Geez... its time consuming.. I must be doing something wrong?
How do you guys clean and sanitize your bottles? Seems to take forever if I am doing 48 12oz ones..
thanks for any suggestions
The guys at my HB club give me crap for it, but I'm the rare person who gave up kegging and went back to bottles. Several things led me to it, from a divorce that had me selling off most of my brewing equipment, a smaller house with no practical place to store or serve kegs, to drinking less, and liking the convenience of bottles. So, I try to make it easy on myself.
When I get new bottles, I soak them in the kitchen sink in a little oxyclean, which usually lifts off the labels. I use a bottle brush to clean the insides, and a jet washer on the faucet to rinse the insides. Then I put them in the case upside down to keep out the dust, and to let me know they are clean. On bottling day, I set up my starsan in a vinator pump on the top of my bottle tree. Three pumps, then onto the tree while I sanitize the rest. As I drink the beer, I rinse right away, wash the empty bottles with the rest of our dishes, and put them upside down in their box again. Even my wife will wash them and box them. If I don't get a bottle washed out right away, and it dries out, I use the bottle brush.
I do bottle half in 12 ounces bottles, and half in 22s. The bombers definately speed up the process.
I just like the Zen of Bottling. I can bottle and listen to the *ssclowns on The Brewing Network, and it goes fast.