My bottle cleaning technique

[user 574]

Just thought I'd share since I am a newb and it seems to be working well for me but am wondering if I got some overkill here. Less work is always better in my world:

I keep a big old bucket of h20 7-10 gal in the garage with 4oz of bleach mix. Be it a purchased bottle I want to retain or a home brew I just launch them bad boys in there. Labels eventually come right off the new. My own batch I rinse the yeast out before throwing them in there. This is supposedly equal to a sanitizer based on "the book". Odds are the bottles will be in here for weeks.

When it's time to bottle or theres no more room in there I'll then soap em up, scrub with the bottle brush and rinse with hot water (got a bottle washer).

Stick them in the dishwasher (cleaned/sanitizer sprayed) to hold them while I get ready to bottle. Sometimes run the DW afterwards.

Soak em in sanitizer for a minute or so and stack em up to be filled.

So, overkill? Just fine? Like my big-bucket of h20 thingamabob? For some reason it feels like the soap and water/bottle brush is overkill. Maybe just a hot water blast is good enough? Probably my biggest inquiry is this step.

No keg comments, I know I know.

 

[Dark_Ale]

Just thought I'd share since I am a newb and it seems to be working well for me but am wondering if I got some overkill here. Less work is always better in my world:

I keep a big old bucket of h20 7-10 gal in the garage with 4oz of bleach mix. Be it a purchased bottle I want to retain or a home brew I just launch them bad boys in there. Labels eventually come right off the new. My own batch I rinse the yeast out before throwing them in there. This is supposedly equal to a sanitizer based on "the book". Odds are the bottles will be in here for weeks.

When it's time to bottle or theres no more room in there I'll then soap em up, scrub with the bottle brush and rinse with hot water (got a bottle washer).

Stick them in the dishwasher (cleaned/sanitizer sprayed) to hold them while I get ready to bottle. Sometimes run the DW afterwards.

Soak em in sanitizer for a minute or so and stack em up to be filled.

So, overkill? Just fine? Like my big-bucket of h20 thingamabob? For some reason it feels like the soap and water/bottle brush is overkill. Maybe just a hot water blast is good enough? Probably my biggest inquiry is this step.

No keg comments, I know I know.

I have not steped to the keg thing either, I usually make sure my bottles are rinced out real good after drinking, Then when I get ready to bottle I kinda look to make sure there are no nasties in there, and rince with a bleach water solution, then a good rince. I have not had any problmes so far. But I started builing a stock of bigger bottles so its not as bad. But I hope to keg soon. But the thingofabob sounds like a good idea I just dont have the room

 

[the rusty knight]

I would avoid washing the bottles with detergent. It will leave a residue in the bottles. Other than that, if it works for you it appears fine. I rinse my bottles immediately after using, then sanitize with BTF Iodophor when ready to bottle a new batch.

Cheers,
Robert

 

[user 574]

I would avoid washing the bottles with detergent. It will leave a residue in the bottles. Other than that, if it works for you it appears fine. I rinse my bottles immediately after using, then sanitize with BTF Iodophor when ready to bottle a new batch.

Cheers,
Robert

Thanks, one less step!

 

[rightwingnut]

Doing all that every time seems like overkill...but what do I know? I soaked a batch in hot water to remove the labels, then dishwasher, then when ready to fill, iodophor. Only bottled once, and that was with brand new ez-caps.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I got the majority of my bottles in Germany so 7-8 cases are flippies and half liters. The remaining are just half liters. I also have about 5 cases of longnecks.

After I soak my bottles in bleach water I put them on the drying rack. I do not rinse the bleach off.

After they are dried I put a plastic wrap on the tops to protect the insides from contammination.

I read you can store them this way for periods up to a year. It comes in pretty handy when you have 20+ cases of bottles and plenty of time to dedicate to one project.

When I get ready to use I just rinse with hot water.

I haven't scrubbed a bottle in years. I rinse them out right after I pour the beer into a glass so they never have any residue to scrub out. This will really save you lots of cleaning time. After soaking I use the faucet mounted bottle washer for rinsing.

 

[uglygoat]

i rinse mine out after each use, then store them till the night before bottling day. i soak them over night then rinse em out real good.

i like the 22oz bottles or bigger, simply cause there is less of them

 

[user 574]

I haven't scrubbed a bottle in years. I rinse them out right after I pour the beer into a glass so they never have any residue to scrub out. This will really save you lots of cleaning time. After soaking I use the faucet mounted bottle washer for rinsing.

It really did feel like a waste of time scrubbing but I didn't want to waste beer either!! Thanks this has been more than helpful it's been a time saver! No more soaping/scrubbing!

