Best way to clean used bottles

[starke20]

I have a bunch of used craft beer bottles I just finished. How do I get them clean for my home brew?

Thanks!

 

[krenshaw]

depends how dirty they are.. if they are just wet you can give them a good rinse and then sanitize them like you do your regular brewing equipment.. if there is some dried stuff you may need to use a brush to get out any stuff in there with some oxy.. i like to rinse out bottles right after i pour them or before i got to bed (if i remember to and i'm not too tipsy) then i don't really have to clean them much, just sanitize them

 

[TyTanium]

There are tons of great threads on this...just search for "clean bottles"

For just-drank bottles, a quick rinse with water is all that's needed.
If there's dried-on gunk, you have a variety of options...scrubbing, oxiclean, etc.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Another effective method is a run through the dishwasher withought detergent. Let it go through the sanatize drying phase and once it cools you should be ok to bottle.

 

[Beer_is_good_for_you]

I clean them when I'm done drinking from them or when I pour into a glass. Usually just a rinse or two with a couple shakes and make sure they're clean. Just prior to bottling I dip in a bucket of sanitizer for a couple seconds, give it a shake and drain, repeat in clean water and bottle away.

 

[BrewThruYou]

If I'm doing a bunch of bottles, I'll make a bucket of oxyclean free solution in a big tub and soak the bottles in there. If just a few bottles, I have a bottle scrubbie that attaches to a drill. It's okay for bottles since it's kind of a pain to get it and out of the bottle...but it's amazing for cleaning yeast starter flasks.

 

[JonathanG]

I like the Oxiclean route, especially for the first-time-used-for-homebrew bottles, for a couple of reasons:

1. It'll help remove the labels, but you'll still have to do a little scrubbing. Soak them in Oxiclean and hot water for an hour or so, then come back and peel off the labels and scrub the remaining glue residue off. (Some labels come off much easier than others.)
2. If the bottles weren't rinsed shortly after emptying them of their initial contents, it'll get rid of any build-up.

I'd make sure to rinse them several times consecutively after this initial cleaning, especially if you are using regular Oxiclean vs. the unscented stuff (Oxiclean Free). I now use the Oxiclean Free. Then just before bottling, I use a bucket of Starsan to sanitize them. I actually put my bottling tree in my kitchen sink, then have a bucket of Starsan right next to the sink. I'll take my spray bottle of Starsan and douse the bottle tree, then dunk about a case of clean bottles, one-by-one, into the bucket of Starsan and place them on the freshly sanitized bottling tree. I let them drain for a minute or two, then begin filling and capping them.

 

[Revvy]

Oxyclean, hot water, long soak (overnight or more), heavy rinse. No muss, no fuss, and the labels will fall off too.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

There's noting in a glass bottle that Oxiclean is going to damage. Fill them up and soak them in a tub. Put them in this weekend, leave them to soak, get back to them next weekend. Why do it the hard way when you can just be lazy and let nature take it's course?

Yes it's probably best to shake out bugs that happen to be living in the bottle before starting the soak.

Bob

 

[codycodycody]

Dishwasher on high heat no detergent. I do it everytime. Never had a problem. Then I dip in a bucket of starsan right before I bottle. Could be overkill but I don't have to worry.

 

[63belair]

Oxyclean, hot water, long soak (overnight or more), heavy rinse. No muss, no fuss, and the labels will fall off too.

+1

I have a small bucket (2 gallons I think from HD) with with some oxyclean near where I store my bottles. After I drink a beer, I give it a quick rinse, and toss it in the bucket. After 1 or 2 days the label has floated off and I give it a rinse then throw it in storage for the next brew day. On brew day I do another oxy clean soak in hot water for 30 min or so, rinse and bottle away.

Definitely a bit of overkill, but it is nice to get rid of the labels long before bottling is on the horizon to minimize the amount of fuss required.

