Using sour bottles for regular beers

[Calder]

I never gave it a thought before, but does anyone see any issues with using the same bottles for sours and regular beers.

When I pour a beer (sour or regular), I immediately rinse the bottle out with fresh cold water. I generally give it 3 quick rinses, then put it in the washing machine to dry inverted. I never run the bottles in the machine. That is all I do to clean bottles; no detergents, cleaners, or scrubbing. Once dry, they are boxed ready to use.

When I come to use the bottles, I submerge them in a bucket of idophor for about a minute, maybe more, then drain, at which point it is ready for fresh beer.

I don't keep my sour bottles separate. Does anyone see any potential issue with my process. Is it good enough to clean any bugs from the bottles such that I don't infect a normal beer. Some of my normal beers do stick around for a year pr so in bottles, so it is long enough for a problem to develop.

I've not had a problem yet, but I've only been making sours for a few years, so the opportunity of a problem hasn't been around long.

I would be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this.

 

[Dawgs47]

If your bottles are getting cleaned and sanitized then you are fine.

 

[badlee]

I do pretty much the same and don't give it a second thought

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[CA_Mouse]

I treat my sour bottles the same as my regular ales. Only difference is that I give them a soak in PBW and a rinse in Star San just before I bottle them.

 

[solbes]

Interesting, I was always thinking it would be bad to mix up the bottles.

I just bottled my first sours (made a year ago). All of my bottles got a big "W" for wild using a silver paint pen. I intend to keep them separate, at least for the time being.

I had a gusher bug move through my system last spring (unrelated to my sour I would think as all plastic equipment is separate). Bottled 3 batches before I realized it had come into play. No bombs, but some highly carbonated beer. Shock and Awe campaign with equipment using bleach solution and now is all good. But I don't want to head the other way again, so I'm playing it conservative for now.

I will be watching to see if everyone else commingles their bottles.

 

[brewbama]

I always heard that all equipment for sour beers should not be used for non-sour beer.

 

[microbusbrewery]

No you don't have to segregate the bottles.

I don't know if it's misinformation or people just being overly cautious, but the typical brett and bugs associated with sour brews aren't the bogeyman they've been made out to be. You have to remember, whether or not you brew sour beers, things like wild yeasts and lactobacillus are everywhere around us all the time...in our kitchens, in our garages, in our yards, on the food we eat and so on and so on.

The key is to not allow them to get a foothold, and that's why we do things like clean, sanitize, and pitch yeast at the proper rate. Clean glass is very easily sanitized, so unless you have a really bad cleaning and/or sanitization process, there is no reason whatsoever to use separate bottles for sours vs. non-sours.

 

[sweetcell]

all my bottles are dual-use. they are used for both sour and clean. glass can be cleaned and sanitized pretty effectively.

my cleaning regimen: rinse twice with water immediately after pouring the beer. store in basement. at some point, soak overnight (or longer) in PBW solution in a giant bucket. rinse twice with warm water, let dry. put cleaned bottles away in a box. on bottling day, dunk bottle in star san making sure the inside is completely coated, let drip for a few minutes on a rack, then fill with beer. grab a cap that has been soaking in a small cup of star san and seal the bottle. wait 2+ weeks, drink, repeat.

 

[shelly_belly]

I don't seperate my beer and kombucha bottles but I do wash them with oxyclean and sanitize with starsan between uses.

 

[Calder]

all my bottles are dual-use. they are used for both sour and clean. glass can be cleaned and sanitized pretty effectively.

my cleaning regimen: rinse twice with water immediately after pouring the beer. store in basement. at some point, soak overnight (or longer) in PBW solution in a giant bucket. rinse twice with warm water, let dry. put cleaned bottles away in a box. on bottling day, dunk bottle in star san making sure the inside is completely coated, let drip for a few minutes on a rack, then fill with beer. grab a cap that has been soaking in a small cup of star san and seal the bottle. wait 2+ weeks, drink, repeat.

It is that cleaning (soaking) step that I don't have. I could easily add it as I keep my hoses in a bucket with cleaner/sanitizer. It is just another step. I'm thinking of adding it for any bottle that has had sour in it.