Is a post drink thorough rinsing good enough?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tg Glazer

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
So, I have 12 oz bottles that I use for my beer. After drinking one, sometimes immediately, but always within a couple of hours, I thoroughly rinse the bottle with hot water, first filling and emptying it, then filling about 1/3, putting my thumb over top, and shaking. I repeat this several times, then turn it upside-down to air dry before putting it back in the case until next bottling day.

Is this sufficient (noting that I do sanitize the bottles with StarSan on bottling day)? Or, do I need to use soap and a bottle brush to clean?

If I do need soap and a bottle brush, should I still do each individual bottle as soon as possible after drinking, or can the bottles be stored, and then cleaned all at once on bottling day?

Thanks in advance!
 
I have basically done it this way for years, only difference is I use a jet bottle washer to rinse them out. I sanitize them on bottling day. It's not caused any problems.
 
Same process here. Thorough rinse after the pour is all I do, except new-to-me bottles. Thise get soaked in hot oxiclean to remove label.
 
I do the same cleaning as you, but I always give my bottles a good soak in diversol sometime before using. I've never used a bottle brush.

I do this because my bottles can collect dust, spiders, and other things along the way. Also, sometimes I get "gifted" bottles and they get mixed in.

My process is that I soak my bottles in diversol for 20 minutes, and give a quick rinse. If I'm not using them that day, I put a piece of aluminum foil over the bottle so it's clean until bottling day.

Diversol can leave bleach aftertaste, but I rinse really well on bottling day with iodophor in a bottle rinser on my bottle tree.

Even though I think my bottles are clean, the junk that collects in the diversol bin is always surprising. And there are always a few bugs.
 
Same as you. On bottling day I'll run the bottles through the dish washer. No special attachments. Probably not much water getting inside them. Outsides get real clean of any dust, and it's at least a minimal rinsing inside. Sanitize on bottling day.
 
It's *usually* enough. Until it isn't. Definitely give em a look through the light. Especially with aged bottles or really tight floccing priming yeasts, could still be a spec of yeast in there. When in doubt, clean it fully or just bin it.
 
Hmm...I do basically the same thing but with a tiny drop of dish detergent as well and shake with hot water as you said...
My bottling process got a lot more rigorous after I had a few bottles grown nasties in them..
I usually do a hot pbw and water then star San on bottling day even after having done dawn prior to storage...
I don't think I've ever needed to do a bottle brush...
 
Same process here. Thorough rinse after the pour is all I do, except new-to-me bottles. Thise get soaked in hot oxiclean to remove label.
Will the hot Oxyclean/PBW help with sticky sticker residue? It seems like a lot of stickers on 22oz bottles lately have aggressive adhesive that's a pain to remove after the foil sticker comes off.
 
Will the hot Oxyclean/PBW help with sticky sticker residue? It seems like a lot of stickers on 22oz bottles lately have aggressive adhesive that's a pain to remove after the foil sticker comes off.
I don't use many 22oz bottles. When I come across 12oz that has stubborn adhesive, they go right in the recycle bin. The adhesive is softer and I've had an easier time scarping it off with razor after the hot soak. Peel the foil/plastic labels first though.
 
Yeah, you can get away with it, but often things look clean and they aren’t. Take a white plastic fermentor for example. I use oxyclean and give a good soak, the ring of krausen come off without wiping. I wash the surface with a sponge. On occasion I have used idophor for sanitizing and that stains the invisible film that I missed with a sponge. :oops: You probably wouldn’t see that stained film in an amber glass bottle but I’d bet there are some harboring a film. Just my two cents.
 
I rinse my bottles (most of the time) right after I pour them. When I bottled my last batch I had a dirty bottle. I cut off the end of a bottling brush, attached a drill and went to town. Anyway, I decided to do that to the rest of my bottles while I was waiting for my priming sugar solution to cool down. I was amazed at how dirty my starsan solution was getting.
 
Here’s another example of invisible film. The beer glass that looks clean until the beer is poured in then the co2 bubbles stick revealing that it isn’t really clean. (not my glass pictured)
EB28D2DB-E7DD-4EFC-8D69-5CF47C458304.jpeg
 
Back
Top