Preparing Bottles / Sanitize / Sterilize

[AustrianBrewer]

Hello,

I've been home brewing now for 2 years with a friend and now I have my own equipment / own space and want to improve upon the methods we currently use.

Specifically, I would like to reduce bottling preparation time and improve my method.

Until now for our standard 20L brews, we collect 2 crates of used commercial bottles (after the contents have been consumed). They have not always been rinsed and can contain some gunk in the bottom. We fill the sink up with water, add our VWP Sterilizer (which needs a rinse after use, because of the chlorine smell) submerge our bottles and leave it for the time required (or overnight).

Then we empty them (each with a swish), check them individually against a light and use a bottle brush to remove any remaining gunk and re-swish in the VWP solution / final check.

We then have another bucket with fresh water, to rinse these bottles from VWP Residue/Smell. The bottles are submerged in fresh water, swished around and emptied.

We then have a bottle rinser filled with star san. The Bottles are blasted with star san two or three times and placed on the bottling tree (previously sprayed with star san) to drip dry as much as possible before used for bottling, which is now taking place....

This is a bit of a pain, time consuming and I am not sure if I need to use VWP AND star san / if this process is overly complicated. As VWP needs a rinse, we use tap water (the water in Austria is good I think to rnse, not like water from Flint...).

I have googled a lot, some say rinse only wth pre-boiled water etc (which would add more steps to this process and raise issues new issues with storing pre-boiled water etc).

Heating bottles in an oven or using kegs is not an option, dishwashers in Europe don't have a sanitize feature.

So...

1. Do I need to use VWP and Star San for bottles or is Star San only needed on Bottling day if the bottle is "clean" - i.e. no mould? I read some people use VWP only and Rinse / others jus seem to use star san???

2. How can I do this whole thing better and quicker?

What I want to do is prepare my bottles early and have a process - Is the following OK?:
- Ideally rinse a used commercial bottle after use and store it upside down.
- When I have a crate or so, fill my sink with VWP and hot water to remove the labels / swish the bottles out / clean any bottles that were not rinsed after use and have gunk / rinse with fresh water.
- Store these cleaned bottles upside down in the beer crate.
- On bottling day - simply use the bottle rinser with star san and place them on the bottling rack for use...

Questions with this - some put tin foil over the bottle head when storing (seems over the top)
-How long can you / would you store cleaned bottles before using them?
-Would you do the above / but simply a quick rinse in fresh water on bottle day & star san without the VWP step again?
-Or do I need to do this 2 step solution we curently do - VWP and StarSan on bottling day?

I look forward to hearing the consensus...

Thanks

 

[Gavin C]

Bottle when wet with star san.

It is a no rinse sanitizer and it's efficacy is negated if you let the surface dry.

Bottle when wet. It also saves you time.

All my bottles are washed in the dishwasher and stored till needed.

Sanitized and filled (when wet)

Also, unless you are using an autoclave, forget any notion of sterilization. Sanitizing is what you are doing before filling.

 

[tennesseean_87]

You can clean and de-label them at any time. On bottling day use starsan only.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Your task is so laborious because it sounds like you are starting off with filthy bottles. Once you establish a quantity of bottles you can keep them clean by rinsing well after emptying, this will make your cleaning task either easier or unnecessary.

 

[mongoose33]

Bottle when wet with star san.

It is a no rinse sanitizer and it's efficacy is negated if you let the surface dry.

Bottle when wet. It also saves you time.

All my bottles are washed in the dishwasher and stored till needed.

Sanitized and filled (when wet)

Also, unless you are using an autoclave, forget any notion of sterilization. Sanitizing is what you are doing before filling.

You must have copied my method! (more likely I copied yours ).

To extend just a bit: I rinse my bottles as emptied, and place in the dishwasher. When done, I store them upside down in FastRack racks to await bottling. Just prior to bottling I cool down the bottles either by putting them outside or in a freezer, and when I bottle I hit them with two or three squirts of Star San from the vinator bottle rinser. In fact, as I pull a bottle (which has been rinsed) off the vinator to bottle, I put another one on, give it two or three squirts, and it drains while I fill the previous bottle.

I have also stored clean bottles in a beer case, covering them up so dust and such can't drift into them.