overnight and most labels were floating in the water - the others didn't require any real scrubbing, just a wipe with a sponge to get the remaining glue off. A quick rinse with a bottle washer and they were clean & ready for sanitizing.

Sanitizing was a similar operation - I filled a garbage can with an iodophor solution - let them soak emptied them out & covered with aluminum foil. Now most of my bottles are pre-sanitized and ready to rock at a moments notice (knocks a lot of work off bottling day).

I do the same, except on a smaller scale. Two 5 gal buckets, one with 2 scoops of oxy clean and one with a weak bleach solution. Soak in bucket one to get the labels off and then a over night soak in the bleach bucket. Followed by a good rinse and then stored in the dishwasher until dry. Then I cover with some aluminum foil and stash until needed
 
Yo man,
I am really lazy when it comes to cleaning all of those bottles. What I do now is I go down to the redemtion center and ask them for the biggest bottles that they have. I use mostly half gallon jugs. as long as you get a good air tight cap all you need to do is let the bottles soak over-night with bleach water.
 
Yeah man sit down with some friends and you will be suprised at how fast a 1/2 gallon will go down. It is the second one that you have to watch out for
 
Tpaine said:
Yo man,
I am really lazy when it comes to cleaning all of those bottles. What I do now is I go down to the redemtion center and ask them for the biggest bottles that they have. I use mostly half gallon jugs. as long as you get a good air tight cap all you need to do is let the bottles soak over-night with bleach water.

This is something I've been wondering....can you use 1 gallon or 4 liter bottles? I have heard that you can, that they'll blow up, and that they'll not carbonate because the caps won't hold the pressure.

I'd love to put 2-3 gallons in 1 gallon jugs and bottle the rest in 12oz-ers. Like someone said, a few friends would take down a gallon in a sitting no problem. This would be the cheap route to go for now until I can get a kegging system. LHBS sells 4 liter bottles with caps for $2 each :mug:
 
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