Cleaning and Sanitizing Bottles...OMG

[Thirdeye]

Its taking for freaking ever! Just took me 10 minutes to clean and rinse six bottles. Havent even sanitized yet. There has to be a better way. Do I really need to scrub all 48 bottles or can I go straight to sanitizing?

And speaking of sanitizing, what is the best way? Right now I have my 5 gallon bottling bucket full of 5 gallons of one step sanitizing solution. In the bucket is my racking cane and hoses as well as the lid. For sanitizing the bottles, I was going to do like 12 at a time, filling the bottles with sanitizing solution directly from the bucket. When that batch is done, I was going to dump the sanitizing solution from the bottles back into the bucket so it can be used with the next 12. Is there a better way?

My hands and fingers are shriveled up like raisins! Halp!

 

[Poindexter]

Yes, you really need to scrub all 48 bottles.

The scrubbing part goes a lot quicker if you first soak the bottles for 48 hours to 2 weeks in a strong solution of OxyClean.

If you are starting with new bottles just dunk them in the strong OxyClean and give the inside a quick once over with the bottle brush. It is the free bottles with the cigarette butts inthemthat take a long time to clean.

There is no 'best' way to sanitize. There probably is a single method that fits best with your current circumstances and equipment. Sounds like you would be happiest with one of the "no rinse" versions.

RU sanitizing with B-brite or C-brite? other?

 

[Melana]

We always wash our bottles well as we use them - two at a time (there are two of us). Our bottles are allowed to dry on the tree then stored upside down in the case boxes with a fresh peice of paper towel on the bottom.
We always look at the bottles and rinse before sanitizing.

Edit: I always wear rubber gloves... it might sound like a 'girly thing' to say but the sanitizer makes my nails peel and Oxyclean makes my skin dry, crack, and sometimes bleed.

 

[Kevin Dean]

There has to be a better way.

This is the statement that moves many of us to kegging.

Do I really need to scrub all 48 bottles or can I go straight to sanitizing?

You can't sanitize somethign that's not clean. The adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is applicable here. When you drink them, rinse them out. This might not matter right now if, for instance you got a truckload from a local bar, but in the future, this saves a TON of time.

I was going to do like 12 at a time, filling the bottles with sanitizing solution directly from the bucket. When that batch is done, I was going to dump the sanitizing solution from the bottles back into the bucket so it can be used with the next 12. Is there a better way?

I'm partial to the "bake it" method. It can take longer in terms of time, but it's much easier in terms of sheer effort. Once the labels are off the bottles, you can bake them in the oven. Some info on that can be found -> http://www.boomchugalug.com/baking_bottles.htm

it might sound like a 'girly thing' to say but the sanitizer makes my nails peel

I think you have an excuse to do "girly" things. Now, others here would be fair game.

 

[Thirdeye]

Yes, you really need to scrub all 48 bottles.

The scrubbing part goes a lot quicker if you first soak the bottles for 48 hours to 2 weeks in a strong solution of OxyClean.

If you are starting with new bottles just dunk them in the strong OxyClean and give the inside a quick once over with the bottle brush. It is the free bottles with the cigarette butts inthemthat take a long time to clean.

There is no 'best' way to sanitize. There probably is a single method that fits best with your current circumstances and equipment. Sounds like you would be happiest with one of the "no rinse" versions.

RU sanitizing with B-brite or C-brite? other?

Maybe I should have mentioned that these bottles have only ever belonged to me. No cigs, and I rinsed them good (no soap, just water) when I finished drinking the factory beer out of them.

So youre saying in this case I can get away with cleaning and sanitizing in the same step sort of? Im using stuff called "One step sanitizer". Its an abrasive powder, kinda reminds me of ajax. 1tbs/gallon.

 

[Dr Vorlauf]

Yes, you really need to scrub all 48 bottles.

The scrubbing part goes a lot quicker if you first soak the bottles for 48 hours to 2 weeks in a strong solution of OxyClean.

If you are starting with new bottles just dunk them in the strong OxyClean and give the inside a quick once over with the bottle brush. It is the free bottles with the cigarette butts inthemthat take a long time to clean.

There is no 'best' way to sanitize. There probably is a single method that fits best with your current circumstances and equipment. Sounds like you would be happiest with one of the "no rinse" versions.

RU sanitizing with B-brite or C-brite? other?

I soak for 30 min in strong oxyclean solution. I then take the bottles and rinse them with this:

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_56_151&products_id=906

haven't used a bottle brush since I got this... works great for blasting carboys too..

