How To Sanitize

[kash]

Going to be starting my first brew and was wondering the best way to go about sanitizing the kit as well as the bottles. My plan was to use a bunch of Miller High Life bottles since i have them in abundance. I hope the high life bottles will work, correct me if i am wrong though

Cheers

Kash

 

[tandpbrewing]

Those are twist-offs right? They are not the best, depending on the type of capper you have, if you have a bench capper then you might be fine. You are more likely to break a few bottle necks, and make sure you check each one is sealed by flipping them upside down.

As to how to sanitize I always just make up a big bucket of sanitized water, 1oz starsan to 4-5 gallons, and then soak stuff in there.

 

[kash]

What bottles do you think i should use. Anything that requires a bottle opener?

My capper will be a the one from the kit at midwest supplies. Item number mbek2 priced at 79.95.

When you sanitize in the bucket, how long do you usually let it sit, and how many times over can the water be reused?

 

[tandpbrewing]

Yeah, thats not the best capper for twist offs, you definitely want some pop off bottles, usually like those from microbrews etc. anything you need a bottle opener for. As for the soak time and reuse it depends on the sanitizer, with starsan I soak for 30 seconds to a minute, sometimes I leave them in there much longer. And also starsan if mixed with good water and in a sealed container can last weeks, basically until it turns cloudy, and then you can just add a little more starsan to get it good again.

 

[kb9vzh]

I have used a capper for on twist offs as a test once and it popped off as soon as it started to carb. As for starsan, I fill my primary fermenter with it while brewing then transfer to my secondary with a cap. Then when its time to transfer the beer into the secondary I transger the starsan to my bottling bucket. When its time to bottle, I sanitize my equipment and bottles in that bucket, then back to another primary. If its going to be a few weeks before I use the primary again I will dump the starsan at that time and start over. Normaly I let my bottles and equipment set in the starsan solution at least 30 seconds.

 

[EdWort]

I picked up one of these for 15 bucks and it works great! Fill the reservoir with Starsan, stick your clean bottle over it, press down twice, and it sprays the inside of your bottle and drains back into the reservoir. Just put it on a sanitized bottling tree or your dish washing rack to drip dry. It uses very little Starsan this way.

It's called the Vinator Bottle Rinser.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

Nobody's pointed this out yet, but miller high life bottles are clear, right? You should be using brown bottles, clear bottles are just begging to skunk your beer at any opportunity.

I don't know about where you live, but I asked my local liquor store/redemption center and they said they will sell (used) bottles for 8 cents a bottle. That's under 4 bucks for 2 cases (48 bottles), they let you pick the bottles you want (ie - brown pop-top, standard shape) and you also get the case boxes to store/carry them in, which is worth all the money on its own. It's probably worth asking redemption centers in your area.

 

[TheH2]

If you don't live in one of the few states where you actually get a "refund" for bottles, check craigslist. Also, I'd highly recommend Sam Adam's bottles. The labels tend to come off easier than others, except maybe Belgians (but then you'd be poor, and very drunk after drinking 50 or so).

I sanitize my bottles either by boiling, or the dishwasher. I know, dishwasher doesn't sanitize and I'm really going to stop doing it, but it has worked well so far. Granted, I'm only using my personal consumption beer bottles and always rinse after drinking. If I purchased bottles from someone then I'd definitely soak in some sort of bleach solution and rinse.

 

[kash]

Why will the clear bottles wreck the beer?

 

[EdWort]

Why will the clear bottles wreck the beer?

The light will affect the hops in beer and skunk it. Notice how almost every beer in a green bottle tastes & smells the same or has the same skunkiness to it.

 

[kash]

So i should just get a brown bottle that requires a bottle opener, and it should work okay?

 

[FlyingHorse]

It's probably worth asking redemption centers in your area.

Or distributors/stores that handle returnables (the ones where the brewery actually charges a deposit, not the state-mandated recycle fee). Returnable bottles are heavier glass. I picked up a couple cases 15 years ago for $3 deposit on each case, and still have all 48 of them.

