noob how to clean bottles

[woody34]

What's the most effective way to clean used beer bottles before sanitizing? A buddy gave 2 cases of 16 ounce returnables. Do I need a brush or is there a special soaking recipe? Dishwasher? Help.

 

[neosapien]

I just load up a cooler full of warm water and dish soap, leave for a day, scrub the outside with a wire brush to remove labels, then run them through the sanitizing button on the dishwasher.

 

[BPal75]

Throw them in a mixture of warm water and oxyclean free and leave over night. The oxyclean helps dissolve the glues on the label and they slide right off. Then just rinse the bottles really well with tap water and sanitize.

 

[bds3]

I guarantee I'm not as OCD as some of the folks on here, but I basically rinse them out until they look clean (no obvious chunks, stains, etc).

For example, with freshly emptied bottles it takes 10 sec: 2 second shot of tap water, swirl and dump, repeat 2 more times. With bottles that have been sitting for a week with no rinsing it may take twice as long.

I then let them sit until bottling day and put them in the dishwasher (with no detergent).

Pretty simple, but my reasoning I this: if I can easily rinse out all the chunks of organic material, I don't really care about the microscopic crap in there since they're gonna be cleaned with basically steam for 90 minutes before I bottle. It's worked so far with no issues.

 

[kapbrew13]

Throw them in a mixture of warm water and oxyclean free and leave over night. The oxyclean helps dissolve the glues on the label and they slide right off. Then just rinse the bottles really well with tap water and sanitize.

And if you have hard water, soak in starsan after the rinse.

 

[SamHain]

A bucket or a a cooler with Oxyclean works well. So does StarSan. For the inside of the bottle I use a Bottle Jet Washer. Also Oxyclean may leave a residue behind that's easily cleaned with StarSan.

 

[enkamania]

Dishwasher, no soap worked for me.

 

[BryceL]

Throw them in a mixture of warm water and oxyclean free and leave over night. The oxyclean helps dissolve the glues on the label and they slide right off. Then just rinse the bottles really well with tap water and sanitize.

+1 on this. Oxyclean works really well, I've found that even within 30 minutes the labels start to come off pretty easy. When I started out I would always use PBW, but oxyclean is just as good, if not better and cheaper than PBW. I use it on all my brew equipment. Just rinse well with hot water and then sanitize after.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Find a bottle that doesn't suck to get off. Sam Adams works the best I find.

 

[Bamsdealer]

+1 on this. Oxyclean works really well, I've found that even within 30 minutes the labels start to come off pretty easy. When I started out I would always use PBW, but oxyclean is just as good, if not better and cheaper than PBW. I use it on all my brew equipment. Just rinse well with hot water and then sanitize after.

This. Check your local dollar store for the generic oxy clean. I scored a nice sized container for a buck recently.

 

[fluidmechanics]

I do this 2 scoops of oxyclean in a sink full of tap water as hot as it will go. This works best on paper backed labels, they just fall off in an overnight soak. The plastic based labels might take some scrubbing with a green pad. Then right before bottling I run them in the dishwasher on the high temp setting. This is hot enough to sanitize them, and is far less work then any other method.

 

[bds3]

I initially thought you were talking about cleaning the inside of the bottles. As far as removing labels, a good hot water soak and elbow grease works well for me.

 

[kapbrew13]

I initially thought you were talking about cleaning the inside of the bottles. As far as removing labels, a good hot water soak and elbow grease works well for me.

same here.
Soak in very hot oxyclean. Use dish scrubby to remove glue residue. And then sanitize before drying.

 

[neosapien]

I enjoy sitting out back and scrubbing the labels off personally. It's a zen sort of moment. Don't have to think, I get to sit in my back yard by my jasmine and enjoy the flowers and listen to records. Ain't a bad way to spend a day, and every moment I spend doing something involving my beer just makes me enjoy the end result that much more.

 

[Qhrumphf]

+1 on the oxyclean or PBW soak. I usually soak overnight, and I generally don't have to scrub the glue at all, it just wipes off while rinsing. Make sure that while soaking, the bottles stay under the surface the whole time. Once it gets that mineral ring it can be really hard to get off. Then just sanitize on brewday. Dishwasher (with NO SOAP) will work, I just use Star-San and a vinator.

 

[iceemone]

http://www.store.homebrew4less.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB6794&variation=

One of these is priceless for sanitizing. Put a little star san in there and BOOM. Donezoe.

 

[bleme]

All good advice but don't use your dishwasher if you have jet dry (unless head doesn't matter to you at all).

 

[neosapien]

All good advice but don't use your dishwasher if you have jet dry (unless head doesn't matter to you at all).

elucidate please? I don't use any detergents or anything. I just put it on hot rinse cycle, run once, load it up with bottles, hot rinse, hot dry, and sanitize buttons.