Dirty bottles

[thawk86]

Can dirty bottles effect carbonation?

 

[kh54s10]

It depends. If no infection it shouldn't. But if you get an infection, further fermentation could happen causing enough co2 production to cause bottle bombs.

 

[ncbrewer]

It depends. If no infection it shouldn't. But if you get an infection, further fermentation could happen causing enough co2 production to cause bottle bombs.

Ya - make sure they're really clean and sanitized. Look inside, holding it up to a light.

 

[thawk86]

I know the beer itself wasn't infected, I bottled in two different containers. The 12 beers I bottled in the 16oz grolsch-like bottles carbed up fine and tasted great, but the ones I bottled in the standard brown 12oz bottles did not carb very well. The brown bottles were not very clean, which I didn't notice until later. Another question, what is the best method to clean bottles? I haven't found a tool that can really get in there and scrub the inside very well. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[flars]

I've found the best way to clean bottles with dried crud is a soak in PBW solution followed by scrubbing with a bottle brush mounted in a battery powered drill.

 

[ncbrewer]

I've found the best way to clean bottles with dried crud is a soak in PBW solution followed by scrubbing with a bottle brush mounted in a battery powered drill.

Yes, and rinsing with a jet washer using hot water gets all the PBW or Oxi Clean out.

 

[DirtyPirate]

Did you use priming sugar or tablets?

 

[thawk86]

@DirtyPirate - I used priming sugar.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

I find that filling 1/3 of the way with water, shaking vigorously with my thumb over the opening, then repeating one to three times, gets probably like 95% of bottles shiny clean inside, ready for sanitizer. Most of the remainder can be fixed by filling with hot water and letting soak for a couple hours prior to the above steps. I've only ever had deposits that resisted that treatment on the inside bottom of the bottle, caused by friends and family members neglecting to rinse them after being given a few bottles of homebrew, and letting the crud at the bottom dry to a crust and/or grow mold, then returning the bottles next time it was convenient. I've found dumping about an ounce of bleach in the bottle, leaving it for an hour, then rinsing thoroughly usually fixes that, but I'm giving serious thought to just setting aside the bottles that come back like that to fill with future gifts of beer for the people who return them to me in that state >.>

On that note, can anyone recommend a brand of bottle brush that A) has bristles on the END as well as the sides, and B) still does after being used, say, once?

 

[ncbrewer]

I find that filling 1/3 of the way with water, shaking vigorously with my thumb over the opening, then repeating one to three times, gets probably like 95% of bottles shiny clean inside, ready for sanitizer. Most of the remainder can be fixed by filling with hot water and letting soak for a couple hours prior to the above steps.

I do something similar with bottles that I've just poured. No oxiclean - just hot water and lots of swirling and rinsing. (From reading the forum threads, it seems that lots of brewers do that.) But if they've sat out after pouring, they get oxi.

 

[thawk86]

Thanks!

 

[BrewinBromanite]

I try to give a good rinse soon after use to get rid of old beer/yeast/gunk (helps not to have old beer dry and grow stuff in the bottom). On bottling day or night before, I fill a bucket with water and iodophor, and dunk the bottles to fill them up in batches, then rinse using the bathtub spout (higher pressure = quicker rinsing time). Doesn't take too long. Then fill up the dish-washer and run on sanitizer or other longer cycle. No issues with this process, and pretty simple.

If you are good about rinsing the bottles shortly after pouring a beer, you really shouldn't need to use a brush. Honestly, if you are good about rinsing bottles well soon after pouring a beer, you could probably skip the sanitizer solution step, and go straight to extended high-heat dishwasher step, but I'm OCD and don't risk it. FWIW - I can fit right at about a 5 gallon batch worth in the dishwasher at a time, so this may be worth taking into account, depending on dishwasher capacity. Sometimes it takes a combo of 12 oz bottles and 16 oz bottles.

 

[FatDragon]

Dirty bottles often cause infected beer as others have mentioned. You should have more, not less carbonation in that case, and the beer may or may not taste worse because of the infection. The biggest risk is bottle bombs, of course.

A couple good rinse-and-shakes with hot water within a couple hours of pouring a bottle will get that bottle clean enough to bottle. Store them upside-down, on a bottle tree or some other rack if possible. Squirt the inside with sanitizer on brewday and you're good.

Dirty bottles with caked on gunk and mold need more work. An hour of soaking in hot PBW or oxyclean followed by a quick brushing or even just a couple hot rinse-and-shakes will get your bottles clean enough to use, after sanitizing on the day of bottling of course. Oven or dishwasher sanitizing really isn't necessary if you've got a good brew-appropriate detergent and sanitizer as most of us do.

 

[ong]

I generally soak in PBW, and hold each bottle up to the light after rinsing. If there's any crud, I just recycle that bottle. Not really worth putting work into a single bottle, at least to me

 

[truvr]

THE best and cheapest thing I ever did for cleaning bottles.

View attachment 1464934994567.jpg

 

[MaryB]

I rinse after drinking, using a small spice bottle that I taped off all the shaker holes but one(that I made larger) I add a tiny bit of PBW and fill with my 140 degree tap water. Soak over night, rinse, dry until needed. That way I am not dealing with washing a lot of bottles at once. 3-6 in the sink in the morning is a minor chore and the bottle rack sits next to it all the time.

 

[thawk86]

Thanks guys!

 

[tennesseean_87]

I don't brush any more. I bleach soak for at least a day and then rinse a few times with hot water and shaking with my thumb over the opening. I've had some batches get a residue on the bottom of the bottle or all over where the beer was touching, and it was sometimes hard to remove with a brush because the bristles wouldn't hit every spot. The bleach always works. I just keep a full bucket on hand and throw rinsed empties in it. Once it's full, I rinse and dry and add newly emptied bottles.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

THE best and cheapest thing I ever did for cleaning bottles.

Until you've used it three times and the bristles on the tip are now pointed sideways, leaving only the rounded end of the wire braid to clean the bottom of the bottle with.

 

[truvr]

Until you've used it three times and the bristles on the tip are now pointed sideways, leaving only the rounded end of the wire braid to clean the bottom of the bottle with.

I've heard that complaint before. I don't remember exactly where I got my brush, amazon maybe. But I paid about $3 and it is still going strong more than a year later. A 20 second scrub, round and round, and they come out sparkling. Something I never could achieve before by any other method. Clearly, ymmv. Cheers!