It blasts the bottle with hot water, no need for scrubbing as the Oxyclean solution loosens up anything left in the bottle ( PS my bottles probably don't need to be claened at all since I always rinse thoroughly after drinking).


After this I take the bottles and run them in the dishwasher with just some sodium silicate ( you can just run them without any detergent or jet dry ). After they are done here I then dip in a sanitizing solution, then bottle )

 

[TheJadedDog]

I clean my bottles as soon as they are empty and store them in a rubbermaid container to keep them as clean as possible. On bottling day all I do is pull them out of the rubbermaid and sanitize them.

 

[Thirdeye]

I clean my bottles as soon as they are empty and store them in a rubbermaid container to keep them as clean as possible. On bottling day all I do is pull them out of the rubbermaid and sanitize them.

Exactly how do you sanitize?

 

[Liquidicem]

I usually rinse my bottles as a drink them. Then I soak them in oxy clean (~12 bottles in a 5 gallon bucket) for a few days. I then rinse them with a jet bottle washer and store them on a bottle tree to dry.

On bottling day I load up the dishwasher with all my bottle and just run them through with out soap with the heat dry on. Then one pump on this thing with Star San and they are ready to go.

 

[Neomich]

I rinse mine out really well after using them and store them away after a visual inspection. Beer is mostly water anyways so the way I see it, I'm just emptying a bottle full of water with a little bit of sugars and it doesn't need "scrubbing". After that, I just run them through the dishwasher with no soap for the longest cycle I have with the dry cycle turned on. If I have the time or think about it, I might run the dishwasher completely empty first to get rid of any soap residue that might still be in there.

I haven't had any issues yet with a beer that's been bad. It takes me more time to fit them all in the dishwasher than anything but I can still get 50 - 55 bottles in at a time if I try. I have no desire to bottle more than one batch at a time so this works for me.

 

[FatMonsters]

I use the OneStep sanitizer. Bottling day can take long, but once you get used to the procedure it'll become second nature. I don't scrub my beer bottles, unless they are old and have been in storage (my father-in-law gets me the good groelsch type bottles from Germany, but when I get them there is mold and crud in the bottom, so with soap and a bottle wash jet (GET ONE!) I clean them). After drinking beer (homebrew or commercial) I rinse with hot water until they are clean and store upside down to drain. They are stored upside down until later use.

On bottling day, I batch up enough sanitizing solution in my bottling bucket (~6 galllons). I mix it up and let it sit in the bucket for about 10 minutes. Using the fill wand, I fill each bottle with the solution and alllow them to sit for about 10 minutes. I drain the bottles and put them upside down in the case box until I use them to fill. I don't reuse the solution from the bottles. The remaining solution in the bucket I use to sanitize the siphon and give the bucket one last rinse before bottling. I have not had any contamination issues to date.

 

[Thirdeye]

I use the OneStep sanitizer. Bottling day can take long, but once you get used to the procedure it'll become second nature. I don't scrub my beer bottles, unless they are old and have been in storage (my father-in-law gets me the good groelsch type bottles from Germany, but when I get them there is mold and crud in the bottom, so with soap and a bottle wash jet (GET ONE!) I clean them). After drinking beer (homebrew or commercial) I rinse with hot water until they are clean and store upside down to drain. They are stored upside down until later use.

On bottling day, I batch up enough sanitizing solution in my bottling bucket (~6 galllons). I mix it up and let it sit in the bucket for about 10 minutes. Using the fill wand, I fill each bottle with the solution and alllow them to sit for about 10 minutes. I drain the bottles and put them upside down in the case box until I use them to fill. I don't reuse the solution from the bottles. The remaining solution in the bucket I use to sanitize the siphon and give the bucket one last rinse before bottling. I have not had any contamination issues to date.

Very concise explanation. Just what I was looking for. I think I will try that. Do you have labels on your bottles? Wondering how they fair in the dishwasher. Also, the "one last rinse" you give the bucket, is that unsanitized water directly from the tap?

 

[Thirdeye]

I rinse mine out really well after using them and store them away after a visual inspection. Beer is mostly water anyways so the way I see it, I'm just emptying a bottle full of water with a little bit of sugars and it doesn't need "scrubbing". After that, I just run them through the dishwasher with no soap for the longest cycle I have with the dry cycle turned on. If I have the time or think about it, I might run the dishwasher completely empty first to get rid of any soap residue that might still be in there.

I haven't had any issues yet with a beer that's been bad. It takes me more time to fit them all in the dishwasher than anything but I can still get 50 - 55 bottles in at a time if I try. I have no desire to bottle more than one batch at a time so this works for me.

I like it.

