mass bottle cleaning?

[zachattack]

But my Dishwasher makes for such a nice bottle tree.

Mine does as well! I've had the top rack so loaded with bottles I've been worried it's gonna bend. The dishwasher door is also a good drip catcher during the bottling process.

 

[Psycotte]

Mine does as well! I've had the top rack so loaded with bottles I've been worried it's gonna bend. The dishwasher door is also a good drip catcher during the bottling process.

That's the thing. I place my bottle bucket on counter over the dishwasher with the door down. I grab a bottle, dip, fill, loose cap and place to the side. I keep pulling the drawer out as I need more bottles. I do 6 and then secure loose caps with wing capper, then repeat. Works for me.

 

[Justdrumin]

But my Dishwasher makes for such a nice bottle tree.

I don't use my dishwasher to sanitize, but I do use it as a bottle tree. I rinse after I pour, store them in a rubermaid tub, dip in a bucket of star san, in the dish washer they go to dry.I do spray the rack in the dishwasher to be safe.

 

[CGVT]

Those of you that are dipping the bottles in a bucket of starsan need to get a Vinator.

You'll thank me

 

[tugbucket]

Those of you that are dipping the bottles in a bucket of starsan need to get a Vinator.

You'll thank me

My wife does the sanitize and fill steps. After like half a dozen batches, I got one. She gave me the WTF really?! look real quick.

 

[kombat]

Like the others, I clean well in advance of bottling day.

As soon as I pour a bottle of beer, I rinse the bottle twice, then add it to the pile of bottles to be cleaned and re-used.

When I have time to clean some bottles, and enough have piled up, I take a Home Depot bucket and fill it with hot water and a scoop of Oxyclean Free. I submerge the bottles in the bucket until the bubbling stops (i.e., it's full). If I'm delabeling, I leave them like this for a day. If they've already been delabeled, then I continue.

I fill the basement sink about 2" deep with cold water, then put the jet bottle washer attachment on the faucet head and turn on the tap. I then take each bottle out of the bucket and dump out half of the Oxy solution. I cover the mouth of the bottle with my thumb and give the bottle a good shake to "scrub" the inside, then pour out the rest of the cleaning solution and set the bottle in the water bath in the sink until I've done this for all of the bottles in the bucket.

Once all of the bottles are in the sink, I take a sponge and scrub the outside to remove any soapy residue, then blast the inside for a couple of seconds with the bottle washer nozzle, then "hang" it on the bottling tree to drip dry.

The bottles stay there until bottling day. They're partially upside-down, so nothing too bad can get up inside them. When bottling, I give them a quick blast of StarSan with the Vinator anyway, so if any dust did float up inside, it gets rinsed out by the StarSan immediately prior to filling.

 

[dyqik]

I clean as I empty the bottles, then remove the labels in batches of 14 or so (Used PBW and hot water works well) if required. Bottles are stored neck down in either my fast rack or a old beer case. For the last two batches I have rewashed and sanitized in the dishwasher - with a finish 4 in 1 tablet - on the hottest cycle, which keeps them at 180F for about 60 minutes. But before that I was dipping and draining them 8 at a time in a bucket of starsan (the bottling bucket, which therefore got a good long soak).

My dishwasher rinses well, so I'm not worried about soap hanging about.

 

[songe]

first i wash all my bottles with hot water and rinse them out, then i make a 6 gallon bucket with starsan water and siphon it into the bottles and leave it for a while to sanitize

 

[CGVT]

first i wash all my bottles with hot water and rinse them out, then i make a 6 gallon bucket with starsan water and siphon it into the bottles and leave it for a while to sanitize

That is really a waste of starsan. Starsan is a contact sanitizer (30 seconds). Just getting the inside of the bottles wet would do the job.

That is why the Vinitor is such a great tool. It only takes a few ounces of mixed starsan to do a enough bottles for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[songe]

That is really a waste of starsan. Starsan is a contact sanitizer (30 seconds). Just getting the inside of the bottles wet would do the job.

