Baking Bottles to Sanitize?

[betelgeuse4721]

Hey,

I just brewed my first batch and it went really well. However, sanitizing all of my bottles with cleaning solution was a pain in the ass.

I now have a bunch of 22oz Rogue bottles that I am going to use for my next batch.
SO - If I give them a good rinse, and then put them in the oven to dry sanitize with heat...

How long and at what temperature??

Thanks,
Brady

Blog from first batch:
http://bradysbrew.blogspot.com/

 

[djinn88]

Hello again guy in Oviedo. I found this a thread about this a while ago and this following quote should help:

I'm only on my third batch, so far from an expert. I have sanitized my bottles in the oven and it is very easy and convenient. I make sure the bottles are CLEAN first, then take a piece of foil to wrap on the top. Stack the bottles on their sides in the oven racks. I raise the temp slowly over the first hour until I have it at 350. Keep it at 350 for 2 hours and then turn it off. Don't open the door while cooling, just let them cool slow so nothing breaks.

The great thing about this method is you can do the bottles days ahead of when you want to bottle. Just leave the foil on until you are ready to put the beer in and cap.

I got this from John Palmer's site and he has a temp chart for reference. I also know several friends who use the dishwasher and have had good success

I have also read somewhere that some types of bottles are made with some type of soda compound that can actually melt or distort the bottles with this much heat. I would maybe test a batch of a few bottles to make sure the rogue bottles are good to go.

By the way, have you decided on going to the next homebrew club meeting?

 

[dummkauf]

a 32oz bottle of starsan sells for $17.50 at my LHBS. That makes 160 gallons of sanitizer, I know this costs more than the oven(depending on electric/gas costs of running the oven), but it is just so convenient to sink the bottles, drain, fill, cap. If you are really looking to save $, I hear starsan keeps for quite a while in a bucket with a lid, so you can reuse it a few times. Though I go through probably less than 1 bottle a year, so I don't consider $18/year bad for the convenience of it.

Just my $0.02, the oven sounds like it works too though if that's what you prefer.

 

[Palefire]

I do the oven thing. Works great. 350 for one hour. Cover the bottles beforehand with foil (a small square works fine) and they're sterilized for near-forever. This way I always have a few cases ready to go anytime I decide to bottle.

Oh, and Rogue bottles are fine. The only bottles I've ever had trouble with were weird foreign ones. You'll smell it right away - smells like something's burning. When you bake regular bottles, you shouldn't smell anything.

Some people prefer starsan or other forms of sanitizing, but this just works right for my process.

 

[ChshreCat]

Easiest way to sanitize bottles...

Get some starsan and a spray bottle. Mix up a small amount of starsan in the spray bottle. Take each bottle and hold it sideways and give it one or two pumps of starsan depending on how much your spray bottle puts out on a pump. Drain.

I can do a whole batch worth of bottles, right before bottling, in about 4 or 5 minutes. Then I can bottle while the starsan is wet and know for sure that they're sanitized and it beats taking 3 hours plus cooling time to over sanitize them.

 

[logan3825]

I use a spray bottle of Star San solution and a bottle tree. Pretty much the same as ChshreCat. I keep a bottle of Star San solution in a spray bottle at all times. I use it for everything. Just make sure it is mixed with distilled water.

 

[djinn88]

I agree that StarSan is easier, and relatively cheap. But the oven method, if it suits your needs, is also viable. Go with whatever works for you.

 

[northernlad]

Easier easiest way to sanitize:

Vinator

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vinator-Bottle-Rinser-Home-Brewing-Wine-More-/360266211273?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

 

[logan3825]

Yup whatever works best for you. I wanted to get a Vinator but with a spray bottle it seems redundant.

 

[dummkauf]

Yup whatever works best for you. I wanted to get a Vinator but with a spray bottle it seems redundant.

I'm not understanding how a spray bottle is easy? You spray the insides of every bottle??? I've never tried the spray bottle method, but my 5 gallon bucket full of starsan seems way easier to just sink bottles to sanitize, as well as ensure the whole bottle is sanitized.

 

[logan3825]

I don't need to use 5 gallons of Star San to sanitize all my bottles. I spray about 2-3 squirts in each bottle, dunk the top in the Star San I will soak the caps in and put it on the bottle tree. Only takes maybe 10 minutes and half a spray bottle of solution. You only need to sanitize the inside. I could probably sanitize enough bottles for 4+ batches with a gallon of solution.

Like I said earlier, whatever works best for you but I don't think it takes much more time to sanitize a bottle than to fill it with sanitizer and sink it.

 

[KYB]

How baking bottles is easier than dunking them in a bucket of sanitizer is beyond me. Distilled water + star san, 1oz for 5gal of water, will last for months.

 

[PolishLogic]

+1 for the Vinator

 

[FatherJack]

I read that baking bottles can cause structural damage to the bottles leading to more bottle bombs.

Not only that, but dry heat is far less efficient in killing microbes than wet heat is (say, a dish washer).

 

[brewingkitty]

call me shirley, but how does breaking a bottle sanitize it??

 

[Andy_LV]

Oh, there is little device called "bottle rinser" that you can use to sanitize each bottle in easy and convenient way. here is first pic that google image search returned to me:

http://www.herbsandheirlooms.com/photo/rinser.JPG

Here is another tool that will help you with bottle rinsing, again google image search with bottle dryer:

http://www.oldwestbrew.com/_borders/botdryer.gif

I use oven only to sanitize my home marinade stuff - mushroom and jam jars, but those are bloody thick white glass jars and there is no pressure in the marinade.

