Do you clean the bottles?

For both empty bottles from brewstore and bottles of beer you drink - is it enough to only rinse the bottles well after pouring the beer (or if empty bottles from brewstore to get rid of dust) and not to scrub it (if the bottom looks clean), and then just sanitize before next bottling?
What do you do?

New bottles get a quick rinse then sanitized and filled. Scrounged bottles get a thorough cleaning. Used bottles just get rinsed if they don't sit around for a while.

Then a Vinator, spritz with Starsan and fill.

They should be clean enough to drink out before you sanitize them.

Spic and span. All depends on the bottle.

Typical process for commercial bottles.

1. Pour Beer

2. Rinse

3. Repeat Rinse

4. Place in dishwasher and wash with next cycle. (labels come off too during the wash)

5. Store in box with lid in clean area.

6. Sanitize before filling

I've had trouble with infections after 2-3 uses if I don't clean used bottles with PBW or Oxyclean along with scrubbing even if I do rinse the bottles right away and store covered. A film of yeast builds up on the bottom.

I started cleaning bottles after a single use in batches of 12 so that it doesn't take too long and have been happy and infection free. It is probably over kill but worth it for peace of mind.

I rinse out bottles I have bought & drank immediately. Hot water, three rinses, and then store until needed. Then they get rinsed one last time before sanitizing & filling.

I have access to enough bottles that if anything dries & gets crusty, I recycle it. Any pain-in-the-ass labels, recycle. Funny shapes? Recycle. Basically, when I get 6 cases of empties, I just recycle everything.

I've started doing a PBW/oxi soak, followed by a rinse and a vinegar water soak then a good rinse and drain dry.... (have quite hard water)......we'll see how it does but I've had problems in the past with mineral coated bottles.

I'm a firm believer in you can't be too clean. I figure if I have made it all the way to bottling, now is the worst time to risk infection.

I wash every bottle and scrub with a bottle brush.
Good thorough rinse in hot water.
Sanitize before filling.

yuval12321 said:

For both empty bottles from brewstore and bottles of beer you drink - is it enough to only rinse the bottles well after pouring the beer (or if empty bottles from brewstore to get rid of dust) and not to scrub it (if the bottom looks clean), and then just sanitize before next bottling?
What do you do?

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This video shows my method from drinking to re-filling the bottles.

I don't drink out of bottles, but pour into a glass, so after pouring the bottle gets rinsed right away. Basically hot water, shake it up and dump a few times. I also rinse out at bottling and then immerse the bottle in bucket of star san for at least 2 minutes.
Bottles with dried material are tossed out or used for target practice.

I use a very small amount of hot water for three rinses immediately after pouring the beer (don't let dirty bottles sit around), then store them upside-down in milk crates. Upside-down is important, as any water left in the bottle will have some residue in it, and is likely to go mouldy.

On bottling day, fill with star-san solution, leave for 2 mins then empty. So, no scrubbing. Ever. If a bottle has gunk that doesn't rinse out, it gets recycled.

I've had two infected bottles in over 100 batches of beer.

Agree that nothing can be too clean. I double rinse after pouring, but collect until I have a dozen or so then 20min PBW soak and bottle brush and multiple hot water rinse, keeping dry in clean boxes and StarSan day of bottling. I have VERY soft water, so PBW never leaves white residue a some have experienced.

Why chance it? If you've gone through all the hours and labor to make a beer, you might as well have a super clean bottle. I have a bottle washer attached to the end of my hose. When I have empties, I blast them with the washer a couple times, then hang them on the bottle tree. (When they number 25 or more, I store them upside down in a plastic milk crate, it fits a case perfect). A day or two before I'm bottling, I fill up a big plastic tub with water and oxyclean. Let them soak for 24 hours. Then rinse and hang on bottle tree to dry. I have star san in spray bottles, couple squirts in each bottle and I'm ready to bottle again!!
This process has served me well for 2+ years. Even used/scrounged bottles come out clean after a 24 soak in oxyclean. And the labels usually come off with little fuss.

Soak in PBW to loosen labels & crud. Scrub with a brush & dobie. After drinking, swirl to stir up yeast & trub & dump. Rinse & shake to loosen more & dump it fill bottles & scrub & dump. The go on the bottle tree to dry before storage in covered 12 & 24 boxes. I also found another source of funk a couple batches ago-the avinator. Pull the red center piece out & clean the bottom of it & the bowl. That white dead nasties slime collects under that thing & must be cleaned & sanitized. I'm sure now it was a source of bottle infections.

slym2none said:

I rinse out bottles I have bought & drank immediately. Hot water, three rinses, and then store until needed. Then they get rinsed one last time before sanitizing & filling.

I have access to enough bottles that if anything dries & gets crusty, I recycle it. Any pain-in-the-ass labels, recycle. Funny shapes? Recycle. Basically, when I get 6 cases of empties, I just recycle everything.

