Critique my bottle washing process, please

[Tommydee]

I prefer to continue to bottle (vs keg) but trying to minimize time. I have my filling process wired to be more than fast enough from clean bottle to cellar, using vinator and a well laid out kitchen/dishwater rack. (This forum rocks! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=94812 ). But soaking/cleaning/rinsing bottles with PBW or equivalent is a time suck. I did it my first batch to be safe, but want to ask the powers that be to opine on my proposed water-only process, which seems efficient and fits my consumption patterns. Will it eliminate off flavors?

Immediately after pour:

1. Cold water fill from sinke about 2 oz, then shake, pour out
2. Repeat for 3x, then let dry upside down on rack by sink.
3. periodically move to foil- covered milk crate once dry (upright)

Bottling day

1. Gather bottles from covered crates from inital clean. Also plan to do same with new bottles bought in boxes from reputable LHBS. (is this ok for both cases, or should i still PBW soak and rinse bottles from the mfg-er?)

2. Double fist, hot water only fill about an ounce from sink, quick shake and drain, quick exterior rinse, then to DW rack to await vinator process.

Notes: I pretty much do all the pouring/most of the drinking, so i can control post pour for most cases. Also, my filling process includes a prefill inspection for any gunk that may have been missed somehow, and set aside. for bottles that aren't prerinsed, I think i will recycle these outliers before i try soaking and cleaning.

Will my process work? Or will i move to kegging? Or is there a search i missed for a faster bottle soak/rinse process?

 

[brewcat]

I just rinse the bottles out with hot water after pouring. Even commercial ones. It works fine. In fact, I do it with all my brewing equipment. The only time I use cleaner is for my kegs and lines. As long as you don't have gunk sticking, sanitizer will work on bottling day.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

FWIW, here's where my process varies from yours:
1st time use: oxyclean soak to delabel, then soap and bottle brush the insides, jet washer to hot-water rinse, then dry in dishwasher rack, place neck down in box. With purchased bottles I just wash the insides, skip the soak.

After use: hot water rinse & shake three times, air dry in rack and place in box neck down. If bottles have sat, or someone's returned empty bottles to me, bottle brush & soap, hot water rinse (usually skip the jet washer unless I have 6 or more to clean).

On bottling day: grab case of clean bottles (which are all neck-down), spray bottle tree with star san, fill vinator, three pumps of star san in each bottle, dip neck in vinator reservoir and place on tree. Repeat, two handed, until all done (usually while my carboy is draining into the bottling bucket).

IMO you should keg too. Bottling takes longer (takes me about 90 minutes including clean-up) and has its pros and cons, as does kegging (not going into that here, as there are too many threads about that already). Getting good at doing both is one mark of a great homebrewer.

 

[PADave]

I rinse with warm water about 3-4X after pour. Then goes into my FastRack. On bottling day I soak in starsan for a few minutes, then pour most out, give a quick shake and pour the rest out. Right before I fill, the neck gets a starsan spray and I pour out any remaining starsan. Filled thousands of bottles using this method and haven't had a problem. Only time I ever do a PBW soak is to remove labels on any new empty bottles I get.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

IMO you should keg too. Bottling takes longer (takes me about 90 minutes including clean-up) and has its pros and cons, as does kegging (not going into that here, as there are too many threads about that already). Getting good at doing both is one mark of a great homebrewer.

Not everyone has further money to drop on kegs or space to store them (kegs can't be distributed among several different shelves like bottles).

OP: Your process sounds fine except it appears there's no sanitizer step prior to bottling. Have you bottled batches according to this process, and have the results been satisfactory? If either question is "no" you might consider buying a bottle of StarSan and either a 32oz spray bottle (roughly 1/3 tsp to 32oz water; I use a not-quite-full 1/2 tsp just to be safe), or if you're willing to spend a little more getting one of these, and replacing the bottling-day rinse step with using your method of choice to lightly coat the inside of the bottle with sanitizer solution (rinsing is not required) and letting it drain.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Not everyone has further money to drop on kegs or space to store them (kegs can't be distributed among several different shelves like bottles).

Absolutely, but as I said, they both have their pros and cons which have been debated endlessly here and on other forums, which is why I took it no further. Hope you won't either, again.

OP: Your process sounds fine except it appears there's no sanitizer step prior to bottling. Have you bottled batches according to this process, and have the results been satisfactory? If either question is "no" you might consider buying a bottle of StarSan and either a 32oz spray bottle (roughly 1/3 tsp to 32oz water; I use a not-quite-full 1/2 tsp just to be safe), or if you're willing to spend a little more getting one of these, and replacing the bottling-day rinse step with using your method of choice to lightly coat the inside of the bottle with sanitizer solution (rinsing is not required) and letting it drain.

The OP mentioned the "vinator process", so I think he was already on board with your link suggestion - they rock!

