Dishwashers and Bleach-Sanitized Bottles

[efreem01]

Hey all,

I'm bottling tonight after work. I have 30 beer bottles (with 30 on deck) sitting in a bleach bath sanitizing and need a good way to get rinse off the chlorine. I was thinking of throwing as many bottles as i can fit in the dishwasher and rinsing them all that way. Is this an effective way to rinse off chlorine from inside the bottles?

I have been putting a detergent tablet in as well. It makes for some squeeky clean bottles. Is this a bad idea?

For the 2nd lot of 30 bottles, i'm going to put them in the chlorine/water solution for 30 minutes and throw them in with the other bottles.

 

[Pabst Blue Robot]

I would not trust the dishwasher for a couple reasons:

1. Detergent/soap is not a good idea. Any residual soap can make it into the final beer and cause off flavors ruin head.

2. Sanitation. Bacteria can linger in the dishwasher and it defeats the purpose of sanitizing the bottles.

3. Phenols. I know when I use bleach, it takes 4-5 complete rinses before I can no longer detect the smell of chlorine. Residual chlorine will cause off flavors in the beer.


I've found that for bottles in particular, a no rinse sanitizer is a huge boon. Even rinsing out the bleach can introduce bacteria. While it's not likely, it's not really worth taking the chance on something you've worked hard on and are proud of.

 

[kornkob]

As far as bacteria sticking around in a dishwasher-- it really does depend on the diswasher. Many these days are equaling or outperforming commercial dishwashers in terms of killing off the nasties.

Bleach isn't a huge problem, really, in low concentrations. a few tablespoons to 5 gallons isn't going to give off a whole lot in terms of scent.


The biggest problem with using the dishwasher is that it won't do much in terms of rinsing the insides of the bottles.

 

[Pabst Blue Robot]

As far as bacteria sticking around in a dishwasher-- it really does depend on the diswasher. Many these days are equaling or outperforming commercial dishwashers in terms of killing off the nasties.

Bleach isn't a huge problem, really, in low concentrations. a few tablespoons to 5 gallons isn't going to give off a whole lot in terms of scent.


The biggest problem with using the dishwasher is that it won't do much in terms of rinsing the insides of the bottles.

2 TBSP of 6% chlorine solution in 5 gallons is 200 PPM, and that is very detectable if you ask me. It's not going to kill you any more than swallowing a little pool water would, but it won't do much for the flavor of the beer if not rinsed properly. A dishwasher will not properly rinse a 12oz beer bottle.

 

[uwmgdman]

That's why I rinse my bottles right after I pour, let them dry, and store. Then the night before bottle day, I run the dishwasher on a rinse cycle w/ no soap. Then bottle day I load 'em up, select the hi-temp wash cycle and run the bottles with no soap. I haven't had a problem yet....infections or head retention related. No bleach, no soap.

EDIT: I'm not going to promise the same will work for you, but it works for me.

 

[efreem01]

OK, to keep you all updated here is what i did.

I realized that the Bleach was a horrible idea and basically spent an hour and 15 minutes using my bottle-washer to clean every single bottle. I only prepped 52, and i hope that will be enough.

After i got all 52 bottles free of bleach, i put them in the dishwasher with C-Brite in the dish detergent drawer and set it to High Heat. I threw in the stirring spoon, auto-siphon, the length of hose, and the faucet part of the bottling bucket.

I know i'm probably being anal-retentive by adding the C-brite, but i have it so i figured what the hell. I really should start moving away from bleach and go for star-san, C-brite, or some of the other no-rinse sanitizers. I also used the C-brite to clean the bottling bucket and bottle tree which are ready to go. I hope i can get this all done by 11pm because i have work tomorrow.

 

[kornkob]

2 TBSP of 6% chlorine solution in 5 gallons is 200 PPM, and that is very detectable if you ask me. It's not going to kill you any more than swallowing a little pool water would, but it won't do much for the flavor of the beer if not rinsed properly. .

My family's experience disagrees with your assessment, but that's a very deceased equine--- and my participation in the flogging of that horse has been well docmented in other threads on this forum. I hardly think that rehashing it here serves the public interest.


None the less, it's safe to say that a dishwasher is not a good rinsing tool, since it doens't rinse the bottles' inside.

In fact, adding the c-brite may cause you issues. The c-bright laced water may get inside some of your bottles but the odds of the later rinse cycle getting inside approaches zero. The risk here is that dishwashers do not nessicarily distribute the dishwashing detergent evenly over the cycle. Again-- since the rinse water is unlikely to rinse your bottle's insides, you may have bottles with unusually high concentrations of cbrite in them.

 

[z987k]

Out of curiosity, how does the water not get inside of the bottle, if you point it straight down?

 

[the_bird]

Water will get inside, but the opening of the bottle is a lot smaller than the overall width. Water will be in there, but not EVERYWHERE in there, and not enough to sanitize.

 

[Orfy]

It's the temperature that sanitises.