If Star San left in bottle is not bad for beer, why get a bottling tree?

[bierislekker]

I keep reading it's totally fine to not rinse the Star San out of bottles, after using something like the the Vinator ().

But why bother getting a bottling tree to dry them? Could I just set my bottles upright on the counter and go straight to bottling after 5 minutes of sanitizing?

 

[JeepDiver]

Well if the bottles are upright there is a bigger chance of some bug floating in them

 

[bierislekker]

Well if the bottles are upright there is a bigger chance of some bug floating in them

A bug?

 

[LovesIPA]

Wild yeast and bacteria are present on dust. If a particle of dust lands on a dry spot in the bottom of a bottle, that bottle may become infected.

 

[IslandLizard]

I keep reading it's totally fine to not rinse the Star San out of bottles, after using something like the the Vinator.
...
But why bother getting a bottling tree to dry them? Could I just set my bottles upright on the counter and go straight to bottling after 5 minutes of sanitizing?

Well, I put my drained Starsan'ed bottles upside down on the sanitized counter and they drain quite a bit of extra Starsan out afterwards. Although the claims are it doesn't harm you, would you really want to drink all that? I'll have beer instead.

 

[LKABrewer]

Sterile water left in the bottle will not hurt anything, but I would not want to leave that in there either. Why dilute the beer?

 

[cluckk]

Note that he is using Iodophore which is supposed to air dry before filling. Star San is filled wet. When I do this with Star San, I use the tree as a place for the cleaned bottles to dry, and then I take the clean bottle off the tree, pump it a few times with the Star San, pour it out and then fill the bottle with beer and cap. Just go in reverse.

 

[LandoLincoln]

The bottling tree holds a lot of beer bottles in a very small footprint. When you're bottling a lot of bottles it makes life easier if all of the bottles are in reach. It's a good investment.

 

[JeepDiver]

A bug?

Wild yeast/bacteria

 

[MadCnty]

The bottling tree holds a lot of beer bottles in a very small footprint. When you're bottling a lot of bottles it makes life easier if all of the bottles are in reach. It's a good investment.

+1 to this reply... The tree makes bottling a 5 gallon batch MUCH easier IMHO...

 

[E_Marquez]

Sterile water left in the bottle will not hurt anything, but I would not want to leave that in there either. Why dilute the beer?

This has been my thought as well.. So yes it wont ruin the beer.. but will more then a coating of the glass do it any good? I think not.
I intended to bottle beer, by design, beer is all I want in the bottle.

 

[krenshaw]

i use my tree for beers i have drank but haven't been cleaned yet.. for example, i have 3 beers tonight.. i'll rinse them out well with just hot water then sit them on the bottle tree to dry.. once they are dry (or when the tree fills up because i'm lazy) i'll empty the tree into a milk crate where i store the bottles until they are ready to be sanitized and cleaned again the circle of life (well, a bottle's life)

 

[kh54s10]

A bottling tree is not for drying the sanitizer. Starsan and Iodaphor are wet contact sanitizers and are no longer effective if dried.

I use my dishwasher rack and a Vinator. I spritz all the bottles and put them on the rack. They drain but do not dry as I fill the bottles.

The only time a bottling tree is used to dry bottles is for storage.

 

[JeepDiver]

A bottling tree is not for drying the sanitizer. Starsan and Iodaphor are wet contact sanitizers and are no longer effective if dried.

I use my dishwasher rack and a Vinator. I spritz all the bottles and put them on the rack. They drain but do not dry as I fill the bottles.

The only time a bottling tree is used to dry bottles is for storage.

Nothing wrong with putting the bottles on the tree. As a matter of a fact I trust the tree I just dipped in star san a lot more than my dishwasher rack

 

[Yooper]

The bottling tree holds a lot of beer bottles in a very small footprint. When you're bottling a lot of bottles it makes life easier if all of the bottles are in reach. It's a good investment.

To me, this is the only reason to use a bottling tree. It's convenient and holds tons of bottles in a very small area. I just sanitize by giving a couple of squirts with the vinator, and then fill the bottles. The bottles are still wet with some sanitizer, but not full of it, and they are conveniently in my reach instead of spread all over the counter.

there isn't any reason to not do it the way the OP said- it's just easier and more convenient and less messy to have the bottling tree.

 

[bierislekker]

Thanks everybody, very helpful!