A lesson in bottle washing...

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TripleC223

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I poured bottle #10 of my first homebrew last night and noticed it tasted very different than the previous bottles. There was a distinct green apple taste to it, and my wife also noted it tasted "funny."

At first thought it was acetaldehyde, but I was skeptical because all the bottles beforehand tasted fine, and I understand that acetaldehyde is a byproduct of incomplete fermentation. Then I thought it might have something to do with the bottle, since it came from a 22 oz. bottle and the others were all 12 ouncers.

Later I was washing dishes and realized our dish soap is green apple-scented. D'oh. :smack:

I'll stick to OxiClean from now on.
 
If you rinse the bottle two or three times with hot water after you use them, you don't need any dish soap. Just rinse them with hot water, sanitizer and your god to go. I can never fully rinse a plate or glass when I use dishsoap.
 
If you rinse the bottle two or three times with hot water after you use them, you don't need any dish soap. Just rinse them with hot water, sanitizer and your god to go. I can never fully rinse a plate or glass when I use dishsoap.

I'm not entirely convinced that just rinsing will do the trick. I get a little bit of brown flakes when I wash my bottles. Having a few clear ones has let me see that this is from the top of the bottle just above the beer and a short soak in water with oxiclean will get this out where rinsing didn't.
 
If you rinse the bottle two or three times with hot water after you use them, you don't need any dish soap. Just rinse them with hot water, sanitizer and your god to go. I can never fully rinse a plate or glass when I use dishsoap.

It's true that owls are wise, I've used the same bottles at least a dozen times by simply rinsing/shaking with warm water 2 times IMMEDIATELY after decanting my beer into a glass. Then just submerse in Starsan right before my next bottling session. No problems and beer tastes great every time.
 
I'm not entirely convinced that just rinsing will do the trick. I get a little bit of brown flakes when I wash my bottles. Having a few clear ones has let me see that this is from the top of the bottle just above the beer and a short soak in water with oxiclean will get this out where rinsing didn't.

This. And I also notice some of my more hoppy beers leave a haze in the bottle that won't rinse off, but an Oxi-clean soak takes care of it.
 
I'm not entirely convinced that just rinsing will do the trick. I get a little bit of brown flakes when I wash my bottles. Having a few clear ones has let me see that this is from the top of the bottle just above the beer and a short soak in water with oxiclean will get this out where rinsing didn't.

Depends on how long you wait to rinse. I try to do it right after the pour if I'm alone. If someone is drinking w/me it might be an hour or two later. Have never really had a problem w/just a rinse.
 
Yeah my wife got a deal on some dawn dish soap with lotion in it. It's pink in color. I won't even attempt to try and use it because I too had drinking glass when she first bought it that had that taste in it. :eek: I keep a bottle of regular dawn just for brew stuff and only use a drop or two
 
I always partially fill, shake, and rinse a few times with warm water after I've poured a bottle. When it's time to bottle again I run it through the dishwasher without detergent on the sanitize cycle. Once the cycle is done, I fill my bottle sanitizer and give it a few pumps and I'm good to go. I've probably bottled 15 or so batches as I keg more these days. I've never had an issue with infected bottles. Fingers crossed it stays that way!
 
I purchased one of These.

My second job (Rope Making) requires me to dye a multitude of colors. One I had sufficiently splattered the kitchen window, walls, and ceiling with rainbow colors my wife finally "Gave" me the space next to the washer and dryer in the basement.

In went a sink and a dyeing/brewing/bottling/washing station. A couple of hose bibs with short hoses and some quick connects make washing a bottle out, a breeze. Even with company over. Takes about 5 seconds or less per bottle and doesn't waste water. (Not that I care because I'm on well), but still. Bottled 5 batches and counting now with little to no issues with just washing with this do-hickey.
 

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