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Bottle cleanliness

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super15068

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Jan 24, 2015
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Hi all - quick question on cleaning my bottles..... If the bottles have been rinsed out straight after having beer in them, and I were to put them in the dishwasher on hot setting (no detergents) would this be sufficient and would then just require sanitising?

Appreciate any feedback.
Cheers - Jase
 
I would recommend against using the dishwasher to clean your bottles. I used to do this. But then I started finding little bits of food (from a clean dishwasher) that had gotten blasted up into some of the bottles.

I've tried various cleaners. Low effort sure, but the problem there is, if you have hard water like I do, you can end up with crazy hard deposits on your glass.

The best thing I ever did for bottle cleaning was buying a basic beer bottle brush. Cost, less than $4.

Many bottles rinse clean (depending on the beer, yeast, etc.) but for those that don't a quick scrub with the brush does wonders.
 
My dishwasher baked on bits of old soap and minerals/sediment on the inside of my bottles that was hard to remove. I would recommend rinsing your bottles immediately after use real well, storing them covered or opening down, then just spraying them with starsan before use with a spray bottle.
 
I used to use the dishwasher to sanitize. Very easy but time consuming. Clean, load, run, unload. If you cleaned them out before storage, use a vinator and star san. 10 minutes and you're good to go. Made bottling so much better. I hardly mind it anymore. Hardly.
 
Honestly, I just rinse/shake with hot water as soon as I pour the beer into my glass, and then dry on my bottle tree. When it's bottling day, I just sanitize the bottles without doing any additional brushing or anything. I have never had a problem with infection or off-tastes.
 
After I pour a beer I give the bottle 3 rinses with a good shaking on the third one. One more rinse to wash out any remaining crud, then keep it upside down for a day or two, until it is dry. Then into a box until I'm ready to use it again. On bottling day, I sanitize bottles with a vinator and Starsan, and place on a bottle tree.
 
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