Cleaning bottles question

[Nexus555]

Well I'm about to start the first batch, and I have been collecting bottles. When I finish a 6 pack, I soak them in hot soap water and rinse them until I see no more bubbles.

If I use dish soap, will this make the beer have a soapy taste? I have a friend that used to brew, and he said his beer always had a soapy taste. I'm thinking this may be the cause.

Would you recommend not using dish soap to clean bottles? I'm going to clean these more thoroughly before bottle and of course sanitize them. Will the soap affect the taste?

Thanks!

 

[Pumbaa]

As long as they are rinsed well I wouldnt worry about dish soap. Personally I use oxyclean to clean my bottles until they "look clean". After that they go into storage then are sanatized when needed

 

[chainsawbrewing]

i haven't even bottled my first brew yet, but i've heard a wash in tablesalt, and then a thourough rinsing, will eliminate the soap. the biggest thing i've heard soap will do is affect the head of the beer, but i would imagine it could affect taste as well.

brian

 

[efreem01]

Here is the procedure which is highly effective:

Take a bottle brush and scrub the inside of each bottle to remove deposits of gunk. Rinse out the gunk when you're done. Then fill up a bath tub or some other large vessel with water and chlorine. Take the bottles and submerge them in it. Leave them there for 20-30 minutes to soak, this will sanitize them. After they're done soaking, take them all out of the tub and spray them with a bottle washer. This will get the chlorine out of the bottles which is definitely something you DON'T want in your beer.

I'm so anal retentive with using chlorine i usually rinse 2-3 times. I can't wait to get to a no-rinse solution, but the local HBS doesn't have much to choose from.

 

[Nexus555]

Good idea with the bath tub. Thanks!

 

[zoebisch01]

As long as they are rinsed well I wouldnt worry about dish soap. Personally I use oxyclean to clean my bottles until they "look clean". After that they go into storage then are sanatized when needed

I used to soak all of my bottles in a mild bleach solution until I decided to put the Oxyclean to the test. Never again will I use anything else. Even a mild solution of Oxyclean for 15 to 30 minutes is enough to remove even the most aggresive glues used for labeling beer (All except Amstel light bottles...don't ask ). Like Pumbaa says no need for dish soap.

 

[TheJadedDog]

What I do is rinse my bottles as soon as I pour the beer into the glass (this eliminates any gunk from building up). Then, once I have 4 or 5 collected (so every few days), I soak them in water and Oxyclean; this removes the labels pretty well and cleans the bottles. Then I store them upside down in cases to prevent dust from getting in so when bottling day comes I just soak them in my sanitizer and fill'em back up. So far this has worked pretty well for me, no bottle contamination to speak of yet.

 

[efreem01]

Even a mild solution of Oxyclean for 15 to 30 minutes is enough to remove even the most aggresive glues used for labeling beer (All except Amstel light bottles...don't ask ). Like Pumbaa says no need for dish soap.

Funny you should mention. Just yesterday, i posted about removing Amstel Light Labels. It can be found here

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23808

 

[Chuganator]

All i do is soak them in the sink with a nonscented dish soap, bottle brush, rinse then high temp water rinse them in the dishwasher.. no infections yet (knocks on wood)