oxyclean but no vinegar

[dataz722]

I was going to bottle today but they realized that I didn't have enough delabeled bottles. So currently I have over 3 cases soaking in oxyclean but I dont have any vinegar to rinse them with after. Would just running them through the rinse cycle in the dishwater work to take of the residue? How many cycles do you think it will take? Thanks.

 

[Laurel]

I just rinse all of my bottles with water thoroughly, but I don't usually do them in batches either.

 

[Chris_Dog]

A green scrubbie (Scotchbrite) works too.

 

[Beerrific]

You could also fill them without removing the labels. I think this is the last step before you really get sick of bottling and buy kegs. (It was for me.)

 

[dataz722]

I just rinse all of my bottles with water thoroughly, but I don't usually do them in batches either.

Are you talking about just bottling in general or to get off the oxyclean residue?

 

[Bokonon]

I've never used vinegar to rinse off oxyclean residue. Just plain water works fine. Of course rinse them all a few times to make sure its clean. If your not sure if you've gotten it all, taste the rinse water to see if it tastes like your tap water.

 

[dataz722]

Well rinsing by hand will be a major PIMA so I have 42 bottles in the dishwasher right now. Hopefully one cycle will be enough because I have atleast 30 more waiting when this load is done.

 

[fratermus]

I've never used vinegar to rinse off oxyclean residue. Just plain water works fine.

For some of us, oxy + tapwater = white gritfilm. So folks like me use a vinegar rinse to strip off the oxy.

Because of this, I use a bleach-based soak. In fact I'm soaking right now after my Sunday morning dive.

 

[Revvy]

Well rinsing by hand will be a major PIMA so I have 42 bottles in the dishwasher right now. Hopefully one cycle will be enough because I have atleast 30 more waiting when this load is done.

This is probably why people end up getting scale, they think it's a pita so they don't rinse thoroughly enough, they just do a quick, cursory rinse, then they end up need to use vinegar.

I alway rinse heavily and have never had oxyclean residue or scale, so I have never needed to use vinegar...you just need to use a lot of water.

When rinsing off oxyclean I use 3 water changes...for example, fill bottle, drain, fill, drain, fill drain...that usually seems enough to get rid of any oxyclean remnants.

I've rinsed a couple hundred bottles in one sitting before...it's one of the things that has to be done, so we do it...I just keep repeating over and over, "I'm going to have beer, I'm going to have beer." It takes the sting out of it...so does drinking beer while doing it.

One thing that I have now, that I didn't used to, that makes rinsing a lot less of a "pita" is
a jet bottle washer.

It cuts down on the water usage and make it go by faaster, BUT I rinsed bottles for months by hand before I got it...

 

[ajf]

+1 to the Jet bottle washer.
Rinsing in the dishwasher is a waste of time. With the small necks of the bottles, you won't get enough water in them to rinse the insides.

-a.

 

[Nurmey]

+ 2 on the jet washer. It should be standard equipment to every home brewer.

 

[Revvy]

+ 2 on the jet washer. It should be standard equipment to every home brewer.

Yep...speaking of, I've got about 80 bottles to do right now!!!

 

[wildwest450]

I've rinsed a couple hundred bottles in one sitting before...it's one of the things that has to be done, so we do it...I just keep repeating over and over, "I'm going to have beer, I'm going to have beer." It takes the sting out of it...so does drinking beer while doing it.

One word - cornies.

 

[Revvy]

One word - cornies.

Buy me some, send them to me, send me a kegorator and build me another room in my loft in which to place said kegorator, and we'll talk. Otherwise I'll stick to the topic at hand, helping the OP with his bottle washing question....



(I'll be waiting for my cornie prezzy now, thanks!)

I still can't figure out why it is inevitable that whenever someone has a bottling question, someone thinks it's amusing to suggest kegging???? People who bottle don't horn in on kegging threads and do it???? Maybe they just figure, WE haven't heard of them or something???

 

[malkore]

Well rinsing by hand will be a major PIMA so I have 42 bottles in the dishwasher right now. Hopefully one cycle will be enough because I have atleast 30 more waiting when this load is done.

Dishwashers suck for CLEANING bottles. they are not designed to clean up inside a narrow mouth bottle.

High heat sanitizing mode on a dishwasher is a good way to sanitize...but you've gotta remove any Jet Dry from the dishwasher, or your bottles will ruin head retention no matter how you clean your glassware.

 

[nickhead]

oh boy - i just bottled yesterday. We have to use 'jet dry' due to the absurdly hard water in the mountains where we live. Of course, I didn't use jet dry when I ran the bottles through the dishwasher... but I'm afraid of residue from previous normal dish washing cycles. Crap maybe? Ehhh I guess if this batch ends up w/ weak head retention then I'll at least know the culprit.

 

[jfrizzell]

How does one go about not using Jet Dry - i.e. how do you "remove" it from the dishwasher? Mind holds a whole bottle at a time so I can't imaging how you would go about getting that out.

 

[deadsound]

I used a Turkey baster to suck it out of the jet dry hole. After that I just ran it as normal, every beer had great head.

 

[nickhead]

hmm... i just put it in the pre wash thing... I'll let you know if it seems to have any adverse effects - but I'm not too worried about it.

 

[njnear76]

I still can't figure out why it is inevitable that whenever someone has a bottling question, someone thinks it's amusing to suggest kegging???? People who bottle don't horn in on kegging threads and do it???? Maybe they just figure, WE haven't heard of them or something???

