Best methods for cleaning bottles?

[KCMOHophead]

I let my new bottles soak overnight with oxiclean in a 20 gallon rubbermaid tub. You remove the organic matter and labels at the same time. Scrub, rinse, sanitize and bottle.

 

[GRHunter]

1-Rinse bottles with bottle blaster
2-Soak bottles for 1 hour in Oxyclean
3-Scrub bottles with brush (will try using drill motor next time)
4-Rinse bottles with bottle blaster
5-Dry on bottle tree
6-Store up side down in beer case

Bottling Day

7-Run through dishwasher (no soap)
8-Idophor rinse with Vinator
9-Dry on bottle tree
10-Fill with beer

 

[rico567]

The vinator is x10 better than dunking for sanitation when used in conjunction with a bottle tree. You use a lot less sanitizer solution as well.

I would not use it for cleaning however.

IMO using the dishwasher to clean bottle is the worst idea ever. You just don't get enough fluid up into the bottles and good luck rinsing them out. Also, JET Dry should NOT be used on your bottles (or your beer glasses).. you will kill your head.

The idea of using the dishwasher is not to try to get water up inside the bottle; that will obviously not work. The idea is to heat the bottle to the 195F temperature of the dishwasher's rinse cycle, which will quite effectively sanitize a clean bottle. But the bottle MUST be cleaned previously

A lot of the methods in this thread are just too much work for me. What I do is:

1) With a new bottle, I delabel and clean with an hour PBW soak, then rinse thoroughly.

2) I sanitize with Star-San, injected up into the bottle with a vinator, placing them into the dishwasher as I go. This takes less than 15 minutes for 50 bottles.

3) I then run the dishwasher, and the bottles are ready to go.

4) When my beer is poured from a bottle later, I rinse the bottle thoroughly at that time. I have done this long enough to prove to my own satisfaction that they're clean.

5) When I re-use a bottle that's already gone through steps 1-3 above, I just do 2 & 3, and I'm good to go.

Note: This post is not intended as a criticism of anyone else's methods. I've just discovered that it's efficient for me, and integrates well into the way I brew otherwise. In any case, it produces clean, sanitized bottles for my beer, and that's what I'm after.

 

[AirBronto]

For Label Removal: Bucket with hot to warm water. Scoop of oxyclean for 5 to 6 gallons of water. Some labels will come right off others take some time and some take time and a little but of work.

For general cleaning: Same

If you took good care of your bottles then you can just rinse them and use a sanitizer.

I recommend Oxy clean over bleach for cleaning as it does a better job, smells way better, even pleasant, and rinses off far better. You can rinse off bleach all you want and will still have a slight smell left over.

 

[doug1395]

I always rinse the bottles as soon as I'm done drinking the and let them soak in the sink.Turn them upside down for storage and drying . When I'm ready to bottle I put them the dishwasher on sanitizing.I know peaple say that's a bad way but I haven't had a bad bottle yet.

 

[JBrady]

I rinse each bottle after pouring the beer it contains in a glass, if it has a heavy yeast layer i fill the bottle up half way, put my hand over it and shake it a few times. Then I store them in empty 6 pack boxes until the next bottling day. At that time i dunk them in sanitizer and bottle the next batch. Never had a single bottle deviate from what the rest of the batch tasted like. Sometimes I think alot of people overthink/overkill what we do here.

 

[scratchypants]

I rinse each bottle after pouring the beer it contains in a glass, if it has a heavy yeast layer i fill the bottle up half way, put my hand over it and shake it a few times. Then I store them in empty 6 pack boxes until the next bottling day. At that time i dunk them in sanitizer and bottle the next batch. Never had a single bottle deviate from what the rest of the batch tasted like. Sometimes I think alot of people overthink/overkill what we do here.

This.

56789

 

[BigJason]

Anyone use a microwave to sanitize after the bottles are clean? I'm wondering if a 30 second run with a 12 pack at a time would have any benefit.

