Argument over Sanitizing Bottles...

[Anthony_Lopez]

So my buddies and I are gonna bottle our first batch this weekend. With Homebrewing (and everything else) everyone has a different opinion.

So heres the questions:
1. What do you sanitize with?
2. How Long do you sanitize?
3. How soon after you have completed sanitization do you bottle?

I like star-san. I wanted to soak for 5-6 hours in star-san, then cover the mouths of the bottles with alum. foil and bake them at a low temp to get rid of the moisture. Supposedly they will stay clean until you take the foil off...

Any help would be appreciated!!!

Thanks!

 

[Revvy]

I soak the clean bottles for about 5 minutes in iodophor, then let them drain. I have a 5 gallon soysauce bucket I fill with 4 gallons of dilluted sanitizer. I do them in batches of 12, and while a batch is soaking, I prep something else I need for bottling.

 

[Blender]

I see no reason to soak with Star San for 5 hours. I used to clean them a day or so ahead of time and sanitize right before bottling. If you have a dishwasher the top rack works great to drain them and the door is a good spot to fill them.

 

[JustDave]

All of my bottles are put away clean, so I sanitize with Starsan using my Vinator bottle washer. I usually do 3-4 pumps with that, then let it drain into the bottle washer. Then I put the bottles on a towel and cover with sanitized plastic wrap. I don't have a bottle tree to let them drip dry, so I end up dumping out excess liquid before filling each bottle.

Starsan only needs about 30 seconds of contact time (but I believe the "official" time is 2 minutes). So I would say 5-6 hours is way overkill.

 

[Beerthoven]

So my buddies and I are gonna bottle our first batch this weekend. With Homebrewing (and everything else) everyone has a different opinion.

So heres the questions:
1. What do you sanitize with?
2. How Long do you sanitize?
3. How soon after you have completed sanitization do you bottle?

I like star-san. I wanted to soak for 5-6 hours in star-san, then cover the mouths of the bottles with alum. foil and bake them at a low temp to get rid of the moisture. Supposedly they will stay clean until you take the foil off...

Any help would be appreciated!!!

Thanks!

I use Star San to sanitize when I bottle, and this is how I do it:

1. Wash 12 bottles in oxy-clean and rinse well
2. Submerge those bottles into my 5 gallon Star San bucket
3. Wash 12 more bottles in oxy-clean.
4. Pull first 12 bottles out of Star San and hang on bottle tree to dry (your dishwasher rack will also work)
5. Submerge second batch of 12 bottles into Star San bucket
6. Repeat 1-5 until all bottles have been cleaned and sanitized.
7. When I'm done cleaning and sanitizing, start bottling.

Contact time for Star San is just 1-2 minutes. 5-6 hours is not necessary. There is no need to bake the bottles dry. They can be filled when they are still wet and foamy - that won't hurt anything.

 

[JimiGibbs]

I use Star-san but it only needs 30 seconds to sanitize. Just put the bottles in a bucket (or empty cooler) with Star-san and pull them out, dump the water out, and fill them with beer...... Or even better, get one of these with a bottle tree
Jimi

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1322&osCsid=3b889fa8177bbb3e9eff13d66d340b55

 

[Rhoobarb]

I see no reason to soak with Star San for 5 hours. I used to clean them a day or so ahead of time and sanitize right before bottling. If you have a dishwasher the top rack works great to drain them and the door is a good spot to fill them.

Ditto. I used an iodophor soak, but did the same exact thing. Star San will work the same. No real need to rinse or bake them. Just bottle as soon as you can.

 

[CBBaron]

I use a Vinator with either StarSan or Idophor then leave the bottles upside down in the washing machine. When I finish sanitizing I start bottling.
Your solution will work but sounds overly complex and time consuming. As long as the bottles are clean it only takes 20sec of contact with StarSan to sanitize.

Craig

 

[paranode]

Couple minutes in Star San or run them through the dishwasher with no detergent on high-heat rinse/dry.

 

[bradsul]

+1 to the vinator, that thing makes bottling day a breeze! I blast my bottles inside with a bottle blaster, then hit them with the vinator and then onto the bottle tree.

As soon as all the bottles are on the tree I start filling them.

