Bottling tomorrow and want to Clean/Sanitize today

[barhoc11]

I want to bottle my English Brown Ale tomorrow and want to get all of my bottles cleaned up and ready to go tonight, what would you recommend as the best way to do this?

Should I soak the bottles in some oxiclean free tonight just to make sure their is nothing in them that could contaminate them and then mix up a starsan bath tomorrow before bottling?

I don't want to screw this up because its my first time, any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Docjowles]

Should I soak the bottles in some oxiclean free tonight just to make sure their is nothing in them that could contaminate them and then mix up a starsan bath tomorrow before bottling?

Sounds perfect!

 

[drummermattie02]

And in the future, a warm water rinse of the bottle immediately after pouring the beer to a glass should suffice to keep them clean. I let them dry on my dishwasher rack and then put a piece of foil over the mouth to keep debris out. When I have enough to fill my oven, I toss them in to a cold oven, heat to 335, and bake for an hour to sterilize. Then let them cool naturally, and as long as the foil stays on, you should be able to store them until you're ready to brew. Then just take the foil off before filling, and you're good to go.

 

[mhochman]

It will take some time to rinse all of those bottles. Make sure you factor that in to your plan for the day.

 

[mlyday]

I have wash and sanitized my bottles and then bottle 4 hours later, but not overnight. After I washed and sanitized them I left them sitting on the counter, but with a couple of layers on sanitizer soaked paper towels covering all the openings. I didnt have any issues at all.

 

[mixedbrewer]

A sulphiter (spraying bottle washer) and a bottle tree seem to work for me. Star san in the bottle washer shoots up into the bottle. Then they drip dry bottom side up so nothing falls in. It was my best investment yet.

 

[barhoc11]

Thanks for the advice, I just spent a couple days getting the labels off all of these since I was able to get some bottles for cheap from my local beer store so I just want to make sure I get them as clean as possible and then sanitize them.

Do you think that if I let the bottles soak in oxiclean for a couple hours, rinsing off with warm tap water, drying overnight in a covered box and then give a quick Starsan wash directly before bottling will work?

Or should I just soak them all tomorrow in oxiclean and then go directly to bottling?

I don't want to screw this up!


Thanks again!

 

[mhochman]

a sulphiter (spraying bottle washer) and a bottle tree seem to work for me. Star san in the bottle washer shoots up into the bottle. Then they drip dry bottom side up so nothing falls in. It was my best investment yet.

+1

 

[mhochman]

Or should I just soak them all tomorrow in oxiclean and then go directly to bottling?

I agree with an earlier poster about warn rinsing immediately after emptying and keeping covered, but I often still soak. Problem with these bottles is you can't be sure how clean they are, if at all. I vote for leaving them overnight. And again, don't forget to thoroughly rinse. It will take some time. I do my soaks for a week or two leading up to bottling day. Then I just do my sanitizing with the bottle tree, as described above.

 

[mlyday]

If you got some of these from a beer store, and they were dirty then the longer the soak the better. Just make sure you leave time to rinse and sanitize them. Once you get in rythym the bottling wont take long.

 

[FensterBos]

This is probably horrible advice, but I do what drummer recommends (i.e. rinsing out immediately) and then let them dry and store them. Part of my bottling methods is to sanitize them with a full star-sans dip, empty them, and then put them aside before bottling about 15 to 30 minutes later. ...and I usually bottle right on the star-sans foam, if there is any. Most of the time the foam dissipates and can be easily poured out.
In your case I would empty them out and then cover them with plastic wrap until the morning.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I use some 1 liter PET bottles and just rinse them under running water when emptied, then give them a 10 minute soak in One-Step oxygen cleaner before priming and bottling.

 

[cchotz]

I use Iodophor and a bottle cleaner as seen here.https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f16/bottle-tree-sulfiter-bottle-cleaner-25-a-142263/.

With a 5 gallon batch I usually have around 45-48 bottles to fill (some bombers). So I wash about half with Iodophor using the bottle cleaner. I immediately fill those bottles with beer and set to the side. I wash the second half next. Set those to the side. Then I go back and cap the first half of filled bottles. After which I fill the second half of bottles and cap once they have all been filled. Find I can do everything from start to finish in an hour.

