Question concerning bottle sanitation and sanitizing in general

[Ó Flannagáin]

After I finish pouring a homebrew in a glass, I rinse it out thoroughly with hot water from my sink (30 seconds at the most) then I put it in my brew room. Come bottling day, I fill the tub with water and a few capfuls of Iodophor. I dip all the bottles in my tub and let them sit for about 15 or 20 minutes while I get my bottling bucket ready for the process. Then, I sit next to the drain it and pull one bottle out at a time. I empty the iodophor solution, rinse real quick with clean tap water, shake vigorously upside down then fill with beer... then the next one, etc., etc. I haven't had a problem yet.. after 8 batches.

Most people say to dry first, but the 2 or 3 drops of water still in the bottle when I put the beer in hasn't hurt my beer 1 bit.

 

[loopmd]

The shortcomigns--- people have already largely hit on those (and the solution to most of the shortcomings--- don't use so much damn bleach)

I use StarSan these days. There were a variety of reasons for changing. It started out as an experiement. Then I found another use for it (I make up a bottle of it for the food service area of a convention I help run) and eventually fell in love with the bubbles, to be honest. I like being able to tell if I've sanitized something (and am certain it has STAYED sanitary) by looking over and seeing the layer of bubbles on top.

Someone here (Dude, maybe?) also said that StarSan breaks down into components that are relatively harmless, unlike chorine, and my experience in dumping sani water in the back yard proves this out--- I no longer get grass that doesn't grow properly.

It's a little thing but I also like the bottle it comes in with the integrated measure device. It makes it really easy to mix up a batch. That it is shelf stable when mixed is nice too-- I can keep some made up for sanitation in other projects as well.

I used to argue with the anti-bleach set but, frankly, it got to be a full time job and made it less fun to be here at HBT. So I stopped.

Boittom line for me is this: Homebrewers who are social enough to show up at a forum or a club meeting tend to, in my experience, get way too obsessive about sanitation. You can get reasonably consistent results without the obessssive sanitation most frequently called for in discussions about sanitation.

I come from a family of homebrewers that has been doing this a long time adn I have seen or personally been involved with a laundry list of unsanitary practices that didn't destroy the beer. I put my bath toy in the wort. I watched the dog drink right out of the bucket. I forgot to sanitize a carboy. Yet my beer didnt' go south. Beer is pretty hardy stuff during that initial roiling ferment. Yeasties don't much like the competition and infections don't much like alcohol.

I'd have to say that maybe we need to modify the age old saying:

Relax, even about sanitation, don't worry and have a home brew.

Korn....this gets my nomination for one of the best posts I've ever read. Great Job. :rockin:

loop

 

[Ryanh1801]

I am about a week out from bottling, i was under the imprecation that putting clean bottles in the dishwasher on the heat cycle was good enough, is this not true?

 

[loopmd]

I am about a week out from bottling, i was under the imprecation that putting clean bottles in the dishwasher on the heat cycle was good enough, is this not true?

only if the bottles are very, very clean on the inside to begin with. it is very difficult for a lot of water to get shot up inside each bottle when it is in the dishwasher.

I do it this way, I've never had a problem. There are many people here who would not do that. It is a matter of personal choice/preferance.


loop

 

[ecarpenter]

Do you have to dry the bottles after sanitizing?
How long can you wait in between sanitizing and bottling?

 

[Yooper]

For no rinse sanitizers, you don't have to let them dry. I sanitize them, put them on the counter and start filling when I'm ready.

 

[loopmd]

Do you have to dry the bottles after sanitizing?
How long can you wait in between sanitizing and bottling?

I put them in the dishwasher for the "final cleaning" the dishwasher has a drying feature and they come out very dry and very, very hot to the touch.
I use them as soon as I can, when they are cooled off. You don't want to wait too long after sanitizing to bottle. (note...the dishwasher is not for sanitizing...only for rinsing and drying)

loop

 

[Willsellout]

This is what I do:
For each batch of beer I make up 5 gal of star-san for the entire process. SO I use it to sanitize everything on brewday, then on racking, then on bottling day. So I use it sparingly which saves me money.
After drinking a bottle of my beer, I rinse with hot water and check the bottom to see I got everything. When it comes time to bottle, I put the bottles in my bucket of used Star-San for a couple minutes and then take them out, drain them and set them on the counter. I soak my bottling equipment and transfer to my bottling bucket. I also soak my caps in some star san. I fill about 10-12 bottles then throw caps on them, and repeat until it's done. No washing, no scrubbing, no worries. I haven't had an issue yet. I keep all my empties in my garage upside down in their respective cases until it's time to use them again. The only time I wash is when they are new, or I see something.


Dan

 

[Nexus555]

Well I sure did learn a lot from this post!! I personally feel this should be moved to sticky. I know if you use the search button you can find a lot of posts concerning cleaning and sanitizing bottles, but if this were sticky, it would help a lot of new people. There really isn't much more to search for concerning this subject, it's all in this thread. This is by far the longest post I've seen concerning cleaning and sanitizing bottles. There is such a variety of techniques listed in this thread!!


Thanks everyone!