Dishwasher or oven to sanitize bottles?

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Being an environmentally conscious brewer, I'd say go with Star-San. You don't need to waste all that energy from the stove or dishwasher. Or, you could say f*ck it, and be lazy. I don't care.
 
i actually put a tiny amount of star san, (like 1tsp) in the dishwasher so it doesn't foam up too much, and then make sure its on the hot dry. my dishwasher calls it the sanitize dry, seems to work great. haven't had any issues so far. still have a bucket of the iodopor handy for everything else or last minute stuff.
 
i actually put a tiny amount of star san, (like 1tsp) in the dishwasher so it doesn't foam up too much, and then make sure its on the hot dry. my dishwasher calls it the sanitize dry, seems to work great. haven't had any issues so far. still have a bucket of the iodopor handy for everything else or last minute stuff.

dishwashers don't get much (if any) water inside the bottle. the opening's too narrow.

the reason I don't like heat sanitizing bottles is that frequent high/low temp changes cause weakening of the glass.

and star-san is just so damn cheap & effective.
 
From How to Brew.

Oven Sterilization:
338°F (170°C) 60 minutes
320°F (160°C) 120 minutes
302°F (150°C) 150 minutes
284°F (140°C) 180 minutes
250°F (121°C) 12 hours (Overnight)

Be sure to put the bottles in there to heat up and cool down with the oven. Cover the openings with sterile foil and you can store them sterile after they are done.
 
I know I'm in the minority here, but I use the oven.

Up until now, I didn't hear that the heat cycling weakens the glass, but that's something I need to look into.

My reason for not using the dishwasher is because my dishwasher doesn't have a steam setting. The hot water alone is not enough to sanitize the bottles. That would probably be my choice if it did have a steam setting.

I don't use star-san mainly because I don't want to deal with trying to store the bottles in a sanitized place where they will dry. Maybe SWMBO will get me a bottling tree for my b-day.

How do other people who use star-san (or other no rinse sanitizer) handle letting the bottles dry in a sanitized place?

The things I like about the oven are:
1. It sterilizes, not just sanitizes, so it helps me relax a bit more (I know we don't NEED to sterilize).
2. You can do it days before and the bottles stay sterile, assuming you cap them with foil before baking.
3. It seems like the least amount of effort.

Those are just my thoughts. I know there's many ways to do things and to each his own.
 
OxiClean bath->dishwasher (no detergent)->cover bottles in bottling case with self cling wrap->bottle
 
I know I'm in the minority here, but I use the oven.

Up until now, I didn't hear that the heat cycling weakens the glass, but that's something I need to look into.

....

Who knows if the heating/cooling caused this, but I am convinced:
defective_bottles01.jpg


I put a couple dozen different types of bottles in, turned it on to 180F...and stepped up 10F every 10 min. Once at 330, I baked them for an hour and a half, then shut off the oven. Once they were cool, I removed them. Two of the bottles, which seemed to be from the same source (I reclaimed many bottles from friends), had their necks snap when I capped them. One bottle blew up on the flight home with a friend. Iodophor is much faster, IMHO, and less dangerous.
 
How do other people who use star-san (or other no rinse sanitizer) handle letting the bottles dry in a sanitized place?

They do not have to dry. Dump out the Star San and use or cover with some (wet) sanitized foil to use later.

Or, what I do to let my bottles dry is I take an old baby gate and lay it across the bath tube, the little holes in the gate are big enough to fit the bottle upside down.
 
How do other people who use star-san (or other no rinse sanitizer) handle letting the bottles dry in a sanitized place?
.

I don't think they need to dry. If they are clean just dunk em ( for a couple minutes) and fill em with delectable frothy goodness.

I rinse all my bottles immediately after drinking the contents, drain upside down, and they are good to go with a quick dose of star san for the next batch.

edit: Jinx, Beerific
 
They do not have to dry. Dump out the Star San and use or cover with some (wet) sanitized foil to use later.

That makes sense. I don't wait for my fermenting bucket or carboy or racking equipment to dry before I use them.

In fact just last night I used star-san for the first time in my carboy. This picture is pretty funny:
http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt19/jescholler/DSC00735.jpg

It's actually climbing up the racking hose. Don't fear the foam!
 
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