How long can my sanitized bottles sit?

[schadelh]

I was wondering if anyone knew how long sanitized bottles stay sanitary. I plan on bottling my first batch of brew tomorrow night with a friend, but I was wondering if I could get the somewhat tedious bottle sanitizing process done ahead of time (tonight), so I don't have to use too much of my buddy's time.

If it matters, I am using Star San.

While on the subject of sanitizer, when I used the recommended dose of Star San to water (the recipe on the bottle), my sanitizer water got rather foamy. Should/can I dilute my sanitizer more, or is the foaminess unavoidable?

 

[HomerJR]

I wouldn't do it a day ahead. StarSan, to be effective, needs to stay wet. If it dries, it loses is sanitizing power. If you've got a friend with you, you can knock out the sanitizing in just a few minutes. As long as they're clean (THAT you can do ahead of time), it just takes a little StarSan in the bottle, shake it so the entire inside is coated, then set aside. When I'm filling, I'll have one bottle in my hand filling it, and with my other hand I'll grab the next one, and turn it upside down to pour out any extra StarSan.

And DON'T FEAR THE FOAM!!! The foam is your friend! Seriously. It won't hurt a thing. If you don't like the foam, add StarSan to the water, and not the other way around. Just make sure it gets mixed in well.

 

[pweizman]

Foam is unavoidable. The foam is good. Don't worry about it.

I am interested to hear the answers. I leave my sanitized bottles for weeks before bottling.

However, my bottles are stored in boxes in my *pretty* clean basement.

Patrick

 

[schadelh]

What would you recommend for cleaning? A little soap and water? just water? I have a lot of pre-drank and thoroughly rinsed crown tops, and like I said, I rinse them very well after use (I can't stand the stale beer sticky).

 

[KhellendrosXS]

For cleaning use PBW or Oxyclean Free. If you took care to get them completely cleaned out after the last use you wont need to clean them again. You just want them to be free of yeast and other debris.

Star san is supposed to foam. Thats just what it does. I pour my beer straight in on top of the foam and sometimes get a 'foam snake'. This applies to my carboys, kegs, and bottles. Dont fear the foam, its your friend.

Edit

This is a great link for you to follow and adapt to your own brewery. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

If you sanitised the night before and stored the bottles upside down they would most likely be fine the next day.

Having said that, why would you make that compromise? It's always best to do it right, and that means sanitising immediately before you bottle.

I gotta run.....I'm gonna do some foreplay on the missus so that she will be ready to go for the real thing tomorrow night. (See what I did there?)

 

[BioBeing]

Sanitation only kills MOST of the microbes. With time, the ones that are not killed can grow back. So, even in a perfectly clean environment, the longer you leave a sanitized bottle, the more chances you have of an infection if there were any infectious bugs on it to begin with. With a less than ideal environment (like, say a normal home), airborne contaminants have a chance of finding your bottles.

tbh, I would not trust a bottle that had been sanitized and left sitting for even a few hours. I may be a bit paranoid, but my work involves keeping things sterile (not merely sanitary!) so I do go in for overkill.

But (both of you) get a vinator and a bottle tree, and give them a good squirt of foamy starsan and stick them on the bottle tree to drain right before you bottle. It takes no time.

Oh, and read this thread.

 

[Revvy]

Most of the sanitzers we use are No rinse/wet contact sanitizers. They are double edged swords. Literally. They kill two ways. They kill everything on the object prior to sanitizing, and then as long as they are still wet they form a sanitizer barrier that kills everything that comes into contact with object.

If you let the sanitizer dry any micro organism that comes in contact with the sanitized object, rather than being killed by it, makes the object no longer sanitzed.

You really want to sanitize right at the time you are using the thing you are sanitizing.

It shouldn't be about saving time. You should sanitize on bottling day. If you nail down your process you should be able to bottle a full batch in under and hour, including sanitizing. It takes me about 45 minutes til cleanup.

I outline my process here;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

 

[schadelh]

Star san is supposed to foam. Thats just what it does. I pour my beer straight in on top of the foam and sometimes get a 'foam snake'. This applies to my carboys, kegs, and bottles. Dont fear the foam, its your friend.

The foam won't sanitize (i.e. kill) the yeast?

If I don't have to rinse the foam out of every bottle sanitizing should be a breeze.

 

[IrregularPulse]

What they said, It works until they dry.

The foam is actually good food for the yeast.
Don't rinse after wards or you're negating the wokr you just did. Tap water is not sanitary. That's why it's called a No Rinse Sanitizer.

 

[RexPDX]

I tried an oven bake method that supposedly sterilizes the bottles that I picked up in John Palmer's How to Brew. I gave clean bottles a quick rinse, wrapped the tops in foil, baked them for a few hours and let them cool in the oven over night. In the morning they were all ready to go. All I needed to do was rip the foil off and fill. I know this method probably is not for everyone, but I found it very easy and I like that (according to Palmer) the bottles will remain sterile indefinitely if I leave the foil intact.

From How to Brew - John Palmer

Oven
Dry heat is less effective than steam for sanitizing and sterilizing, but many brewers use it. The best place to do dry heat sterilization is in your oven. To sterilize an item, refer to the following table for temperatures and times required.

Table 3 - Dry Heat Sterilization

Temperature
Duration
338°F (170°C)
60 minutes

320°F (160°C)
120 minutes

302°F (150°C)
150 minutes

284°F (140°C)
180 minutes

250°F (121°C)
12 hours (Overnight)

The times indicated begin when the item has reached the indicated temperature. Although the durations seem long, remember this process kills all microorganisms, not just most as in sanitizing. To be sterilized, items need to be heat-proof at the given temperatures. Glass and metal items are prime candidates for heat sterilization.

Some homebrewers bake their bottles using this method and thus always have a supply of clean sterile bottles. The opening of the bottle can be covered with a piece of aluminum foil prior to heating to prevent contamination after cooling and during storage. They will remain sterile indefinitely if kept wrapped.

One note of caution: bottles made of soda lime glass are much more susceptible to thermal shock and breakage than those made of borosilicate glass and should be heated and cooled slowly (e.g. 5 °F per minute). You can assume all beer bottles are made of soda lime glass and that any glassware that says Pyrex or Kimax is made of borosilicate.

 

[Revvy]

The foam won't sanitize (i.e. kill) the yeast?

If I don't have to rinse the foam out of every bottle sanitizing should be a breeze.

The foam becomes yeast food.