 

[FatMonsters]

Very concise explanation. Just what I was looking for. I think I will try that. Do you have labels on your bottles? Wondering how they fair in the dishwasher. Also, the "one last rinse" you give the bucket, is that unsanitized water directly from the tap?

I have started to remove the labels using Oxyclean and warm water. There is a thread around here somewhere on it if you do a search. For that process, I make sure to fill the bottles with tap water to the top. If they are the Groelsch bottles, I close the swing top and lock it. If they are bottle cap tops, I wrap in tiinfoil. Then submerge the bottles and let soak for a couple of hours. I usually do it right before I go to bed and then clean them in the morning and then do another batch so when I get home from work I can clean that batch. Don't open the bottles until you have rinsed all the gunk off of the bottles.

The last rinse is the solution in the bucket. Whatever is leftover from all the use I swish around again and then drain. I don't use the bottling bucket as a "wash bin", just to hold the sanitizing solution to be dispensed out.

 

[The Bone2]

Rinse bottles after use, store upside down. Soak in oxyclean solution to remove labels as a "labor of love" process. Just gather a bunch of bottles and do it all at once. Store those bottles upside down. Prior to bottling, put bottles in dishwasher with no soap or any cleaning agents. Clean until sanitize feature on dishwasher lights up (don't know what I would do for this step if my dishwasher did not have a sanitize function). Take out bottles, store upside down. Prior to bottling, flip bottles right side up, spray about 8 sprays of Star San in bottles, doing entire two cases at once. As I bottle, I swish the Star San in the bottles and pour out. Fill bottles.

So far, this procedure is doable. I see no need to use a bottle brush unless there is visible crud in the bottle, in which case, I would probably throw bottle in recycling bin.

But don't listen to me, I'm a Noob.

 

[Neomich]

Do you have labels on your bottles? Wondering how they fair in the dishwasher.

I've left the labels on my bottles. I've had one or two come off in the dishwasher though. If they happen to fall on the heating element in there, you'll smell it and you can tell how hot that gets. The dishwasher doesn't really get them off too well but sooner or later, they'll fall off on their own.

This has worked for me. If I ever experience some issues with bad bottles, I'll change my process but if it ain't broke, I'm not fixing it.

 

[FatMonsters]

I see no need to use a bottle brush unless there is visible crud in the bottle, in which case, I would probably throw bottle in recycling bin.

I agree with you for normal bottles. But like I said, I get the Groelsch bottles from Germany, that are pretty funky with mold and crud, and I scrub them out because the bottles are hard to come by. I have only had to toss 6 of them that were just unsalvageable...

 

[weetodd]

I have a rectangular cooler that is big enough to hold about 20 bottles standing upright while still being able to subemerge the bottles. I start with a PBW soak (for getting crud and labels off) for a day or two and then hit them with the brush in the cooler (I've sawed off the loop end of a brush to fit in my cordless drill). I rinse them with a bottle jet/hose attachment on my sink, dry and store until it is time for use. When bottling time comes, I use the same cooler, this time using star san in the cooler. This process is really made easier if you rinse your bottles after drinking.

 

[BrianP]

Labels will generally come off very easily when soakwd in Oxyclean.

What I do for just-consumed beer:
- triple rinse with hot water
- de-label (commercial beers only, I don't label my homebrew)
- drain upside down
- store upside down in case
- sanitize just before bottling with StarSan using the vinator pump (a nice picture of one was provided on page 1 of this post)

For recycled bottles (those i didn't drink myself, with or without visible mold/crud in them)
- soak for an hour or more in a rubbermaid tub of very hot water with a full scoop of oxyclean (the stuff is aggressive and works wonderfully)
- use a bottle brush and scrub each bottle
- triple rinse with very hot tap water
- use a dish scrubber on any label or glue which oxyclean didn't affect (which is rare)
- drain/store/sanitize as with new bottles (see above)

Plus, if you use starsan, don't rinse it out, just fill your beer into the foam. That is how it was designed to be used and it will not affect your beer. Rinsing it out defeats the purpose of using it in the first place.

 

[Bills Brew]

As others have said: Rinsing as you consume saves a lot of work later.

On bottling day I do a final hot rinse with a bottle washer attached to the faucet. And then the Sanitizer Injector "Liquidicem" posted about earlier. Can final rinse and sanitize 54 bottles in about 20 minutes.

As far as the racking canes and all of that long stuff - buy a wall paper tray (been posted here before). Only takes a gallon or so. No need to make up 5 gallons. The bottling bucket only needs a quart or so. Swirl it around to coat all of the sides with sanitizer and done.

