Cleaning bottles

[Jphillips13]

I started saving bottles a long time before I actually brewed my first batch. They were pretty dusty by the time I needed them.
I was able to fit 15 bottles in a 5 gallon bucket of oxyclean and hot water. In 30 minutes all of the labels had either fallen off or fell off when I pulled the bottles out. Rinse and repeat until you have enough for your batch.
Dunk in Star San and place on dishwasher rack 24 at a time when filling worked for me.

 

[tooblue02]

Starsan is a wet contact sanitizer. Once it dries it is no longer effective as a sanitizer. You should be filling the bottles while they are still wet. That's easier if you don't wait for the sugar solution to cool. I dump the sugar solution into the bottling bucket shortly after I start siphoning the beer and the sugar solution is still near boiling.

I guess I should clarify that, after I dump the sanitizer out I then place the bottles upside down in the fast rack system thing (which have been sanitized as well). Once I am done sanitizing all the bottles I start filling and capping. The bottles are still wet when I start filling.

 

[unionrdr]

They do indeed need to be wet when using Starsan,as it's a wet contact sanitizer. I rinsed a ton of bottles over the last couple days myself. They need to be delabeled yet,though. I took eight 12 pack boxes worth of Sam Adams bottles out of rotation,since I can't fill that many bottles in a couple months time on my income.

 

[Hello]

Thanks for the information guys.

I have another question.

If there is some mold in there won't it clean out with the bottle brush? Or do I need to do something special to get it out? Or does the bottle just need to get trashed?

When I was desperate for bottles they got a hot hot water soak with a tsp of oxyclean over night. A second soak for an hour or so and a brushing. I give away beer and in return I get really terribly dirty bottles back. Now I'll toss them. I'd rather spend $13 on 24. I did work on some growlers because they're more pricey. 2 overnight soaks in hot hot water and oxyclean. Two cycles of hot hot water just sitting, bottle brush, then a good 5 minutes of filling, dumping, filling dumping of warm water.

 

[BugDude]

Thank you to everyone who answered I this thread. Luckily the bottles were not too bad and I only had one that had mold which I just tossed.

 

[rodwha]

I have far too many new bottles now that need labels peeled, but beforehand I found the bottle brushes didn't clean the bottom very well at all. I have a .45 cal nylon pistol cleaning brush that I bent at an angle to clean the bottoms up better.

Since I've accumulated sooo many more bottles lately I've just tossed those bottles into the recycle bin.

And to get past the residue that Oxyclean leaves I fill my bottles with water and place upright in a bucket.

 

[myelo]

I have far too many new bottles now that need labels peeled, but beforehand I found the bottle brushes didn't clean the bottom very well at all. I have a .45 cal nylon pistol ...

PULL! I find after a shoot a few of the dirty bottles, the rest of them fall right in line.

 

[C-Rider]

Totally true if you don't rinse well. I've never had an issue but cleaning bottles is fairly laborus for me I suppose. It's tedious so I'm not a fan.

It's a problem ONLY if you let it dry before rinsing off the Oxy. When wet and you rinse it there is no "crusty white stuff" to be seen.

 

[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.

 

[dnslater]

I've been bottling for years with no issues. I keep a cooler full of oxyclean and water in the basement and soak my bottles for a few days. Takes almost any kind of label off. I then simply rinse with the vinator full of starsan solution and bottle. Never used a brush.

BTW I label all of my beer and make my own labels, gluing them on with only Milk. Numerous threads on this. Labels printed on a laser printer on regular paper. Makes it super easy to remove them.