 

[RaHarmakis]

Agree with the adding of a Sanitising step. Anything that touches your beer after the Kettle... MUST.... be sanitised before the beer goes into it. If your not sanitising it's simply a matter of time before contamination occurs.

The only other change I'd make, is to do your post pour rise with HOT water, better to kill off any yeast, or microbes from your last batch. Cold water will do nothing to remove them.

If your foil covering your bottles, maybe consider baking them in the oven. This is a poor mans Autoclave, and will Sterilise (better than sanitise) your bottles.

If you combine a really good Hot/PBW wash after consumption, then follow up with a Sterilisation cycle, and get a proper seal with the Tin Foil, your brew day process can be, Pull Tinfoil off bottle, fill with beer.

 

[Tommydee]

After my prerinse on fill day, I definitely use starsan and a vinator, load my sanitized DW rack, then grab, inspect, pass to right hand.fill.. per the original link...maybe my prerinse is redundant, but I figure it takes care of any particulate from storage....it may be unnecessary, though. Bottom line is the vinator process takes about 10 minutes at most, so that's no problem....the PBW is a pain because I know too much about detergent residues fro my real job, and I don't have an HPLC at home to analyze my rinse sample!

Not everyone has further money to drop on kegs or space to store them (kegs can't be distributed among several different shelves like bottles).

OP: Your process sounds fine except it appears there's no sanitizer step prior to bottling. Have you bottled batches according to this process, and have the results been satisfactory? If either question is "no" you might consider buying a bottle of StarSan and either a 32oz spray bottle (roughly 1/3 tsp to 32oz water; I use a not-quite-full 1/2 tsp just to be safe), or if you're willing to spend a little more getting one of these, and replacing the bottling-day rinse step with using your method of choice to lightly coat the inside of the bottle with sanitizer solution (rinsing is not required) and letting it drain.

 

[Tommydee]

After my prerinse on fill day, I definitely use starsan and a vinator, load my sanitized DW rack, then grab, inspect, pass to right hand.fill.. per the original link...maybe my prerinse is redundant, but I figure it takes care of any particulate from storage....it may be unnecessary, though. Bottom line is the vinator process takes about 10 minutes at most, so that's no problem....the PBW is a pain because I know too much about detergent residues fro my real job, and I don't have an HPLC at home to analyze my rinse sample!

Not everyone has further money to drop on kegs or space to store them (kegs can't be distributed among several different shelves like bottles).

OP: Your process sounds fine except it appears there's no sanitizer step prior to bottling. Have you bottled batches according to this process, and have the results been satisfactory? If either question is "no" you might consider buying a bottle of StarSan and either a 32oz spray bottle (roughly 1/3 tsp to 32oz water; I use a not-quite-full 1/2 tsp just to be safe), or if you're willing to spend a little more getting one of these, and replacing the bottling-day rinse step with using your method of choice to lightly coat the inside of the bottle with sanitizer solution (rinsing is not required) and letting it drain.

 

[Brownalemikie]

I'm sure I'll catch critique for my method.....I simply rinse twice with warm water immediately after pour. Each rinse involves my thumb on top of bottle while shaking vigorously. That's it until bottle day when each bottle is submersed in Starsan. No problems what-so-ever after filling each bottle at least 9 times.

 

[Tommydee]

On the whole keg thing, it really is going to depend on the situation and person.. My overall consumption volume is low, so I'll probably move to BIAB 3 gallon and learn from there. Already have a small beer fridge bar, and no space for a kegerator.....besides I like to crack a bottle and pour a pint, so I prefer bottled delivery. That being said, my time is limited, so eventually perhaps I'll splurge on kegging in about a year, if I find managing the bottle "lifecycle" takes too much time. Otherwise, I'll probably be a bottler for life so long as my water, water, vinator process works!

Thanks to the community for the feedback, really appreciate it "

 

[goforevercrazywithit]

My process:
1. Open bottle, drink beer, rinse out bottle, store for next bottle session
(bottling day)
2. Rise and shake bottle with warm-hot water
3. Hold up to light and look into bottle. Check if clean or dirty.
4. If dirty, fill with soap and hot water. Scrub thoroughly with bottle brush (usually only dirty if I forgot to the rinse part of step 1)
5. When all bottles clean, put in dishwasher. Run heated rinse and heated dry cycle with NO SOAP
6. Let cool
7. Bottle beer

Never had a noticable problem with this method

 

[PADave]

I'm sure I'll catch critique for my method.....I simply rinse twice with warm water immediately after pour. Each rinse involves my thumb on top of bottle while shaking vigorously. That's it until bottle day when each bottle is submersed in Starsan. No problems what-so-ever after filling each bottle at least 9 times.

Pretty much exactly what I do. I think the key is to rinse immediately after pouring and not let anything dry in the bottle. When I'm having a cookout or something and don't have the time to rinse right after pouring I still put water in the bottles and let them sit in the sink until I get to them.