Ok so I' am getting ready to bottle a batch. I got all of these bottles from a friend/bartender. So the bottles are pretty clean I mean i rinsed them out well and put upside down to dry in 6 pack containers, but they are from a bar so I want to give them a quick clean before I sanitize. I have bleach, but am unable to find out how much to use per gallon or per ?? Any help or other suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Bottle Cleaning Question?
- Thread starter Yamaha81
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rico567
Well-Known Member
Stop. Bleach is a sanitizer, and I see no evidence from your post that you have CLEANED the bottles yet.....particularly given the source.
First, CLEAN. Lots of things you can use, including a bottle brush and good old dishwashing detergent.....and, of course, elbow grease. Or, you can use Oxi-Clean (or one of the many other brands for that formulation), and just soak them. Other products are B-Brite and One Step. My personal preference is PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash), made by Five Star Chemical. The latter products should be available from any homebrew supplier. Note that you must rinse any of these cleaners, and rinse well.
Second, SANITIZE. The main items here are bleach, iodophor, and (increasingly) another Five Star product called Star San. Bleach must be rinsed, while iodophor and Star San (when mixed according to manufacturers' recommendations) are no-rinse.
If bleach is what you've got, use it. Put 1T (one tablespoon) of bleach per gallon water, then, AFTER YOU MIX THE BLEACH AND WATER, add 1T white vinegar per gallon of sanitizing solution. Under no circumstances mix the acid (vinegar is acetic acid) directly to the bleach, or you will be able to have your own personal re-enactment of the Battle of Ypres in World War I. The vinegar will acidify the bleach/water solution, and it will function far, far better as a sanitizer. Regular grocery store bleach (Clorox, etc.) is only designed to function as a laundry whitener, not a sanitizer. For more on this, there's a podcast on BBR where the guy who runs Five Star Chemical talks about this. Personally, I quit using bleach a long time ago in favor of Star San.
Further note: The operation of some of these products depends on your water supply. do not attempt to use Star San with hard water, for example.
Once you're cleaned and sanitized, you're ready to fill those bottles with beer. There should be many, many other threads on this and other forums dealing with these issues in greater detail. Search is your friend.
First, CLEAN. Lots of things you can use, including a bottle brush and good old dishwashing detergent.....and, of course, elbow grease. Or, you can use Oxi-Clean (or one of the many other brands for that formulation), and just soak them. Other products are B-Brite and One Step. My personal preference is PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash), made by Five Star Chemical. The latter products should be available from any homebrew supplier. Note that you must rinse any of these cleaners, and rinse well.
Second, SANITIZE. The main items here are bleach, iodophor, and (increasingly) another Five Star product called Star San. Bleach must be rinsed, while iodophor and Star San (when mixed according to manufacturers' recommendations) are no-rinse.
If bleach is what you've got, use it. Put 1T (one tablespoon) of bleach per gallon water, then, AFTER YOU MIX THE BLEACH AND WATER, add 1T white vinegar per gallon of sanitizing solution. Under no circumstances mix the acid (vinegar is acetic acid) directly to the bleach, or you will be able to have your own personal re-enactment of the Battle of Ypres in World War I. The vinegar will acidify the bleach/water solution, and it will function far, far better as a sanitizer. Regular grocery store bleach (Clorox, etc.) is only designed to function as a laundry whitener, not a sanitizer. For more on this, there's a podcast on BBR where the guy who runs Five Star Chemical talks about this. Personally, I quit using bleach a long time ago in favor of Star San.
Further note: The operation of some of these products depends on your water supply. do not attempt to use Star San with hard water, for example.
Once you're cleaned and sanitized, you're ready to fill those bottles with beer. There should be many, many other threads on this and other forums dealing with these issues in greater detail. Search is your friend.
Yeah I have a bottle brush....and oxi clean I know how to "clean" and I use iodophor to sanitize....but my question still is......How Much to use per gallon? I thought you could use bleach to "clean" bottles? I have used oxi clean to clean my plastic stuff and I find it very filmy even after several rinses......
EvilTOJ
Well-Known Member
If you can look through the bottom of the bottles in the light and don't see any crud in them, they're clean enough and just need to be sanitized before use. Yamaha, I think you're confusing terms here. By "clean" do you mean sanitize, or to actually get crap out of the bottles? Bleach really isn't that good of a cleanser, it's more to get residue off things, a whitener, and sterilizer. To get the film of oxiclean off try using vinegar instead. If you're talking about sanitation, rico567 answered it here:
HomebrewJeff
Well-Known Member
I've never heard of clean "enough"... only "clean". If the bottles are dirty, you won't be able to sanitize them properly. My process was always to assume something was dirty, until I cleaned it.
