Bottle Sanitation

[NYeric]

What is the best method for bottle cleaning and sanitation?

Would a dishwasher with a sanitize setting be enough, or should I take additional steps?

What about flip tops with the rubber stopper, anyone ever stick the in the dishwasher?

Also should you wait until just before you bottle or can you do it ahead of time?

 

[joshpooh]

There are many threads on here debating that and many opinions in the forum. I have never used this method partially because I don't own a dishwasher, but even if I did I'm not sure I would be comfortable sanitizing this way because the bottles are never filled with the sanitation solution.

 

[McKBrew]

There are alot of arguments for and against the dishwasher method. Many of us have used it with good sucess. Make sure your bottles are completely rinsed out before they go in. I would also recommend using a detergent with no added rinse agent, as this is known to affect head retention. Personally, I wash them with dishwasher detergent first, then run them thru again with a small amount of bleach (probably no reason too).

Other methods:

1) With clean bottles you can bake them in the oven with aluminum foil on top. This is covered in the How to Brew Book, if I am not mistaken. www.howtobrew.com. Or you can search the WIKI on this forum, I am sure it's in there as well.

2) Soak them in a bucket of sanitizer and rinse.

You can do it way ahead of time (several months if you store them in a clean, dry place, providing you cover the tops with aluminum foil when you are done sanitizing.

 

[mot]

Dishwasher, dont use any soap or detergent from what I ahve heard, just use your sanatize button and heated dry. It is the heat from the sanitize and heated dry that sanatizes your bottles. Not your detergent and such.
I put a thermometer in mine to see what it runs at and I was at almost 175 degrees for 15 minutes, They do milk at like 160 for just a minute or two so I think I should be in the clear.

I would run your dishwasher once or twice with nothing in it, to make sure you get all ht esoap residue or any other contaminents in there rinsed out

 

[Ryanh1801]

I washed mine with one-step and then stuck them in the dishwasher, works out great, drys them and they are all conveniently right their to fill up. I have drank around 10 of them and have not run into a bad one yet.

 

[NYeric]

Cool thanks....

Any thoughts on the rubber gaskets for the swing tops? I thought about taking them off and soaking them separate, but it almost doesn't seem necessary.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I don't have a dishwasher, but soaking in oxyclean to clean them and then iodophor for sanitation is easy enough for me.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

Cool thanks....

Any thoughts on the rubber gaskets for the swing tops? I thought about taking them off and soaking them separate, but it almost doesn't seem necessary.

Thats what I do, I wash them with the regular caps, and then put them in a weak iodophor solution untill the beers are filled.

The way I do my bottles is that I take clean, dry bottles and make a solution of iodophor about 2 qts worth, then I fill a few bottles with the solution through a sanitized funnel, once I fill as many bottles as the 2 qts can, ill take one bottle and pour the solution into an empty bottle through the funnel then place the empty on my bottle tree. You only need 30 seconds contact time, they dont have to soak much at all.

This way, you only need to make about 2 qts of sanitizer as opposed to 5 gallons.