 

[FlyingHorse]

So i should just get a brown bottle that requires a bottle opener, and it should work okay?

Yes. And no. The only other thing you have to watch out for is that on some bottles, the shape of the bulge in the neck won't be quite right for your wing-style capper to grab it properly. Not a problem with most, but you might want to check before you take the plunge on two cases worth. (I had this problem with a couple belgian bottles recently).

 

[abracadabra]

Clear bottles won't ruin your beer, light will and even brown bottles will skunk if left in the light too long.

Get some cardboard boxes and store your beer in them or anything that will protect them from light.

I've got a buddy the not only reuses twist off bottles he reuses the caps.

Twist the caps like you are taking them off but press down on the caps, when you feel both sides drop down you are in the groves, then screw the caps back on. If the cap looks angled or not straight you didn't do it right.

I've tried it. And it works like a charm.

 

[bigben]

Clear bottles won't ruin your beer, light will and even brown bottles will skunk if left in the light too long.

Get some cardboard boxes and store your beer in them or anything that will protect them from light.

I've got a buddy the not only reuses twist off bottles he reuses the caps.

Twist the caps like you are taking them off but press down on the caps, when you feel both sides drop down you are in the groves, then screw the caps back on. If the cap looks angled or not straight you didn't do it right.

I've tried it. And it works like a charm.

I would just get the right bottles and not use twist-offs. It would suck for him to start out brewing a non carbonated beer.

Go buy some bottles or drink a bunch of Sam Adams and reuse those bottles.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

I just salvaged a bunch of bottles from my recycle bin last night. I was lamenting the high cost of new bottles when I started searching the forum and found out that OxiClean takes the labels off old bottles. Good thing I found that when I did because tomorrow is recycling pickup day. Maybe you have curbside pickup in your neighborhood and you can just dumpster-dive on pickup day for a few dozen brown bottles--if you don't mind your neighbors thinking you're nuts.

Anywho, I dumped 5 gallons of warm water in a cooler and added one scoop of OxiClean and stirred it up. Then I dumped in 18 bottles (24 would have probably been the max to keep submerged in there at one time) and let them soak while I ate dinner. Less than an hour later most of the labels came off pretty easily. The DFH Festina Peche and Raison D'etre labels came off with virtually no effort (good thing, too, because I think I'm due for another case of DFH!) The Saranac labels took just a tad more effort because they also have the band that goes all the way around the neck (it likes to stay dry under there). The Yards Philadelphia Pale Ale labels were the hardest because they are that very thin metallic paper that fragments too easily for you to be able to pull it off in one piece. But even those came off pretty easily with the help of a scrub brush. The glue that was left on the bottles was scrubbed off easily too. Now you can't tell them from new bottles.

Just make sure you wear gloves.

I bet milder detergents like Borax would work just fine too. The key seems to be letting them soak long enough that the water and detergent can soften the adhesive.

 

[Photopilot]

Who drinks just 12 oz of beer at a sitting? Not many on this site I bet.

For me to sit down and have a beer usually means at least 20 oz. This combined with the fact that bottling is the least enjoyable portion of homebrewing for me:

So what I did was collect 22 oz beer bottles and champagne bottles as well. The 22 oz bottles are for a solo beer. The Champagne bottles are for when you have someone over to share. I worked in a restaurant when I started brewing and just asked the bartender to save all the big beer bottles, as well as champagne bottles. Not all champagne bottles work though most do. Take a bottle cap and try it on, if it does not fit on now, too small the capper wont help. You should be able to tell just by looking if there is room for the cap to be bent on.

If you know anyone in a nice restaurant have them save you champ. bottles. Or go to a bar that has 200 beers. There may be a lot of big bottles poured there, see if someone will save you some bottles in exchange for a homebrew when done. If your beer turns out good, you will end up with more free bottles than you know what to do with. You only need 25 bottles or so if you go big. Have some small bottles as backup or to give away so people can try it.