 

[Yooper]

Yes, I do what Bradsul does. I take clean bottles, push down twice on the vinator, and stick them on the bottle tree. It takes about 5 minutes to sanitize 45 bottles that way. I put the caps in a little bowl with star-san. By the time I rack my beer into my priming solution, my clean sanitized bottles are almost dry. (They don't have to dry, of course, but they seem to be almost dry inside by then).

 

[AnOldUR]

1. Add a little water and swoosh a bottlebrush around to make sure there are no solids.

2. Rinse well and put in dishwasher

3. Run though dishwasher with detergent set at NORMAL WASH / HEAT DRY

4. Run dishwasher again with NO detergent set at ANTIBACTERIA / HEAT DRY

5. Bottle directly from the dishwasher.

Notes:
1. Never use Jet Dry! (Even for normal dish wash.)

2. Dishwasher won't clean dirty bottles, only sanitize clean ones.

 

[beergears]

I don't have a bottle tree to let them drip dry, so I end up dumping out excess liquid before filling each bottle.

Retired dishwasher tray is my bottle tree!
The town dump (or your local equivalent) is your friend...

 

[nl724]

anyone soley use a dishwasher with no detergent and no sanitizer?

 

[Hopleaf]

Iodophor bath and set them on clean dishwasher rack to drip dry

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

Thats why this was an argument between myself and my buddies... Two of us were saying to soak the bottles to dissolve solids and remove labels, and then sanitize before bottling for a few minutes. I think my other two buddies were getting confused.

Thanks for all the input, I might have to check out the vinator. We already have the screw on bottle washer, but i don't think there is a place to add the sanitizer.

 

[noobrewer]

Yeah, just do oxyclean, bottle brush, rinse w/ hot water, and star san for 1 min, always worked for me. Foam is your friend!

 

[discgolfin]

Yes, I do what Bradsul does. I take clean bottles, push down twice on the vinator, and stick them on the bottle tree. It takes about 5 minutes to sanitize 45 bottles that way. I put the caps in a little bowl with star-san. By the time I rack my beer into my priming solution, my clean sanitized bottles are almost dry. (They don't have to dry, of course, but they seem to be almost dry inside by then).

I have read that sanatizing the caps is not needed if they are new and out of bag..I also read that if they are the o2 absorbing kinds it is bad to get them wet..I used to sanatize them and have stopped..what do you guys think?

put in star San few minutes dump..put on tree..fill..If u get the process down its about and hour for me to clean and fill 5 gallon batch.

J

 

[bradsul]

I always sanitize my caps, but I use PET bottles not glass so I just have plastic caps. I think I would sanitize my caps regardless though. The plant that creates the caps is not a sanitary facility in terms of what we require to keep our beer safe, why take the chance?

 

[maltMonkey]

anyone soley use a dishwasher with no detergent and no sanitizer?

I do. All my bottles are prewashed so they are already visually clean. I just stick them in the sanitize cycle for 2 hours (without detergent) and bottle.

Easy.

 

[discgolfin]

I always sanitize my caps, but I use PET bottles not glass so I just have plastic caps. I think I would sanitize my caps regardless though. The plant that creates the caps is not a sanitary facility in terms of what we require to keep our beer safe, why take the chance?

i agree but with the rubber part that absorbs o2 in those type of caps is ruined if wet prior to capping is what I read..

Jay

 

[bradsul]

i agree but with the rubber part that absorbs o2 in those type of caps is ruined if wet prior to capping is what I read...

For myself I don't think I'd want to use those caps then unless they come sealed up saying they're already sanitized. Personally I'd rather have that small amount of air in my bottle but have a sanitary cap rather than get whatever was on the cap into my beer. But that's just me.

 

[nl724]

I do. All my bottles are prewashed so they are already visually clean. I just stick them in the sanitize cycle for 2 hours (without detergent) and bottle.

Easy.

...and you have never had a problem. I just don't trust that my dishwasher would actually sanitize them well enough. I don't think the water actually gets up inside the bottle all the way.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

thanks for the tips guys... Much appreciated. This is our first batch to bottle, so I want to be sure it comes out as well as we have been hoping.

 

[maltMonkey]

...and you have never had a problem. I just don't trust that my dishwasher would actually sanitize them well enough. I don't think the water actually gets up inside the bottle all the way.

