Beer clean glasses

My wife added jet dry to our dish washer long before I started brewing beer, and I don't think I can convince her not to keep using it. I've noticed disappointing head on most beers I pour, but glasses washed at friends' houses have much better head and retention.

I poked around and saw that the general methods people like to use are salt/baking soda mixtures with a bottle brush, vinegar, oxyclean, and some people say just use really hot water.

I keep my water heater at around 130 for energy savings. Anyone ever either microwave their water or run it through a coffee maker to clean their glasses? Would I be able to say clean the glasses in a dishwasher and then a quick soak/rinse of the hot water?

IrregularPulse said:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/bar-maid-ss-100-submersible-electric-glass-washer/929BGW20S.html

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As nice as a device like that would be, I could effectively use a manual brush in hot water. Although I did see from that site http://www.webstaurantstore.com/1-gallon-noble-chemical-bar-pro-low-sudsing-liquid-detergent-for-glassware-ecolab-18143-alternative/999BARPRO.html which would be a good soap to use (I guess) for cleaning glasses.

keep a few glasses just for beer, rinse them out after you use them or just hand wash them.

If you don't mind hand washing, just a little baking soda and a brush is all you need. If you see any carbonation bubbles clinging to the sides of the glass, it's not beer clean. A clean glass does make a difference.
This is what I use when company is coming over to drink.

I used to hand wash all mine when first starting to keg. Then I got sick of it and realized I'd rather toss them in the dishwasher and not have a big head on my beer. I can swirl it up if I want a big whiff every drink or whenever.

IrregularPulse said:

I used to hand wash all mine when first starting to keg. Then I got sick of it and realized I'd rather toss them in the dishwasher and not have a big head on my beer. I can swirl it up if I want a big whiff every drink or whenever.

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Yeah me too. My lazy ass goes through too many beer glasses to bother hand washing them all one by one.

i keep a few just for beer, and hand wash, with the tiniest bit of dishsoap if needed, but I usually rinse them right away after use.

I didn't know about the carbonation on the side of the glass, I'll have to check my glasses!

mattpavone said:

i keep a few just for beer, and hand wash, with the tiniest bit of dishsoap if needed, but I usually rinse them right away after use.

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^This. I never put my beer or wine glasses in the dishwasher, and only use the tiniest amount of soap.

Disposable plastic!! NOT!! Really, be careful microwaving water, it can actually go past 212 degrees and when you go to move the glass and the water moves it will virtually explode. If you do microwave it, put a chopstick or tooth pick, anything non-metal in the water as a point for bubbles to form at 212.

Wait, Beer Clean means clean enough for beer?


I thought the beer was the cleaner.

Treat yourself to a few double walled stainless steel tankards. Most of them are "hand wash only". I love mine...

Think I might get a scrub brush just for the glasses. I plan on keeping only about 4 cups for beer and by hand cleaning them I won't run out.

I run mine through the dishwasher (with jet dry in it). I don't have head issues at all. Maybe since the first pour from the kegerator has a lot of foam, the jet dry offsets that and cancels it out.

On the other hand, maybe we haven't put any jet dry in there in a while...

I hand wash all my glasses and use a lot of soap. I just rinse really well. No issues.

I just wash/rinse all beer glasses in vinegar and water rinse in water hand dry not to much for beer then again I am an a$$hole so not to many people come over to drink.....

I've been fighting with kegerator foam for a couple of weeks now, and this thread made me think it's actually my glasses. If I use one of my regular US pint glasses (which are dishwashed and used as normal drinking glasses) then it's foam central. The other night I poured a pint into a New Belgium globe glass (which are handwashed) and it poured like a champ.

Hmmm...

I've been to several bars that have something right by the taps that sprays water upwards into the glasses. Basically a bottle washer but designed primarily for glasses.

I think the best home route to go is to get one of these, then build it into a home bar with at least a couple taps.

Improbable said:

I've been to several bars that have something right by the taps that sprays water upwards into the glasses. Basically a bottle washer but designed primarily for glasses.

I think the best home route to go is to get one of these, then build it into a home bar with at least a couple taps.

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I believe that is sanitizer being sprayed.

I ended up trying the coffee maker water to rinse after just plain water and a no soap sponge. Seemed to get a much nicer pour on some La Fin du Monde.

To see if Jet Dry is the problem, take just one glass that you like to use. Rinse, and then sprinkle salt inside. Using your hand, "scrub" that salt all over the inside of the glass and the rim. Rinse well, and try a beer in it.

One of the things that you can do to see if your glass is bar clean is to pour a beer in it. If there are bubbles "stuck" to the sides, the glass is not clean. The bubbles should raise from the bottom and not have any stuck to the sides of the glass.