One step sanitizer and bottling

Hey everyone, I am at this moment getting ready to bottle a nut brown ale. I scrubbed and sanitized with one step sanitizer - the kind that uses oxygen. I then threw the bottles in the oven at 180* for 40 min to further sanitize.

Now that they are cooling in the oven I have noticed that they have a white film on them. Obviously I overdid it with the one step sanitizer but will this affect my beer due to oxygenation? I would think that much of the O2 would bubble out during heating but I am not a chemist or a physicist.

Your help is appreciated

Not sure scientifically speaking but I'm sure someone will weigh in. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable using them. I think what you did was a little excessive. I would start over. Good luck!

One step is not a true sanitizer. Search this site, lots of posts about it.

I prefer StarSan.

that does sound kind of weird. i don't know if i would use it either. is it a good idea to put your bottles in the oven? that would worry me, but i'm new at this. i'm curious to see what everybody else says also.

i know that the sanitizer i used for my bottles was just to swirl it around in the bottles and then turn them upside down and let them drain and dry. then they were good to go

I would clean and re-sanitize personally. A little goes a long way from what I've noticed.

You get that white film when you use oxygen products like oxiclean and don't rinse the item well enough.

In my opinion, putting the bottles in the oven is a bit much. When I bottled I would let me bottles sit in Oxiclean for a day. Take the labels off, scrub the inside using a bottle brush and then let them sit in a bucket of water for a couple minutes to rinse them. Then I would put them on my drying rack and let them dry upside down. I then put tin foil around the tops of each bottle. Those will stay clean until you need to use them. When you bottle, spray the inside with StarSan and fill with beer immediately. StarSan is a contact sanitizer meaning the item needs to stay wet for it to sanitize. If you spray the bottle with StarSan and let it dry, it won't be sanitized anymore.

Yeah, If you don't rinse the bottles you sometimes get white spots/residue. Won't hurt the beer any. One step is no-rinse.

Since you're already going to the trouble of baking them though, you ought to just skip the one step and just bake them at 350F for 1 hour. This will not just sanitize but actually sterilize the bottles. That's what I do now and I'll never go back.

Just rinse your empties real good and save em up. When you have enough ready, mix up the cleaner of your choice and soak em. Rinse em out good, let air dry and put a small piece of aluminum foil on top. Box em and store em. When your ready to bottle, just throw em in the oven. When you bake them though you should try and warm them up slow and cool slow. This will help keep bottles from cracking. It takes me about 30-45 min to warm up to 350. When they're done I just shut off the oven and let the bottles sit in there for 4 hours or so. Do it before bed and they're waiting for ya in the morning.

Cheers

h22lude said:

You get that white film when you use oxygen products like oxiclean and don't rinse the item well enough.

In my opinion, putting the bottles in the oven is a bit much. When I bottled I would let me bottles sit in Oxiclean for a day. Take the labels off, scrub the inside using a bottle brush and then let them sit in a bucket of water for a couple minutes to rinse them. Then I would put them on my drying rack and let them dry upside down. I then put tin foil around the tops of each bottle. Those will stay clean until you need to use them. When you bottle, spray the inside with StarSan and fill with beer immediately. StarSan is a contact sanitizer meaning the item needs to stay wet for it to sanitize. If you spray the bottle with StarSan and let it dry, it won't be sanitized anymore.

Click to expand...

+1 StarSan. I use StarSan with a Vinator or I santize in my dishwasher on the sanitize cycle. Both methods have worked flawlessly.

Thanks everyone. I waited for the bottles to cool then rinsed them again with tap water. They are back in the oven once again.

The guy at my LHBS told me that 45 min at 180* was fine for cleaning bottles in the oven... which is what I have been doing lately and have had no problems.

Food prepared at a restaurant has to be kept above 140* because that is the temperature that prevents and kills bacterial (and I am assuming all other microorganisms) contaminants.


BTW thanks everyone for your help. It is much appreciated.

What I've been doing to clean and sanitize is:

1) Soak in Oxyclean-filled sink
2) Drain sink, let cold water run over bottles
3) Use bottle sprayer attachment to blast insides with fresh water
4) Take 6 bottle at a time, place on open dishwasher door, give each 3 spritzes from spray bottle full of Star San.
5) As I'm about to fill a bottle, swirl around, dump Star San onto door of dishwasher

It's worked well for me, but sadly it's coming to an end when my kegging supplies get here next week