 

[unfairbeef]

Although, I am still waiting on my first batch to ferment, I have cleaned about 250 bottles. Revvy knows what the deal is. His method works. I just fill the tub up with hot water, mix in oxyclean, soak for several hours. Some of the labels just fall right off, some are more stubborn. I find that an ID card or credit card works really well to scrape off the glue. After the soak I like to take my racking cane and put the tube in bottle and sort of aggressively pump the oxyclean/water into it to shake loose anything that may be in there (generally I rinse them after drinking the contents though). After rinsing them off, I drain then refill the tub with hot water and sanitizing solution and use the bottle brush. Just my $0.02.

 

[gator_brewer]

Oxiclean at least over night, then the rough side of a sponge to get rid of any left over glue. rinse twice then store until bottling.

For "science experiment" bottles with stuff growing in them, I jsut fill it up about 1/4 with water, shake for 10-15 seconds, dump out the water then drop in the oxiclean. If you have a lot of these types of bottles, just look through them before you put them back in the case for storage to make sure everything came out.

I highly recommend doing this before you want to bottle. The bottles won't get dirty again, and good sanitation will want you to at least dip in star-san before filling up anyways. Plus then it is a lot easier/quicker on bottling day.

 

[Katahdin]

For "science experiment" bottles with stuff growing in them, I jsut fill it up about 1/4 with water, shake for 10-15 seconds, dump out the water then drop in the oxiclean. If you have a lot of these types of bottles, just look through them before you put them back in the case for storage to make sure everything came out.

This is basically my method for “science experiment” bottles. I had gotten some nasty bottles from a friend last weekend and was cleaning them out. After rinsing and shaking one bottle some chunks came out, but there was more stuff left behind. Upon closer examination there was a mouse in the bottle and only some chunks of his fur had come out of the bottle. This bottle went straight into the trash as-is.

 

[Sbarnard80]

If I'm doing a bunch of bottles, I'll make a bucket of oxyclean free solution in a big tub and soak the bottles in there. If just a few bottles, I have a bottle scrubbie that attaches to a drill. It's okay for bottles since it's kind of a pain to get it and out of the bottle...but it's amazing for cleaning yeast starter flasks.

Brewthruyou, I know this post is old, but can you describe what scrubber drill attachment you are using? Am looking for some kind of scrubbing solution for my 12and 22oz bottles.

 

[dxbq48]

I think a lot of people just use a bottle brush attached to their drill

 

[Sbarnard80]

Not sure why I didn't think of this before. I just took an old hanger and cut the bottom off making about an 18 inch rod and folded the end over tightly about an inch up. Then cut a strip from a green scrubby pad and sandwiched it in there. Connect the end to my cordless and voila.

 

[StLouBrew]

When I bottle, I use Grolsch swing tops. I noticed that on some, even after lengthy Oxi soaks, that the bottom of the bottle was still not clear/totally clean - could still see a haze on the bottom when held to the light. I don't have a bottle brush, so I went looking around for something that would apply some friction to the bottom of the bottle.

What I found were some small, stainless steel nuts (as in nuts & bolts). I put about 20 of those in the bottle along with some water - swished it around a bit. The bottom was now crystal clear.

It seems that the need to resort to this was primarily with one particular batch.. it was a Kolsch. For some reason the yeast sediment with that batch was particulary stubborn.

Cheers

 

[TheBeerNerd]

My method involves just soaking them in Oxyclean for about an hour ("Free" type, unscented) at a ratio of one large scoop to 5 gallons hot water. Followed by a good rinse with hot water. Oxyclean is great at breaking away any nasties that may be stuck in the bottom of the bottle. If something is being stubborn, just put your thumb over the mouth and shake a bit until it comes loose. I've rarely had to use a brush, but it does happen occasionally.
It's also very good at removing labels with little scrubbing.

 

[Sbarnard80]

Decidedly nontechnical but sometimes just plain simple works fine. Cut the bottom part of a wire hanger off and folded the end over and slid a strip of green scrubbing pad. Works great in the drill with a little water and a pinch of generic oxy. Clean as a whistle.