Cleaning beer bottles

[quadmx08]

I also rinse right away as well and shake with hot water to get rid of all the yeast settlement. I have a bottle tree with one of those press down pump nozzles (for a lack of better wording). I keep sanitizer in it at all times and use it before I put a bottle on the tree. I know that I should pay attention to my ph levels,but I just try to change it often. Should I be using something like pbw instead or is this overkill? I feel like an extra pump doesn't take any effort and can't hurt as long as the sanitizer is still good.

 

[lunker325]

I rinse the bottles as soon as I pour them, then put them into the sink strainer upside down to dry overnight. The next morning the inside is dry, so I then put them into six pack carriers, again upside down until the next bottling day. This way they dry completely and nothing can get in there while they wait for the next delicious batch.

 

[dandog2500]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread.

Im a new brewer and i went around to some local packies today and salvaged a bunch of bottles. I'm kinda grossed out that they were used and handled by so many people. What should i use to make sure i absolutely murder all potential contaminants? Of course this is prior to sanitizing, but i want to make sure i clean the heck out of these things. I don't know if someones disease or DNA is still on them. Bleach & hot water?

 

[rifraf]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread.

Im a new brewer and i went around to some local packies today and salvaged a bunch of bottles. I'm kinda grossed out that they were used and handled by so many people. What should i use to make sure i absolutely murder all potential contaminants? Of course this is prior to sanitizing, but i want to make sure i clean the heck out of these things. I don't know if someones disease or DNA is still on them. Bleach & hot water?

To start. I'd put a bottle brush in a power drill and use that to really scrub the inside to make sure there isn't anything crusted.

 

[dandog2500]

Soaked them all in oxy clean, added some bleach let em sit for about 3 hours. then used my brush and vigorously scrubbed them. Lastly I put them in the dish washer on high heat sanitize and heat dry. After those are done ill sanitize before i bottle them. Think i got rid of all the Avian Flu, SARS and H1N1?

 

[rifraf]

Soaked them all in oxy clean, added some bleach let em sit for about 3 hours. then used my brush and vigorously scrubbed them. Lastly I put them in the dish washer on high heat sanitize and heat dry. After those are done ill sanitize before i bottle them. Think i got rid of all the Avian Flu, SARS and H1N1?

I think so, as long as there is no gunk on the inside!

 

[Sloobie]

I've been soaking mine in bleach water, rinsing them thoroughly, and then throwing them into the dishwasher. I set them upside down on the pegs and run it without any soap. After they've gone through a heated dry they come out ready to bottle. I just keep them all upside down and take them from the rack as I fill. I don't use any sanitizing solution.

I was wondering if there are any drawbacks to this method? I don't think bleach should leave any residue if rinsed properly? eh? correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[rifraf]

I've been soaking mine in bleach water, rinsing them thoroughly, and then throwing them into the dishwasher. I set them upside down on the pegs and run it without any soap. After they've gone through a heated dry they come out ready to bottle. I just keep them all upside down and take them from the rack as I fill. I don't use any sanitizing solution.

I was wondering if there are any drawbacks to this method? I don't think bleach should leave any residue if rinsed properly? eh? correct me if I'm wrong...

If your dishwasher doesn't sanitize them with heat, then you may be potentially introducing bacteria from the water into your bottles. It's probably not a huge deal, the beer you're putting in has alcohol in it and tons of viable yeast that is going to get busy on the priming sugar. Check some of your bottles for a ring of gunk on the inside at the beer line, as that can be an indication.

 

[Sloobie]

I just checked a batch which is approaching 2 weeks in bottles; there is no evidence of bacteria buildup or any ring at the fill line. My dishwasher spends about an hour doing a pretty intense heated dry, and they come out too hot to touch (not to mention -- dry). I actually have to allow 10-20 minutes for them to cool before I even open it. I think this method has proven a decent alternative to rinse-free sanitizer.

 

[TarheelBrew13]

When you start drinking your home brew, rinse out the bottles as soon as you empy them. It makes cleaning them a whole lot easier. Believe me- it is time well spent.

Can't agree with this more. As far as cleaning your bottles there are tons of ways. I soak mine in a chlorine solution but my buddy uses the sanitize feature on his dishwasher and sort of autoclaves them. You don't need a bottle brush in my opinion.

 

[matt2778]

I have a drawn out but rather effortless procedure.

First used labeled nasty crusted bottles soak overnight in a 10 gallon tub of oxyclean(sunpower is half the price and works the same). The next morning the labels and crud basically fall out.

Next The bottles get rinsed, shook, dumped and loaded in the dishwasher with all the other dirty dishes.

Then Semi cleaned bottles get stored in empty beer cases.

Bottling day. Early morning two cases of bottles go into the dishwasher on a high heat sanitize cycle. Once done the bottles get a starsan rinse on the bottle tree vinator(sp??) and then they get filled.

This may sound like a pita but the only thing that sucks is starting with fresh labeled bottles. Normally after I drink a homebrew the bottle gets rinsed and tossed in the dishwasher like any other dirty dish. Then goes into the long term storage cases. I've never had to use my bottle brush and find the whole process so easy that I have no intentions or desires to complicate things with kegging. Once you get the process down it's really pretty effortless.

 

[fredthecat]

first i cover my arms in lotion, then i take out the pure bleach...

you gotta use the lotion for that HEAD RETENTION

 

[HomeBeers]

If they have any solid gunk in them you'll probably be better with a brush of some sort. If not then a long soak with sanitizer will do fine. But I always rinse after use, otherwise you'll end up with mould and other unpleasant things the next time you use them.