 

[homebrewer_99]

For my initial wash I let them soak in the large basement sink overnight. I clean them all out using a bottle brush. I cut the ring off and insert the straight shaft into my drill. That cleans anything out pronto...

After I fill, I empty, then I rinse them 3-4 times to get them washed out. I don't ever wash them again.

I rinse them out with Starsan and place them on the bottle tree. Sanitize the bottle tree first by spraying SS on it from the top down...let sit for 1 minute and repeat.

Then I use that sanitizer/sulfiter (the red plastic thing pictured earlier) and place the bottles on the tree.



Mulcahey's Brewing: BTW, Grolsch isn't from Germany... vbmenu_register("postmenu_494908", true);

 

[joejaz]

I got a bottle washer. about $10, attaches to faucet. Works great, on carboys too. I rinse bottles after use with hot water. On bottling day, I fill the slop sink with cold water and bleach. I use 22 oz bottles. I dunk four at a time and let sit while I'm I boil bottling sugar. Then rinse in hot water with bottle washer and drain on bottle tree. Whole process including bottling takes about an hour. I also bottle in basment now instread of kitchen away from everybody. That cuts a half hour off the time at least. By the way, have not had a problem using bleach.

 

[Dr Vorlauf]

Bleach works just fine. Just keep you available Cl lever up and you are good.

 

[Arrog@nt B@st@rd]

If you use Grolsch flip tops (16 ouncers) like I do, then you only gotta clean about 36 of them.

 

[homebrewer_99]

...Then one pump on this thing with Star San and they are ready to go.

I've tried Starsan through this contraption and really prefer to use Iodophor instead because it doesn't foam all over the place after only 5 bottles...

Comments anyone??

 

[SuperiorBrew]

Labels will generally come off very easily when soakwd in Oxyclean.

What I do for just-consumed beer:
- triple rinse with hot water
- de-label (commercial beers only, I don't label my homebrew)
- drain upside down
- store upside down in case
- sanitize just before bottling with StarSan using the vinator pump (a nice picture of one was provided on page 1 of this post)

Plus, if you use starsan, don't rinse it out, just fill your beer into the foam. That is how it was designed to be used and it will not affect your beer. Rinsing it out defeats the purpose of using it in the first place.

+1 thats how I do it except I use Vinegar to remove the labels.

I've tried Starsan through this contraption and really prefer to use Iodophor instead because it doesn't foam all over the place after only 5 bottles...

Comments anyone??

I have never had a foaming problem with the Starsan & the Vinator

 

[BrianP]

My starsan foams plenty with the vinator, but not enough to bother me or affect things. I usually dunk my flip-top 'flippies' in the foam while I get the next couple bottles ready to sanitize.

 

[Thirdeye]

Ok finally got everything bottled up. Yield was exactly 44 bottles. I lost some racking from primary to bottling bucket. Left maybe a half inch of product on top of the yeast gunk at the bottom. That was probably a full beer right there.

Now that I think about it, I must not have had 5 gallons to begin with. The wort level was about 1.5 inches below the support ring around the top of the 5 gallon bucket during fermentation.

How do you guys measure out your 5 gallons when you cook up your wort? I pre-boiled 2.5 gallons of water, measured with a half gallon milk jug. Dumped that into the primary, then boiled up another 2.5 gallons and threw in the DME/hops.

Next time should I top off the bucket up to the support ring when I pitch?

 

[millstone]

My starsan foams plenty with the vinator, but not enough to bother me or affect things. I usually dunk my flip-top 'flippies' in the foam while I get the next couple bottles ready to sanitize.

+1
I also like to dunk the heads of my bottles in the foam, so as they sit waiting to be filled, the foam (I believe) helps keep things out of the bottle

tom

 

[chase]

I have worked out a system that seems to work pretty well.

If the bottles are new to me, but previously used, I soak them in bleach water for about 3 days. Then I use my bottle washer to blast them out really well, with really hot water. Our water gets to about 180ºF, which cleans them really well.

If the bottles are mine: I never drink out of the bottles. This helps keep them clean. If people are drinking directly out of the bottle, bacteria from their mouths collect in the bottle and around the lip. These need to be cleaned in the way I described above.

After proper rinsing (of my own bottles) I hang them on the bottle tree to dry. When I have 24 bottles on the tree, I put them in a box, right side up, and cover them with a sheet of plastic wrap. This keeps them clean until I'm ready to bottle.