That is why the Vinitor is such a great tool. It only takes a few ounces of mixed starsan to do a enough bottles for a 5 gallon batch.

since the bottles are used i dont wanna risk having an infection. + there are cigarets in allot of them and snus and moltet beer residue... so yeah... i use around 10 ml of starsan.. so its not a waste... and starsan is quit cheap here only 22 dollars for 8 oz

 

[CGVT]

Starsan is a sanitizer, not a cleaner. It should be used after the bottles are clean.

Soaking the bottles in starsan to clean them is a waste.

You would get better results by soaking your bottles in Oxyclean or PBW, rinsing them and then sanitizing them.

 

[songe]

like i said i rins them first. then use starsan.

 

[Epimetheus]

If needed, I soak a case at a time in a large Rubbermaid bin. You might have one around for blankets. A big picnic cooler might work.

Now, I always use a bottle brush just before sanitizing and bottling because of one bad experience when I could swear the bottles had been cleaned.

 

[Nameless_Matt]

If needed, I soak a case at a time in a large Rubbermaid bin. You might have one around for blankets. A big picnic cooler might work.

Now, I always use a bottle brush just before sanitizing and bottling because of one bad experience when I could swear the bottles had been cleaned.

I have this issue at the moment, got a load of brewing gear on eBay including 100x 500ml bottles for next to nothing... Cleaned them all using my normal regime of soak in a bucket of oxi and then rinse and store. Then on bottling day use my spray gun with starsan to sanitise...

Bottles looked visibly clean after the soak and rinse, but on real close inspection they have a nasty film all around the inside that won't shift with just soaking, and a bottle brush isn't cutting it either.

Can anyone recommend a really heavy duty detergent that will help shift this film on the inside of the bottles?

Looking at potentially an acid soak with 10% Acetic acid to see if its hard water deposits, then Sodium Metasilicate & a really heavy scrub with a bottle brush and then rinse and starsan to keep the bottles from water marks.

What do you think?

 

[allanyork]

Try cokecola

 

[autonomist3k]

Clean them as you empty them, and consider sterilizing them in the oven, with that method they are sterile indefinitely until you decide to use them.
I love the oven method and will never do it any other way.
I sterilized a bunch months ago and ate going to bottle with then this weekend.

 

[masskrug]

I thoroughly rinse my bottles with tapwater immediately after I pour the beer. Then I store them upside down. On bottling day I dunk the bottle in Starsan, shake, drain and fill. No issues.

 

[Nameless_Matt]

Clean them as you empty them, and consider sterilizing them in the oven, with that method they are sterile indefinitely until you decide to use them.
I love the oven method and will never do it any other way.
I sterilized a bunch months ago and ate going to bottle with then this weekend.

Only if you have them covered with a non porous material (ie wrap the tops with foil before oven baking)

Any open bottle will catch airborne contaminants.

3 years as an environmental monitoring microbiologist teaches you a few things you really don't want to know.


Not really after tips on sterilising/sanitising - and any new bottles get cleaned as I drink them. Right now I have some brutally soiled bottles that I want to clean up and use and am struggling with the usual tricks

 

[autonomist3k]

Yea I forgot that part, I put foil on all of them before baking.

 

[gr8shandini]

Didn't read all the posts, so forgive me if this has been suggested.

Back when I used to bottle, if I had a whole bunch, I'd soak 'em in Oxy and hot water for about an hour in the bath tub. You get clean bottles, no labels, and a really clean tub - so your roommates will actually love you. Be sure to rinse well

Then, when it comes time to sanitize, get a spray bottle form Target and fill it with StarSan. 2 or three spritzes in each bottle will coat the walls and you can shake out any extra before you fill.

 

[rlmiller10]

Rather than dowels for a drying rack I just drilled 1 1/4 inch holes in some boards. I place my bottle necks upside down through the holes. No putting a possibly dirty stick up my clean bottle that way