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Pretty much what I do. I haven't kept more than a few bottles recently (mostly bombers), so my process is pretty simple:

1) Pour beer into glass
2) Rinse bottle with about 4-6 oz of warm/hot water -shake and pour
3) Repeat Step 2, but swirl and pour instead
4) Repeat Step 3
5) Put bottle on bottle tree to dry

On bottling day:

1) Remove bottles from bottling tree and set out
2) Add 1-2 oz of Star San to each bottle
3) Swirl Star San thoroughly to wet entire inside and then decant - 8-10 bottles at a time
4) Fill those 8-10 bottles and then repeat the process until bottling is finished

It's pretty simple and doesn't take terribly long. Bottling day is a fairly new process, and I haven't had any issues yet (knock on wood).

Quick rinse after pouring, then place it upside down over a towel.
Store bottles upside down in cases.
I still clean before sanitzing, using some brewery wash stuff.
I rarely, if ever, bring out the scrubber. If a bottle is that quesitonable, I'd discard it.

The bottles I use, I just do a rinse of the inside and then let it hang out until its delabeling day or bottling day.

From the bottles I get from my friends/family, I usually tell them to do the same with the rinse, but when I get the bottles from them, I look into each bottle to see if there's any crud to clean out. If there are, then I do a thorough cleaning. If not, I just do another rinse, and put it away until it's delabeling/bottling day.

All in all, they all get a soak in oxiclean or PBW, so they get a good cleaning anyways.

I'm with the thorough rinse 3 or 4 times immediately after pouring group. I fill mine and leave on the counter overnite too.
Next day I rinse one more time then hang on the bottle tree.
Bottling day 10 or 12 get submerged in StarSan, dumped back in the bucket, 10 or 12 more submerged, then bottle the first 12. Repeat

An overnite soak, completely submerged, in a sink originally filled with hot water leaves the labels off or easy to remove the next day

If there's crud on them, I soak in bleach for 24 hours.

Rinse, soak in ammonia

Rinse, soak in vinegar

Store upside down until they'll be used, rinse with star san, and off we go. Haven't had any infections in 150+ batches

Like most here I rinse them immediately after pouring. My dishwasher has a sanitize option so I throw the bottles in there (without soap) to sanitize them, then they get pulled out 1 by 1 to fill.

-- Nathan

After having a few gushers in random batches early on in my brewing I have since switched to rinsing right after I pour the beer, and I sanitize all bottles at the end of the day and store them until the next bottling day. Bottling day consists of a thorough oxyclean soak, rinse, and then sanitize just before filling.

And since I now brew lots of brett beers and sours, bottled are shared between clean and funky brews and need to be thoroughly cleaned. You can never be too thorough with your sanitation regimen.

Mexibilly said:

An overnite soak, completely submerged, in a sink originally filled with hot water leaves the labels off or easy to remove the next day

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Yep, everything gets a hot water/pbw soak a day or two before bottling. Small scrub brush helps with any challenging labels. My bottles are pretty much guaranteed to be super clean. Day of bottling, use a bottling tree with vinator on top for starsan rinse. Definitely have bottling down to a science at this point, and I secretly enjoy it.

...Scrub with a brush & dobie.
Dobie. The sponge inside a soft scrubbie. Now there's a term I haven't heard in quite awhile...
I also found another source of funk a couple batches ago-the avinator. Pull the red center piece out & clean the bottom of it & the bowl. That white dead nasties slime collects under that thing & must be cleaned & sanitized. I'm sure now it was a source of bottle infections.
Hmmm. Never heard of that before. Now when I get home in the morning (2-ish) I'll have to go and check my avinator. I always dis-assemble and let it dry after using it.
Thanks, unionrdr

You're welcome. My aging brain still has it's analytical times where Spock comes back to me. They used to call me that in younger days. But yeah, whoo wee, that white liquidy stuff collects under the avinator center assembly & gets thicker until it dries. Adding more Starsan next time seems to reconstitute them/it ime. I also wipe down the bowl/clean lightly with some starsan. followed by a dry towel. And I love Dobie scrubbers from the grocery store, they're great for cleaning & don't scratch. Shines SS nicely while cleaning.

unionrdr said:

And I love Dobie scrubbers from the grocery store, they're great for cleaning & don't scratch. Shines SS nicely while cleaning.

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Oh cool, I've avoided using anything but a washcloth on my bucket, have you found the Dobie to be safe for those? It's my favorite cleaning sponge for anything else.

-- Nathan

I only use the Dobie lightly on the crud in the plastic fermenters that doesn't spray or soak loose. then rinse again, clean the spigot & run some Starsan through it.

I hot water rinse a few times right after I pour. Then they all get sanitized on bottling day.

bottles I drank get a good rinse immediately after I'm done. Anything else gets a good scrub and a quick inspection for defects in the glass.
A few days prior bottling, I bake them at 200c (400f) for one hour. I put a bit of cling film as they come out warm from the oven.

brewcat said:

I hot water rinse a few times right after I pour. Then they all get sanitized on bottling day.

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Same as my process and never had an issue. Good hot water rinse after pour drain in dish drainer until dry and put away in their box until needed. Then I sanitize and refill.