On bottling day, I go through the whole bottling process, only with sanitizer first (I used Iodophor). I fill my bottling bucket with 5 gallons of sanitizer, attach my hose, and wand, and fill my bottles with sanitizer. I allow the bottles to sit for about 10 minutes. Then I dump them back into the bottling bucket and dip the neck into the sanitizer so the lip gets sanitized. Then I hang them back on the bottling tree to dry.

Then I repeat the process with beer!

This has worked really well for me. I've never had an infection.
Some people prefer to keg b/c it is easier, but I really enjoy opening a bottle, hearing the "psst", and pouring it into the glass. Plus, I can have a lot of varieties of beer on hand. If you want to do that with kegs, you have to have lots of kegs, which are expensive. Bottles are cheap/free.

 

[darkstar79]

I bottled my beer last week ( i thought it tasted good uncarbonated out of the fermenting bucket) and I cleaned my bottles through the dishwasher and with extra cycles of high heat and sani rinse. I am worried since I saw that someone else wrote that they cleaned them with no soap. I DID use regular dishwasher soap- am I going to have a problem?

 

[Rick_R]

Homebrewer_99 (re: pump washer/Star San):
Comments anyone??

Mine foams a fair amount, but it's just foam. As I've seen posted here before, "don't fear the foam."

Rick

 

[homebrewer_99]

Don't get me wrong...I don't fear the foam...I think it's just messy to deal with and prefer to sanitize my bottles with Iodophor. This way I don't have to keep collecting the faom and tossing it back into the bucket...

 

[fermenator]

I've tried Starsan through this contraption and really prefer to use Iodophor instead because it doesn't foam all over the place after only 5 bottles...

Comments anyone??

How much of an iodophor/water mix do you use in the vinator? I just purchased one and i'm not sure how much to fill it and how much iodophor to use.

Thanks!

 

[blacklab]

1) use 22'ers
2) rinse after drinking-hot water in the sink. Sniff test to see if they are clean.
3) on bottle day, put in d/washer with hot dry on
4) bottle

I have never used santizer on my bottles before bottling and have never had an issue with this method.

That being said - I just bought three corny kegs. Bottling gets ooooold.

 

[Mutilated1]

Here's what I do and its pretty easy. After I pour myself a beer I rinse the yeast sediment out with warm water. Then if its a bottle that has a label, I set it aside till I have a sink full of label bottles to soak the labels off. If it doesn't have a label or I''ve soaked the label off then I put it in the diswasher and wash it along with the glasses and dishes. Then I put the clean bottle into a carboard six holder and put it away till bottling day.

Then on bottling day, I fill the diswasher up with bottles only and wash them all at once a second time and I use oxy-clean instead of dishwasher detergent. I give em a second rinse and then let em dry in the diswasher rack till I'm ready to put beer in 'em.

 

[Bulls Beers]

I clean my bottles as soon as they are empty and store them in a rubbermaid container to keep them as clean as possible. On bottling day all I do is pull them out of the rubbermaid and sanitize them.

+1..I stick them in one step solution for a minute or so, rinse and let dry on a bottle tree. Sometimes I put them in my dishwasher, when it's emply and set it on hot hot hot..That's easy.I started Kegging recently.That's much easier...

 

[PseudoChef]

My bottles don't even touch sanitizer. They get rinsed out after they're empty and on bottling day, I just put them in the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle.

 

[Rick_R]

I think it's just messy to deal with and prefer to sanitize my bottles with Iodophor

Yeah, but then you can't slide-skate in the kitchen after sanitizing the bottles. Where's the fun in that?

Rick

 

[AZ_Brew_Dude]

For my first attempt at bottling, I rinsed existing bottles as I drank them - they were poured into a glass, never drank directly from them. On bottling day I put them all in the dishwasher and ran on the highest temperature cycle with the sanitize feature. I didn't even remove any of the labels, and a good amount of them fell off, but I didn't have any problems with them "cooking" on the heating element like someone else had mentioned. Once the cycle was done, I bottled directly and didn't use StarSan. The beer turned out fine.

Just a few comments:
1.) Many people have commented about the inconvenience of the foaming action of StarSan. Has anyone tried Saniclean? I think it's even made by the same company - the advantage is that there's no foam, disadvantage is that it requires a slightly longer contact time. I haven't tried it yet, but sounds interesting.

2.) The dishwasher method seems to work, but I'm wondering how well the insides of the bottle actually get washed. With the narrow openings, I doubt they get rinsed very well. I think we're mainly relying on the high temperature and sanitize function of the dishwasher. As long as they were rinsed pretty well before being put in the dishwasher I guess it's OK. Any comments?

3.) How many people have used the oven baking method described earlier? I might give that one a try for my next batch.