Okay to use old dirty bottles if cleaned?

[Ben_Persitz]

I came across about 30 longneck bottles last night, perfect for homebrew.

I usually keg but I have a hefe I want to bottle as I feel it'll be truer to style, and that way I can get my Pale Ale on tap etc. etc. That's not important.

I never thought I was going to bottle again, and my cleaning habits USED to be bad for homebrew, so the bottles were sort of nasty. They had some mold in the bottom of them so I figured I'd clean them.

I got a warm PBW solution ready and filled all the bottles with my solution. Let them soak for about 45 minutes. Then with the bottles still full I scrubbed each one with my bottle brush, dumped out the PBW, rinsed with hot water and inspected for any sign of mold.

All of them now appear to be clean.

Is it okay to use these even though they sat for so long (about a year) with mold in them?

I think I'll be okay if I rinse them again with hot water and sanitize them well before use.

Any chance of PITA wild yeast in there? Do wild yeast get washed out/die when you clean and sanitize well?

These sound like stupid questions. I know.

 

[AirRageous]

I use bottles "brought in from the wild" all the time. Lots of mold and other crud in them. Soaking in PBW and scrubbing should be just fine. Rinse well and sanitize well with Star-San or Iodophor.

 

[damnyankee]

They'll be fine. In the future, use oxyclean free or go to Dollar Store and for $1 they have an oxyclean free clone called LA Awesome Oxygen which works just as well. After a 15'-30' soak in the sink with hot water, all that nasties will come right out of the bottle. Works great for removing labels too.

As a 2nd step: I ALWAYS put my bottles (and my canning jars when I can in the fall) in the oven for 300 deg F for 1 hour to sterilize them. I turn off the oven, pull 'em out (use gloves...their HOT!), and immediately cover each one with previously cut 2"x2" square of aluminum foil. The bottles are now STERILIZED...not just sanitized. If the process is good enough for canning jars, it's good enough for beer bottles.

DY

 

[Chris1272]

I use bottles like this all the time. Just scrub and clean them very well. I will then take them and put them in the dishwasher prior to bottling and run it with the high temp boost on. This poor mans autoclave will kill most anything that could be living on the bottle.

 

[ETCS]

I purchased about 100 old grolsch bottles on Craigslist about 6 months ago. They were cheep (paid 20 bucks for 100 of them). Anyway, they were pretty nasty, scrubbed them all and soaked them in some sanitizer in a big rubbermaid tub for about 2 days, rinsed stored and used with no problems. Every party I go to, I keep bottles that people throw away.

 

[jfr1111]

They'll be fine. In the future, use oxyclean free or go to Dollar Store and for $1 they have an oxyclean free clone called LA Awesome Oxygen which works just as well. After a 15'-30' soak in the sink with hot water, all that nasties will come right out of the bottle. Works great for removing labels too.

As a 2nd step: I ALWAYS put my bottles (and my canning jars when I can in the fall) in the oven for 300 deg F for 1 hour to sterilize them. I turn off the oven, pull 'em out (use gloves...their HOT!), and immediately cover each one with previously cut 2"x2" square of aluminum foil. The bottles are now STERILIZED...not just sanitized. If the process is good enough for canning jars, it's good enough for beer bottles.

DY

Why not put the foil BEFORE putting the bottles in the oven ? Even with some rinse water still in them, they come out dry after an hour at 300F. I know, that's what I do.

 

[Nugent]

I use bottles "brought in from the wild" all the time. Lots of mold and other crud in them. Soaking in PBW and scrubbing should be just fine. Rinse well and sanitize well with Star-San or Iodophor.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Exactly what I do. They'll be spotless!

 

[Pumbaa]

I use bottles "brought in from the wild" all the time. Lots of mold and other crud in them. Soaking in PBW and scrubbing should be just fine. Rinse well and sanitize well with Star-San or Iodophor.

+1

I get them for $2.40 a case and thats with the nice heavy cardboard crate

nasty yes BUT well worth the effort to clean them up

 

[brettg20]

Iodophor is my best friend....use this and you will be ok.

 

[kegtoe]

OMG, i havnt seen a Rhinelander crate since i was years old. They manufactured that beer with the effluent form the Rhinlader Wisconsin Sanitary Swer System. - At least thats what it tasted like.

 

[Andy_LV]

I soak my bummed glass in cheap bleach/water mix for about 45mins, then brush and rinse, sanitize before bottling.

Keep in mind one thing tho - sometimes it is impossible to clean out all the stuff and if bottle does look shady, better not risk it - dump it.

 

[Fid]

Just started kegging so I'm staying away from bottling for a bit but I always used the oven/foil method as well. I found it nice having some left over sterilized bottles that you can store away indefinitely and use for a batch down the road.

 

[HerotBrewer]

I have pulled up year old bottles from the basement, a quick blast with the jet bottle washer almost always knocks all the crud out. I was amazed the type of flora that can grow in an old beer bottle. Maybe that's what an infection looks like