If I were do it for beer bottles, I would "bake" them in temperature just above water boiling point and for some half hour, no need to raise temperature way too high. Tho I fail to see how it is easy to juggle around with hot bottles - once they are cool and out of the oven, they will get "unclean" again.

Dishwasher at longest and hottest washing cycle without addition of any detergents will also sanitize bottles.

 

[Heineken]

Here is the process I use for baking bottles:

http://boomchugalug.com/baking_bottles.htm

 

[Andy_LV]

Hmm, thats good idea about the foil - it would keep em clean, including the bottle neck. Nice adaptation!

 

[passedpawn]

350° is way too much. You only need about 160° for 5 minutes. See this pasteurization curve. I just use my dishwasher, which achieves this (lots of good threads here on that).

 

[jet35a]

I bake, from Palmer's "How to Brew"

Oven
Dry heat is less effective than steam for sanitizing and sterilizing, but many brewers use it. The best place to do dry heat sterilization is in your oven. To sterilize an item, refer to the following table for temperatures and times required.

Table 3 - Dry Heat SterilizationTemperature
Duration

338°F (170°C)
60 minutes

320°F (160°C)
120 minutes

302°F (150°C)
150 minutes

284°F (140°C)
180 minutes

250°F (121°C)
12 hours (Overnight)



The times indicated begin when the item has reached the indicated temperature. Although the durations seem long, remember this process kills all microorganisms, not just most as in sanitizing. To be sterilized, items need to be heat-proof at the given temperatures. Glass and metal items are prime candidates for heat sterilization.

Some homebrewers bake their bottles using this method and thus always have a supply of clean sterile bottles. The opening of the bottle can be covered with a piece of aluminum foil prior to heating to prevent contamination after cooling and during storage. They will remain sterile indefinitely if kept wrapped.

One note of caution: bottles made of soda lime glass are much more susceptible to thermal shock and breakage than those made of borosilicate glass and should be heated and cooled slowly (e.g. 5 °F per minute). You can assume all beer bottles are made of soda lime glass and that any glassware that says Pyrex or Kimax is made of borosilicate.

But that only means it's best FOR ME

 

[passedpawn]

I bake, from Palmer's "How to Brew"

...

But that only means it's best FOR ME

Hmmm... I gave my copy to my brother. That's new to me. Any other source and I would have doubts, but Palmer knows the subject. I stand corrected.

 

[mojotele]

I baked my bottles at first according to Palmer. It worked great, though it was rather time consuming. I couldn't fit all the necessary bottles in my oven at once, so I had to do 2 - 3 batches of baking for an hour and letting it cool for hours and hours and hours. Thus, cleaning and sterilizing the bottles (the oven will sterilize the bottles) took several days of work.

After reusing the same bottles a few times, I saw the disadvantage. The bottles started to become more brittle. They were frequently breaking or cracking when I put the cap on. Since the bottle was full of beer, and I didn't want people ingesting glass, I had to throw away all the beer and the bottle.

Of course, I keg now, but I still put some in bottles from time to time. Now I clean my bottles with OxiClean in a giant plastic tub I got from Home Depot. I can do all my bottles in one night. Then, I hit them with the vinator of StarSan two or three times before I fill them with beer. I've never had an infection, it takes me far less time, and my bottles aren't breaking anymore.

 

[jfr1111]

I tried baking and it was a PITA for me since I couldn't fit all the bottles needed for my batch and thus had to do 2 "sittings" so to speak. It's old school to the max and actually strilizes instead of sanitizing, but time consuming.

If I could fit all the bottles for a whole batch, I could see the advantage:
a) Wash bottles
b) Rinse and prep each bottles with foil
c) Stick overnight in oven on the lowest setting recommended by Palmer. Wake up to sterile bottles ready to be filled.

Structural damage is also a possibility.

 

[northernlad]

Pawn, I don't know where you go that pasteurization chart, and although I am sure is is correct, I think they are talking pasteurizing the beer in the bottle, not the bottle prior to filling.

Mechanical and thermal shock all conspire against the life of glass. Beer bottles are not tempered so every time you knock one or heat one or cool one or whatever, you weaken the glass.

 

[betelgeuse4721]

Djinn - whatsup bud.

Yeah after hearing everyone about their preferences, Im probably going to buy StarSan and see what it's like for myself.

ANyways, Im gonna try and make time for a meeting, but this semester for me is really damn busy. What day was it again? the first friday of the month or something?

Hello again guy in Oviedo. I found this a thread about this a while ago and this following quote should help:



I have also read somewhere that some types of bottles are made with some type of soda compound that can actually melt or distort the bottles with this much heat. I would maybe test a batch of a few bottles to make sure the rogue bottles are good to go.

By the way, have you decided on going to the next homebrew club meeting?

 

[djinn88]

It is the first Sunday of the month, so that's November 7th. I know what it is like with the classes, I'm taking 5 right now and doing undergrad research. BUT, sometimes you gotta take personal time out. This occasion seems worthy. If you go, bring one or two of your Oktoberfests and we can trade. I only have about 6 of mine left but will be saving some. Plus my Fat Tire clone will be ready for consumption by then (YESSSS!), so I may bring a few of those as well. Hope to see ya there!

 

[kuphish]

Pawn, I don't know where you go that pasteurization chart, and although I am sure is is correct, I think they are talking pasteurizing the beer in the bottle, not the bottle prior to filling.

Mechanical and thermal shock all conspire against the life of glass. Beer bottles are not tempered so every time you knock one or heat one or cool one or whatever, you weaken the glass.

Not only that, but Palmer is talking about sterilization - killing all forms of life on the surface in question. That's much harder to achieve than pasteurization.