Bottle Haze (on the glass).... inside.

[Owly055]

A percentage of my beers seem to end up leaving a haze on the inside of the bottle. The beer will be clear, but the haze on the bottle is noticeable, and difficult to remove. The Saisons I brewed recently are real culprits. It won't rinse off, it has to be physically scrubbed off.. and I use a Clean Bottle Express for the purpose. It's a frustrating thing, and I'm tempted to fill those bottles with a dilute solution of Muriatic Acid (dilute HCL)...... which I know from experience with carboys will remove almost anything. Anybody have a good solution? (pun intended)


H.W.

 

[mike_57401]

If it is a calcium type deposit, use an acid. I have good luck with "lemi-shine" dishwasher additive (citric acid) with removing calcium in a few seconds. I do mix it rather strong though - I would guess the pH to be 2-3. Pour some in the bottle, plug opening, shake for 10 secs, rinse.

If not calcium type deposit, go with an alkaline cleaner (TSP, Oxyclean, one step, etc)

 

[IslandLizard]

Depending on what its origin is, HCl might remove it, or not. When cleaning bottles I always run a bottle brush on the inside and use a degreasing cleaner such as Washing Soda, Automatic Dishwasher detergent, or PBW. Then rinsed well with a jet cleaner and hot water.

 

[Owly055]

If it is a calcium type deposit, use an acid. I have good luck with "lemi-shine" dishwasher additive (citric acid) with removing calcium in a few seconds. I do mix it rather strong though - I would guess the pH to be 2-3. Pour some in the bottle, plug opening, shake for 10 secs, rinse.

If not calcium type deposit, go with an alkaline cleaner (TSP, Oxyclean, one step, etc)

This only happens on with a few beers........ Most recently a saison. My water is very pure well water from only 60', sand filtered mountain snow runoff basically. I have neighbors who get the same water from springs within a mile or two. Lime / calcium is not a problem in this area...... Water doesn't get much better than it is here...........

I'll try TSP to start with.... onestep sounds like a sanitizer more than an actual cleaner. I've never used any of these cleaners....... I suspect that an aggressive acid or alkaline cleaner, either one, would do the job. I suspect that this is precipitated protein

Thanks.


H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Depending on what its origin is, HCl might remove it, or not. When cleaning bottles I always run a bottle brush on the inside and use a degreasing cleaner such as Washing Soda, Automatic Dishwasher detergent, or PBW. Then rinsed well with a jet cleaner and hot water.

A jet cleaner is on my "list"...... perhaps more than one of them. Three stations would be nice..... an aggressive cleaner, a water rinse, and a starsan stage.

H.W.

 

[The_Bishop]

Have you ever had your water tested? Possibly beerstone buildup?

 

[greyghost]

I had the same problem. Soaked them in vinegar didn't work. Put my bottle brush in a drill motor used it with Starsan and the bottles look brand new.

 

[Owly055]

I had the same problem. Soaked them in vinegar didn't work. Put my bottle brush in a drill motor used it with Starsan and the bottles look brand new.

I use a Clean Bottle Express.......designed for an electric drill. It does an excellent job.....but it's just one more cleaning operation.......... I recently bought a Tap-a-Draft system and a carbonator cap........ Hopefully it will greatly lighten the burden of bottle cleaning. A poor man's alternative to kegging, it works perfectly for me as I can fit two 1.5 gallon Tap-a-Draft bottles with taps installed in my fridge on the second shelf. There's easily also enough room that I could put a paint ball tank and regulator between them........which is my intent. I'll have to get the carboy cleaner version of Clean Bottle Express.......and/or figure out what chemical does the best job.


H.W.