Bottling steps

[GLoBaLReBeL]

Just a quick question. . .

I'm going to bottle my brew today and here are my steps . .

Wash out each bottle in some PBW for like 30 minutes

Then take them all out and rinse off and out each bottle . .

Then put them all into a 5 gallon tub on Star-San for another 15 minutes

Then pull them out and let sit for a few minutes on a paper towle to drip out.

Then just begin the bottleing.

I'm wondering if I need to put the bottles in the dish washer to heat dry them out? I read that star san won't hurt my brew as long as I go by the recommended ammounts.

Which, by the way, if anyone knew these recommended amounts for like 5 gallons of water or something, that would be awesome. My Star-san's directions on the back somehow got rubbed off. So, any help is appriciated.

 

[Neomich]

If your bottles are clean, you can run them through a cycle in the dishwasher to sanitize. The hot cycle needs to be selected and it will steam and sterilize them for you.

Make sure the dw is rinsed out well with no lingering soap and you should be fine. I've bottled every one of my batches like this with 0 issues.

I even use my dw to do my bottling on so it's all in one spot and I don't have to handle the bottles 5 times each.

 

[Tripod]

If your bottles are clean, you can run them through a cycle in the dishwasher to sanitize...I even use my dw to do my bottling on so it's all in one spot and I don't have to handle the bottles 5 times each.

+1. I run my bottles through the dw after de-labeling and store them clean and sanatized. Then on bottling day, I run them through again just to be certain they are good to go. I only pull them out as I actually fill 'em up. Never a problem to date!

Good luck!

-Tripod

 

[ElPresidente77]

I assume you run them with no soap in the dw?

 

[Pezman1]

I wash all my bottles in the dishwasher at once using 2 oz. PBW. (NO Jet-dry in the washer!)

I then sanitize using star-san and a vinator (from midwest supplies).

After using a spray bottle of star-san to spray down the dishwasher tines, I invert the bottles in the dishwasher to drain.

Bottle away!

By the way, once you use 22 ounce bottles, you will never turn back to 12s.

Everyone has their own technique, but this one uses 2 oz. of PBW and about a quart of star-san. I also rinse out my bottles after I drink from them, so they are pretty clean to begin with.

All of these tips I got from this board by the way.:rockin:

 

[Tripod]

I assume you run them with no soap in the dw?

No soap. Mine are cleaned and sanatized before storage so I just re-run them through the dw on [Rinse + Heated Dry + Sanatize] cycles.

 

[MrVagabond]

+1. I run my bottles through the dw after de-labeling and store them clean and sanatized. Then on bottling day, I run them through again just to be certain they are good to go. I only pull them out as I actually fill 'em up. Never a problem to date!

Good luck!

-Tripod

What's the easiest way you've found to de-label the bottles? I'm sitting on quite a few and I am not looking forward to scrubbing them all off.

 

[witbierd]

What's the easiest way you've found to de-label the bottles? I'm sitting on quite a few and I am not looking forward to scrubbing them all off.

I've managed pretty well with a 10g cooler of water for soaking. Once I've liberated the contents of the bottle into my gullet, I let the bottle soak for a few days to a week (get a good batch of about twelve or so) and peel away. The glue that's left should be easily scrubbed away with a washcloth. If the glue's particularly stubborn, the bottle goes back in the cooler for more soaking.

 

[Tripod]

What's the easiest way you've found to de-label the bottles? I'm sitting on quite a few and I am not looking forward to scrubbing them all off.

There are a ton of threads on exactly this subject so be sure to look around to get more answers. I'm not saying this is the best or only method but here is mine:

What I do (with fantastic results) is fill my bottling bucket with very hot water and a scoop of Oxyclean. I get about 17 or 18 bottles in at a time and leave them to soak overnight. By morning, most of the labels are floating in the water and a quick rinse of each bottle under hot water gets the last of the glue-goo off...no scrubbing involved. Then straight to the dishwasher to clean and sanatize (soap and all) like the other dishes. Straight to storage in empty cardboard cases from there. On bottling day I re-run the clean bottles only through the dishwasher without soap (see privious posts) to rinse/sanatize. Bottle straight out of the dw.

Hope that helps!

-Tripod

 

[kansastransplantvictim]

steel wool is good for getting stubborn glue and labels off of bottles

 

[Neomich]

What's the easiest way you've found to de-label the bottles? I'm sitting on quite a few and I am not looking forward to scrubbing them all off.

If I'm bottling for personal consumption, I don't even bother with taking the lables off. I write on the cap so I know what's inside. The labels come off when they come off. I'll even give some away to people and if the label's still on, they get a good homebrew and can see what kind of commercial beer I'm into. Maybe they'll like the homebrew and go check out the commercial beer from the label. Spread the love.