As long as the cycle actually says "sanitize" on it you'll be fine. It doesn't matter if the water gets inside or not--just that the ambient temp in the dishwasher gets hot enough to kill enough bacteria to be able to label the cycle as "Sanitize".

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Well we soaked them last night in oxy-clean and then bottled and it came out fine

 

[trent]

Wow you guys take so long, i just dump the bottle into a 5 gal bucket of idophor pull it out drain and fill. 20secs? Never had a problem.

 

[Revvy]

Well we soaked them last night in oxy-clean and then bottled and it came out fine

UH...you did rinse the oxyclean thoroughly THEN sanitized them in starsan or Iodophor before bottling, right?

 

[Greggy]

My bottles are always clean to start so I:

1) Bottle jet them all out
2) throw them on the bottle tree
3) My brew helper santizes with about 3-5 pumps of Idophor and sets them on the bottle tree as I bottle. With this process, they get cleaned, sanatized, and bottled quickly leaving less chance for bottle caused infection.

Greg

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Yes we rinsed everything out...put them in Oxi-Clean for a few hours with warm water, let them dry a little, rinsed them again after that, then put them in starsan then bottled.

What is a good temp you think to leave them at for 3 weeks?

 

[brett]

As long as the cycle actually says "sanitize" on it you'll be fine. It doesn't matter if the water gets inside or not--just that the ambient temp in the dishwasher gets hot enough to kill enough bacteria to be able to label the cycle as "Sanitize".

I also use the dishwasher, no detergent. But then again I make sure the bottles are clean and rinsed before I pop them in. Then I bottle over the dishwasher. Works great, and I never have had a problem with unsanitary bottles.

To each his own; I've also used star san and it works great, I've just found that it takes a little more time.

 

[PseudoChef]

I just use clean bottles into a dishwasher, no detergent.

No problems yet.

 

[homebrewer_99]

All of my bottles are put away clean, so I sanitize with Starsan using my Vinator bottle washer. I usually do 3-4 pumps with that, then let it drain into the bottle washer. Then I put the bottles on a towel and cover with sanitized plastic wrap. I don't have a bottle tree to let them drip dry, so I end up dumping out excess liquid before filling each bottle.

Starsan only needs about 30 seconds of contact time (but I believe the "official" time is 2 minutes). So I would say 5-6 hours is way overkill.

I sanitize the sme way, but use a tree...bottle while still wet...

 

[Willy Boner]

I run all my bottles through the diswasher,put them neck down in boxes as they come out. When a batch is ready to bottle, I fill the bottles with Starsan from the spigot, I then pour the starsan back in the bucket and dip the mouth of the bottle in and place them neck down back in the cases with clean paper towel in bottom. then bottle as normal.

 

[abrix]

Methinks people worry too much. We rinse our bottles after drinking so they're stored clean, and then give them another hot water rinse just before bottling.

One year now and no problems yet.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Well the oxi-clean worked great. Took the labels and glue right off all the bottles.

 

[Homercidal]

I'll have to check and see if my dishwasher has a sanitize setting. I always try to reuse my beer bottles, and I even rinse out the returnables out of habit!

Once I get up a collection of de-labelled bottles, it should go much faster.

FYI - Some of the guiness bottles have plastic shrinkwrap lables, that peel right off. no glue, and they got a sexay shape!

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

the oxyclean was to remove the labels. The labels were coming off within minutes of putting them into the solution of oxyclean and hot water. The only reason we soaked em for so long was to make sure all of the crap on the inside rinsed out and to get all the bottle gunk off from the labels...

After a bottle rinse, and a soak in Star-san, they were bottled...

 

[SuperiorBrew]

Yes, I do what Bradsul does. I take clean bottles, push down twice on the vinator, and stick them on the bottle tree. It takes about 5 minutes to sanitize 45 bottles that way. I put the caps in a little bowl with star-san. By the time I rack my beer into my priming solution, my clean sanitized bottles are almost dry. (They don't have to dry, of course, but they seem to be almost dry inside by then).

This is the way I do it as well, only i toss the caps in the bottom of the vinator because I dont like cleaning up anymore than I have to

 

[zoebisch01]

After use, I make sure I rinse out the bottles completely. The night before I run them in the dishwasher on the Sanitize cycle with heated dry.