In regards to the OP, check the bottle for mixing amounts. It should give you the amounts for general cleaning. Although I wouldn't recommend bleach, an Oxiclean is so much better IMO. After rinsing, I never noticed a film being left on the bottles... it may affect the vinyl tubing differently.
ok.....well my first batch was new bottles so i just sanitized them. I want to clean these bottles due to the source. I have oxyclean but still need to know how much to use?? I agree the film was probably because the items were plastic (my ferment bucket lid) and vinyl tubing. So how much do you use per gallon or 5 as i want to clean more then a couple bottles at a time. Thanks!!!!
You can just add a scoop or so of oxiclean to a sinkfull of water and use that for cleaning. Anything really gross might need a bottle brush and some elbow grease. Rinse very, very well and you should be all set.
rico567, bleach is both a sanitizer and a cleaner. If I get a cruddy bottle that I want too keep I fill it with bleach watter (1tbs per gallon) and soak it for a day or more. If that doesn't work it's to the trash with it. From my experience it works as well as oxyclean on the moldy junk.
rico567
Well-Known Member
Conroe, yep, I'm aware that a number of products appear to both clean & sanitize. I've read several anecdotes to that effect in the forums. However, I'm only talking about how these products are FDA classified, what their "recommended" (and, if you're in commercial food handling / food service, often "required") uses are. And bleach is classified as a sanitizer, like iodophor or Star San. I'm not implying that anything is better or worse; I just use PBW for cleaning, because that's what commercial crafts & micros use. Same with Star San for sanitizing. If bleach is working both ways for you, more power to you.
I don't much care what the government has to say about it (I'm not a pro). I much rather just know what works.
Clean with regular dishsoap and don't use bleach. For the water necessary to rinse all the bleach, you're better off using a no-rinse sanitizer. Plus, you're risking contamination from the rinse water. I used to use bleach, thought I was rinsing enough, only to have nasty beer in the end (not sure if it was the residual bleach or contaminants from rinse water). My beer now is great and the only difference is that now I use StarSan withouth a rinse.
I thought this thread was about cleaning? I've found oxyclean harder to rinse off than bleach. I can let bleach just dry, but if I do that oxyclean it leave a residue.
I used bleach as per Papzain's book as my cleaner/sanitizer of choice for about 50 batches without any issues. I now I use oxyclean, bleach, Iodopher, Starsan and heat for the individual purposes that I find them better at.
I used bleach as per Papzain's book as my cleaner/sanitizer of choice for about 50 batches without any issues. I now I use oxyclean, bleach, Iodopher, Starsan and heat for the individual purposes that I find them better at.
Yes it was but i find that alot of these threads get off topic and go to debates on what to use and what not to use. I know it is personal preference, but is kind of discouraging as a new brewer and also new to this forum 
I originally just wanted to know how much bleach OR OXYCLEAN to use to CLEAN bottles. I also do know the difference between clean and sanitize from reading the threads on here, but after reading about 10 or so never found how much to use (ie) one scoop per 5 gallons or sink or whatever. Anyways Thanks!!
I originally just wanted to know how much bleach OR OXYCLEAN to use to CLEAN bottles. I also do know the difference between clean and sanitize from reading the threads on here, but after reading about 10 or so never found how much to use (ie) one scoop per 5 gallons or sink or whatever. Anyways Thanks!!
FYI re: oxiclean film. StarSan gets it right off. Learned that from another thread on here and it rocks. It is instant.
hinkle
Active Member
I've been using B Brite, something similar to Oxi Clean. When I clean a bottle that came from a case of beer that I bought at the distributor (store) I will soak it in B Brite so that the label will come off(scrubbing is usually involved), then set it aside. I'll do 5 or so at a time in the sink until I do a little over two cases for my next batch. Then I wash them again with a new mix of b brite and hot water. I only have a one tub sink, if I had a two tub, it would cut down but I would still do a double rinse on "labeled" bottles.
While I don't have much experience, I'll share what I do know and that the water from cleaning off labels isn't the water you want to use for cleaning bottles before sanitizing. Once the labels are gone, along with the glue, a quick wash with b brite/similar then sanitize is what I do.
A good way to look at it is, "this one extra step is going to make my beer taste good/better," not "cutting this step will let me drink beer faster/end the day quicker." Especially when it comes time to bottle because you already have at least 4 weeks into it, its not time to cut corners.
While I don't have much experience, I'll share what I do know and that the water from cleaning off labels isn't the water you want to use for cleaning bottles before sanitizing. Once the labels are gone, along with the glue, a quick wash with b brite/similar then sanitize is what I do.
A good way to look at it is, "this one extra step is going to make my beer taste good/better," not "cutting this step will let me drink beer faster/end the day quicker." Especially when it comes time to bottle because you already have at least 4 weeks into it, its not time to cut corners.