 

[LostBrewer]

Some great advice and awesome ideas. I guess my way is a bit over kill *cough* I don't have OCD *cough* but I was wanting to get one of those high presure hot steam sprayer I've seen at restaurants for cleaning the inside of bottles instead of a rinsing and shaking agressively by hand with hot hot water.

Any advice on good ones, and what is it called? (too many "water thingies" on google)

 

[mtnagel]

I always thoroughly rinse out my bottles after pouring out the beer, but I've found there is a sort of powdery residue in mine that only comes off with using a bottle brush. And even still, it's almost impossible to get it all off. I've even done the bottle brush on the drill and it does get of most of the residue, but I still find some on there.

Anyone else get this really hard to remove powdery residue on their bottles? Would a soak in PBW or oxyclean help? Any other ideas?

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

I bought 2 cases of used Grolsch bottles on Craigslist,,,,,they all looked clean but I decided I had to ensure they where clean to my satisfaction. I cleaned them by putting them in my 9 gallon brew pot filled with plain water and boiled them for about 10 mins. I was kinda amazed as how much "brown" stuff was in the water. Remember back in the day when your mother boiled your baby bottles?

 

[mtnagel]

Interesting. Kind of a PITA, but considering all the manual techniques I've been doing, maybe not.

 

[Joon75]

I always rinse out the bottles once they are poured out. The day before I'm going to bottle I clean the bottles with PBW and then put them thru the dishwasher. Once I'm going to bottle I rinse them with StarSan. Never had a problem doing it this way.

 

[Kdog22]

So far my process has been to pour homebrew into a glass and then rinse, partially fill, shake, rinse, repeat and then put the bottle directly into the dishwasher. After it's run through the dishwasher, i'll visibly check for any residue in the bottle, then i'll store it until the next bottling day. Before bottling, it'll get hit with the sanitizer.

I got 4 cases of used bottles from my buddy and all of them were dirty and gunky on the inside. That's the only time I think i'll ever need to use my bottle brush..

 

[waltzbrewingco]

after using starsan on bottling day how important is draining? I mean just put in a drying rack until beer enters is that good enough? I suppose sanitizing the drying rack is important too?

 

[mtnagel]

I drain them once and then set them down. Then I drain them once again right before filling. Maybe another half an ounce comes out. Probably not necessary, but that's what I do.

 

[mtnagel]

I started a new routine for cleaning bottles. I used to just rinse them right after pouring and let them dry. But I found that many bottles weren't coming that clean. There was a powdery looking residue in there.

So now I started rinsing them, but then putting a few flecks of oxyclean in them, filling and shaking. I then let them sit overnight and then rinse completely. This seems to clean them out much better.

 

[C-Rider]

Revey's Tips: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

My system:
1-Drink store bought beer and rinse after drinking
2-Wait till I have 12 bottles empty
3-Place 12 bottles in 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of OxyClean
4-Leave them there while drinking another 12 bottles and repeat
5-Lables come off in a week or so sometimes faster, but I wait the 12 bottle time whatever that is.
6-Rinse the bottles and store upside down to drain dry
7-Put the bottles in 6 pack holder and place in a covered plactic box. Mine can hold 1 1/2 cases of emptys.
8-On bottling day bring needed bottles to kitchen and soak in StarSan for a few mintues.
9-Stack bottles on the lower rack of dish washer after spraying the heck out of the washer w/StarSan
10-Place bottling bucket on top of dishwasher and fill.
11-Cap w/caps that have been soaked in Star San.
12-Wait 3 weeks and enjoy my latest brew.

 

[KarenHauck]

C-Rider, I really like your idea of having the bottles in the lower rack of the dishwasher with the bucket on top!! Sounds easier than the way I have been doing it! I'll try it!!

 

[boilerbrewer]

Revey's Tips: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

My system:
1-Drink store bought beer and rinse after drinking
2-Wait till I have 12 bottles empty
3-Place 12 bottles in 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of OxyClean
4-Leave them there while drinking another 12 bottles and repeat
5-Lables come off in a week or so sometimes faster, but I wait the 12 bottle time whatever that is.
6-Rinse the bottles and store upside down to drain dry

+1 to this method. I've been doing this and bottling isn't a chore anymore.

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[lousbrews]

What I used to do when I bottled was clean out used bottles with a hot ammonia solution in a plastic bin. This ensured all labels got removed with minimal effort and killed whatever nonsense was inside them. Then had a second bin with warm water and let them soak and finally a star san solution soak.

Note that you want to do this in a well ventilated area.

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[jflongo]

You can give your drying rack a spray of star san. You don't have to get ALL of the star san foam out. Just drain as much as you can an then bottle. A little bit of foam in the bottle helps to keep it sanitized.

 

[tjmac5071]

I recently stated to keep a tall glass jar next the sink with oxiclean I rinse all bottles from the sink 3 times then fill and put in the jar ( if homebrew I may take a brush to them to make sure all yeast gunk is gone). I replace as I drink more the next day, rinse outside dump out the water and put the fast rack to dry. After I get six I put plastic wrap over the top and put in a six pack carrier. Bottling day I fill and all with starsan, then dump out and put on fast rack then grab from there and fill. No problems yet... best part of this method is delabeling is now painless.

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