 

[DmentD]

Stage 1: I gather enough bottles to make it worth my while (rinsing each thoroughly after they've been emptied of their contents), then I fill a 5-gal bucket with very hot water and about 1-2 ounces of OxyFree and soak.

A few points of interest I've picked up about using OxyFree, courtesy of the HBT forums:

• It only takes 10-30 minutes of soaking for labels to loosen enough to fall off or be peeled off easily (if indeed they are going to anyway -- I've de-labeled 48 bottles in an hour with only the need to gently swipe at any remaining glue residue with the rough side of a sponge).
• You reduce the chances of the the dreaded "white film" if you remove the bottles and rinse while the water is still warm -- as I understand it OxyFree (OxyClean, generic knockoffs, etc) breaks down rapidly, and as it cools causes the various components to settle out of the solution and onto your bottles. Again, I have been able to do 48 bottles before the water cools.
• I've been given bottles from friends that weren't rinsed at all, and had new and interesting life forms growing in the bottom. Within seconds of the OxyFree hitting the bottom of those bottles, those alien creatures had completely detached and were floating at the top of the bucket... the Oxy had started breaking them down immediately on contact. I have never been left with a mold colony in the bottom of a bottle, and haven't needed to take a bottle brush to any of them. YMMV.

Rinse those bottles thoroughly, bottle tree them for a few days, and stow them in 6-pack carriers in cardboard bankers boxes (OfficeMax sells a 10-pack of these for about $15, and they fit 24 standard longnecks, in carriers, perfectly -- they also have lids, stack nicely, and have handle-holes).

Stage 2: On brew day, I grab a few boxes of bottles, evaluate the bottles for dust (I've heard of folks storing their boxes of bottles in a plastic bag for the long term to keep the dust/bugs/etc at bay), rinse briefly if necessary, then hit them with some StarSan in the Vinator. Onto the tree they go until ready to be filled.

 

[BioBeing]

Rinse those bottles thoroughly, bottle tree them for a few days, and stow them in 6-pack carriers in cardboard bankers boxes (OfficeMax sells a 10-pack of these for about $15, and they fit 24 standard longnecks, in carriers, perfectly -- they also have lids, stack nicely, and have handle-holes).

I like this!

 

[DmentD]

I like this!

I tend to be a little... well, to be honest I'm a self-inflicted selective OC personality after having pretty much been a slob half my life. I like things "just so" now, and that includes not having mismatched bins of bottles hanging around the house (or mismatched bottles within those bins... see what I mean?). I also didn't want my bottles rattling around when moving them. After taking a few measurements I discovered that the banker box was the perfect fit, at a good price. I bought nice, clean 6-pack carriers from the LHBS that permanently live in those boxes, and the bottles are secure. It's also a good way to store filled bottles, as it keeps 'em nice and dark. And if you print your own labels, you can print an extra for each box and slap it on the outside so you know what's in there.

I tend to keep 3 cases of each type of bottle (see above... I currently keep 5 styles of bottle) to allow for spares, handouts that never find their way home, and keeping a sixer in deep storage to see how it's going to age over the long haul. I can slowly replenish the missing ones over time and still have enough for the next batch.

The only caveat is that you can only really get 20 of any type of "shorty" style bottle in there as they're too wide, and they don't fit into a standard 6-pack carrier either. Soooooo, I cut cardboard dividers for those bottles.

Too much?

 

[EvilGnome6]

Too much?

No, not at all. I've taken to drinking six bottles of New Belgium beer every week to use for my homebrew (I buy the Folly Packs). This way I have identical bottles for and boxes to store them in.

I have over 250 New Belgium bottles now.

 

[aksea102]

Rinse those bottles thoroughly, bottle tree them for a few days, and stow them in 6-pack carriers in cardboard bankers boxes (OfficeMax sells a 10-pack of these for about $15, and they fit 24 standard longnecks, in carriers, perfectly -- they also have lids, stack nicely, and have handle-holes).

I like this too!! Thanks!