Yeah I find that a bit annoying too. Making beer is cool and all, but I have a hard time convincing my wife or even myself that it is a household priority.

Bottling beer is cheap and it works.

Yes, it is time consuming, but I actually take a lot of pride in doing it. I also like being able to take my beers on the go and I do enjoy having a beer that is 6-8 months old.

I hope some day that I can get a kegging setup, but it is not in the cards right now.

Mike

 

[fratermus]

I still can't figure out why it is inevitable that whenever someone has a bottling question, someone thinks it's amusing to suggest kegging???? People who bottle don't horn in on kegging threads and do it???? Maybe they just figure, WE haven't heard of them or something???

I don't mind the feedback like "one way around that particular downside of bottling is kegging. Here are the benefits for a person in your situation. " That kind of feedback is useful, IMO.

The ones that chafe me resonate like this:
"You, a lowly noob, are still in the larval bottling phase. Someday you will attain enlightenment, begin to keg, and achieve Beervana like me. You will store all household liquids in cornies you find on Craigslist. You will force-carb the milk for your morning cereal. You will learn the inner workings of the pressure regulator and the pick-up tube. You will then look back and find it hard to believe that you, even you, labored over a wing capper and cursed the cap that falls off the bottle RIGHT BEFORE you crimp it down. Ommmmmmmmm...... Ommmmmmmm......."

<shrug>

I rather like bottles: the capping, the neat little packages of beer. Popping a cap, with the gentle carb *shush* sound, feels like opening a christmas present.

 

[bull8042]

I don't mind the feedback like "one way around that particular downside of bottling is kegging. Here are the benefits for a person in your situation. " That kind of feedback is useful, IMO.

The ones that chafe me resonate like this:
"You, a lowly noob, are still in the larval bottling phase. Someday you will attain enlightenment, begin to keg, and achieve Beervana like me. You will store all household liquids in cornies you find on Craigslist. You will force-carb the milk for your morning cereal. You will learn the inner workings of the pressure regulator and the pick-up tube. You will then look back and find it hard to believe that you, even you, labored over a wing capper and cursed the cap that falls off the bottle RIGHT BEFORE you crimp it down. Ommmmmmmmm...... Ommmmmmmm......."

<shrug>

I rather like bottles: the capping, the neat little packages of beer. Popping a cap, with the gentle carb *shush* sound, feels like opening a christmas present.

AMEN! Preach it bro! :rockin:

 

[zachatola]

LOL, awesome

On the subject of oxyclean, i use the jet washer (worth its weight in gold IMO), cleans out the insides so good, i did do it with just the sink before but it takes a long time. I did and do about 3 blasts/cycles through the bottles and I've had no ill effects. as far as the outsides, i just rise them off real well, and try to rub them down real good with my hands while rinsing and it seems to work well for me. But the jet washer is way nice when cleaning bottles and makes the task go much quicker, if you have the option to pick one up.

 

[nickhead]

fratermus - hilarious

 

[Ecnerwal]

Bottling works fine for my purposes, and the rate I drink beer at, and the amount of household space and equipment I can dedicate to the pursuit of beer. It also does mean that I can open up a mead that has been in the bottle for 12 years, or a beer that's been there for 4-5 years and see what's going on with that, if I can leave it that long - and I usually do manage to leave some for a long time.

Jet carboy and bottlewasher - if you own a carboy, you need one. If you use bottles, you need one. They don't cost much, and they last a long time.

Bottling day headaches. I hate bottling day headaches. One technique I use to spare some of them is a different bottle sanitizing (actually sterilizing) approach - I bake them. Get them good and clean, don't drain too perfectly, but no large amount of water, cap with aluminum foil. Put in oven, turn to 150 or low or whatever. Wait a while and turn up. One of the old (probably still out there?) internet brewing guides explaining sanitising .vs. sterilizing had a schedule - basically turn up slow enough that you don't crack bottles, leave at 250F for 12 hours or 305F for 3 hours, turn back down slowly so they don't crack, put them away. Anywhere from the next day to 5 years or more on, if the aluminum foil is in place, you have a clean bottle - rip the foil off, fill it and cap it. I reuse the foil squares, even - they get sterilized along with the bottles each time.

 

[budbo]

I've never used vinegar to rinse off oxyclean residue. Just plain water works fine.

That's how I do it, just rinse well.

I bake them. Get them good and clean, don't drain too perfectly, but no large amount of water, cap with aluminum foil. Put in oven, turn to 150 or low or whatever. Wait a while and turn up. One of the old (probably still out there?) internet brewing guides explaining sanitising .vs. sterilizing had a schedule - basically turn up slow enough that you don't crack bottles, leave at 250F for 12 hours or 305F for 3 hours, turn back down slowly so they don't crack, put them away. Anywhere from the next day to 5 years or more on, if the aluminum foil is in place, you have a clean bottle - rip the foil off, fill it and cap it. I reuse the foil squares, even - they get sterilized along with the bottles each time.

Damn, I use a bottle tree and sanitizer sprayer on top. I'm too lazy to go to all that trouble.

 

[Csuho]

i have been just soaking my bottles in oxy clean for 1hr-24hrs then a quick wash in soapy water then a quick rinse and bam no oxy residue and a nice clean very easy to do process. it has to be as i have 10 cases to clean.