Cleaning Bottles
- Thread starter glepley
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Use washing soda (aka Soda ash, Na2CO3). You want an alkaline solution.
Even powdered laundry detergent can be used in a pinch.
Soak overnight if they're very dirty.
Use a bottle brush to clean the inside.
Rinse well with hot water afterward of course.
Sanitize right before filling.
Even powdered laundry detergent can be used in a pinch.
Soak overnight if they're very dirty.
Use a bottle brush to clean the inside.
Rinse well with hot water afterward of course.
Sanitize right before filling.
It should as long as they rinse clean.
Now there can be a film or build up clinging on the inside that's hard to detect. Especially homebrew tends to have more sediment, and "clingy" stuff. For those I prefer the brush and washing soda.
You can use generic Oxiclean or (homemade) PBW instead for extra oomph, but I find that overkill unless they are extremely dirty, with lots of dried on crap, where tossing them might have been the more logical option.
Just running a brush through them only takes a few seconds, not a whole lot of time on the scale of brewing. Then rinse on the bottle jet washer (don't forget to rinse the outside too), and submerge in Starsan, or use one of those Vinators.
That's exactly what I do. Put it in the dish rack upside down to dry. When I take them out of the dish rack to put away, I look inside the bottle - if there's something yucky on the bottom, I throw it in the recycling. But there almost never is.
I'm not sure exactly what Borax is. I use PBW, give the bottles a good soak in there (a couple of hours is fine), then rinse them out very well. Then I visually inspect the bottle, look inside it - if the PBW didn't clean out the gunk, then I toss the bottle in our recycling bin.
I use Oxyclean (or generic) and soak for a while for the rare times that rinsing and a bottle brush does not clean the bottles out.
ancientmariner52
Well-Known Member
Per Charlie Papazian, I use hot water and clear ammonia to soak labels loose. Along the way I found that an overnight soak with an ounce or so of ammonia straight from the jug will break up the worst moldy mess in the bottom of a neglected bottle. I have so many bottles these days I usually just toss a bad 'un, though.
catdaddy66
Well-Known Member
After I pour a beer (and leave about a quarter inch of dregs), I pour an inch of hot water in the bottle and cover the top with my thumb as I shake it like it stole from me! Then I pour it out and refill with hot water til it overflows, pour it out again and store it on my bottle tree. It has never failed to clean it properly and it only needs sanitizing before bottling.
Viola!
Viola!
Zver
Active Member
Same thing, bro!
I do the 3x rinse then run through the dishwasher. Sanitize with a vinator just prior to filling.
homebrewer_99
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I have several bottle brushes of varying circumferences. I cut the ring off the end and use the brush as I would a drill bit to clean the inside my bottles.
Brownalemikie
Well-Known Member
This.....I've used the same bottles at least 25 times by doing nothing except rinsing right after pour THEN sanitize before filling. No problems.
Exactly what I do. I rinse right after the pour. Then set it next to a 5 g bucket of OxyClean. When I get 12 bottles in they go and stay there until I have 12 more. Then I rinse out and remove labels and replace. De-labeled bottles are stored in a big plastic covered box until needed. Then into the sanitize and fill. 3 weeks later start the whole thing over. LOL
After I drink a bottle I do the 3x hot water rinse and immediately put the bottle upside down on the Fast Rack. The night before bottling I run all the bottles through the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle. During bottling I have a bucket, with water/StarSan solution, between the dishwasher and the counter. I work with 6 bottles at a time, pulling from the dishwasher, dunking in the bucket and setting on the counter. Fill all six and cap them. Repeat.