I have been told bottles do not have to be dry before bottling (if using san star or iodophor). Also, I do not cap immediately, but have that delay of 5 to 10 minutes before capping as this allows any oxygen (from filling the bottle) time to be released before capping.

 

[brentt03]

And in the future, a warm water rinse of the bottle immediately after pouring the beer to a glass should suffice to keep them clean. I let them dry on my dishwasher rack and then put a piece of foil over the mouth to keep debris out. When I have enough to fill my oven, I toss them in to a cold oven, heat to 335, and bake for an hour to sterilize. Then let them cool naturally, and as long as the foil stays on, you should be able to store them until you're ready to brew. Then just take the foil off before filling, and you're good to go.

I like this idea!

And the bottle tree as well!

 

[BrewThruYou]

A sulphiter (spraying bottle washer) and a bottle tree seem to work for me. Star san in the bottle washer shoots up into the bottle. Then they drip dry bottom side up so nothing falls in. It was my best investment yet.

That's what I moved to. Previously, I put them in the dishwasher and ran them on high heat with heated dry (all bottom side up).

Problems with this are:
1. I'm not positive that the temps are high enough.
2. Not sure if any water actually gets through the small opening in the bottles
3. Costs a lot in energy/water to run the dishwasher on those settings

Now, I'm switching to the vinator and bottle tree. I've never had any problems with my previous method, but I trust StarSan more, want to lower energy costs, and would rather sanitize and bottle somewhere else than above the dishwasher.

 

[peachwein]

A sulphiter (spraying bottle washer) and a bottle tree seem to work for me. Star san in the bottle washer shoots up into the bottle. Then they drip dry bottom side up so nothing falls in. It was my best investment yet.

That is sufficient? i bought one of those when i first started and havent really used it for fear of not enough starsan contact time. From what i've read you are supposed to soak them in it for at least a minute.

But hell, if thats all it needs to be well sanitized i'd gladly change methods, it would certainly cut down on bottling time!

 

[Christafer11]

One more thing don't put them in the dish washer. The dry jet cleaner and residual soap's can cause extreme foaming. Also since you said your taking off the labels I guessing they are used beer bottles not new clean. I would recommend using a bottle brush to scrub any stuck on crap from the inside. I have saved bottles before and found mold at the bottom if not fully dried. Those I tossed but I still used the brush on the ones I didn't see mold in just to be sure. Then as previously said use star san with the liquid squirter bottle cleaner and a drying tree. Don't forget to put your cap's in the star san also and soak them I even put the caper in too. Good luck and most important have FUN.

 

[SoonerDoc]

I rinse immediately after pouring the beer. I drain them on my bottle tree. When dry, I store them in a box. When I'm ready to bottle, it use the sulfiter, some StarSan, and the bottle tree and start bottling. No issues after 12 or so batches.

 

[mixedbrewer]

The sulphiter and star san is sufficient. A few squirts coats the entire inside of the bottle, and there is contact time of at least one minute while the suds slowly make their way out of the bottle. And I am pretty sure there is a thin layer of star san remaining after they dry.

 

[peachwein]

Sounds good to me, Looks like my sulphiter will be getting some use in a week in that case...

 

[barhoc11]

Just to be clear, is it fine to mix up some Star San in water and let the bottles soak for a few minutes and then bottle? I like the idea of mixing it up in the bottling bucket and then filling up each bottle with the siphon so that you are cleaning all of your equipment in one shot (bottles, bucket, siphon, tubing, etc). I would just fill up the bottles and give a good shake to coat the insides. Let me know if there is any downside (I am thinking maybe I am having to mix up too much valuable Star San for 5 gallons?)

I have all of my bottles that were soaked in Oxiclean Free scrubbed out with a bottle brush and have dried out, now I am just waiting to sanitize and fill. I got delayed in doing it yesterday.

Thanks again for all the great tips!

 

[mhochman]

Make sure you find the exact ratio for starsan. I think it's 6ml per gallon. If you have a spray bottle, fill that with diluted starsan and spray it into your bottles. That'll coat them nicely. You don't need to soak them in starsan, you just need star san to coat all of the glass inside. Pour out the excess (not vigirously; some can stay in) and fill em up.