 

[homebrewer_99]

When I rinse them I put a bit of water in the bottle, cover the top and shake.

Pour and repeat the process several (3-4) times with hot water. This way all the sugar is gone also (it won't attack bugs like ants and such).

 

[rightwingnut]

This way all the sugar is gone also (it won't attack bugs like ants and such).

I keep sugar around TO attack bugs...nasty bugs...

 

[homebrewer_99]

I keep sugar around TO attack bugs...nasty bugs...

You would.......

Hey, I was on a business trip to and Dover and Parsipanny this past week.
My trip was cut short so I came back a day early.

I was planning on visiting with cousins in Cherry Hill this weekend, but because I left Jersey on Thurs that didn't happen.

 

[D-brewmeister]

I would assume that soaking in bleach solution, without a rinse step, would endanger the yeast you need for bottle conditioning. But what about Star San acid sanitizer. It is no-rinse for most aplications (fermenters, racking tubes etc), so would it work to just soak and drain bottles in a properly diluted solution of Star san, then bottle right into them (even if still wet)?

 

[homebrewer_99]

Oh, I agree with you on the bleach ruining the beer.

Don't get me wrong...I rinse the bleach off with very hot water and place them on the drying rack just prior to using.

This technique also allows me to look at all of my bottles/cases and determine which ones are already sanitized and which ones aren't. It takes the guess work out.

 

[smorris]

I'm not a fan of bleach for sanitizing, too many possible chemical reactions that can ruin a batch of beer.

I fill the bottling bucket with 3 gallons of iodophor and fill the bottles in there (after rinsing) and let them soak about 5 minutes, I can typically get 6 bottles in the bucket at a time. The pour them out down the inside wall of the bucket from the very top to wash the sides down. When done I dump the iodophor and mix up another gallon just for the bucket. There is nothing left alive.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I use several TBSs of bleach in the sink in my brewing kitchen in the basement. It is a 10 gal (plastic) sink that is deep and holds 2 cases of 16 oz bottles at a time (or one bucket).

If I am sanitizing for usage right away I will drain and rinse then set them on the drying tree.

I take pretty good notes of my brews and ALWAYS take extra care when sanitizing. I've never had any problems with any of my batches. I don't consider myself lucky here, I just do as is required and take no shortcuts.

I do use 1-Step every once in a while, but even a little bit of bleach diluted with water sanitizes on contact.

 

[bearcatalumni]

I would assume that soaking in bleach solution, without a rinse step, would endanger the yeast you need for bottle conditioning. But what about Star San acid sanitizer. It is no-rinse for most aplications (fermenters, racking tubes etc), so would it work to just soak and drain bottles in a properly diluted solution of Star san, then bottle right into them (even if still wet)?

Hey everyone. This is my first post and I'm a newbie myself (3 batches).

This seems like one area that everyone does something different. The guys at my HBS swear on Star San. So I fill a big plastic Rubbermaid tub with 5 gallons water and 1 oz. Star San. I put about 24 bottles in at a time to soak for 5 min right before I bottle. Then I just pull them out, line them up and fill. No rinsing and I was told not to even worry if the bottles still have some bubbles from the Star San.

Seems to work so far but I end up using alot of Star San after I use it for the fermenter, carboy, bottles, etc. And Star San is kinda expensive.

So is Star San overkill?

 

[Swervo Maneuver]

Here's another question:

My homebrew shop sells a sanitizer called Easy Clean (No-Rinse Cleaner)
The label sez it cleans with Oxygen, and contains: Percarbonates.

So's I look at the label of oxy-clean I just got to get labels off my bottles (works very very well) and see that it contains: sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate.

Same stuff? Seems so. Anybody use oxy clean as a sanitizer? Stuff is affordable.

 

[Kephren]

Here's another question:

My homebrew shop sells a sanitizer called Easy Clean (No-Rinse Cleaner)
The label sez it cleans with Oxygen, and contains: Percarbonates.

So's I look at the label of oxy-clean I just got to get labels off my bottles (works very very well) and see that it contains: sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate.

Same stuff? Seems so. Anybody use oxy clean as a sanitizer? Stuff is affordable.

According to http://www.greatcleaners.com/ogi_retail/images/products/M51515.pdf Oxiclean is a "White granular mixture; forms oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and soda ash when mixed with water."

So it sounds like it would disinfect. But I don't know what else is mixed in there (fabric softeners?). I would just stick with iodophor. 12 ounces will cost about $8 and last quite a while. You can mix up 5 gallons with 2 teaspoonfuls and sanitize everything you will use. There is no need to rinse since it's such a small concentration, and hospitals use it, so it must be good.