Just HOW clean?

I just bottled my first batch (Amber Ale)!! It smells great, but is pretty "sharp" right now. I'm assuming that'll probably mellow out after a few weeks in the bottle.

Anyway, what I'm curious about is clean-up. I sprayed my primary out (bucket) and wiped it down with a towel, but I didn't scrub with anything rougher than that because I've heard scratches are bad. It's left with a very slight yellow color to the bucket (like ivory). I'm just curious if I need to worry about that and soak it with something like oxyclean, or if that color is no big deal and I can just rinse and sanitize for my next batch and not worry about the fact that it's not bright white anymore.

Other than that, my only worry is I didn't get the bottles rinsed out well enough. I got a couple of cases from a guy and they were "clean" but dusty from sitting. I washed with soapy water, then rinsed in the dishwasher before sanitizing. Here's to hoping I got all of the soap out!

Onward to my next batch - a partial grain cream ale!

Your primary bucket will get stains over time - especially with darker styles...

you can use oxiclean, but I usually just use a soft sponge and some water.

Oxyclean should get the plastic to completely white or almost completely white if you leave it long enough. A week or so will really whiten that plastic...

However, it isn't necessary unless you get a strong and distinct smell of something after you have cleaned it. If the bucket has a generic beer smell you are fine. If you use fruit or chilies or something you may want to do an oxyclean soak to make sure you don't get those flavors in your next beer.

Any chance you used iodine/iodophor for sanitizing?

My biggest worry is the bottles as well. Did you rinse them out well before you put them in the dishwasher? The rinse cycle wouldn't get inside the bottles very well.

I give all my bottles an oxyclean soak overnight then I rinse them 3X with hot water to get any residue out.