Came home with a few cases of bottles last night collected by my friend Patrick at the Globe Pub here in Chicago http://www.theglobepub.com/ Just wanted to give them a public word of thanks - the Globe has great beers, run by two ex-pats from the UK, and has been voted the country's best soccer bar a number of years running. Collecting bottles for me gives the bar back and the wait staff one more thing to do, but whenever they see me, they start collecting, its really great of them. They all have a great 'green' sensibility and also seem to like the idea that I'm handmaking beer and cider.
I've got our bottle preparation process locked down. In the basement (Singing Boys Brewing and Cidery's world headquarters), there's a double utility sink. On the floor next to the sink is a large rectangular cooler. I fill the cooler with water and a scoop of Oxiclean and then fill it full of bottles, either the ones I recycle from my previous homebrews or new bottles from the pub. Put the lid on and walk away. Whenever I have a few moments, could be days or a week later, I take the bottles out in pairs , empty and rinse them in the utility sink, and put on the bottle tree to dry.
Empty the water out of the cooler, refill it with clean water and oxiclean, add more bottles, put on the lid and walk away.
I visually inspect the bottles when i rinse them to make sure they are clean. If not, i put them aside for a quick scrub with a brush. I've never had more than 2 bottles out of a case that needed a scrub.
I've got our bottle preparation process locked down. In the basement (Singing Boys Brewing and Cidery's world headquarters), there's a double utility sink. On the floor next to the sink is a large rectangular cooler. I fill the cooler with water and a scoop of Oxiclean and then fill it full of bottles, either the ones I recycle from my previous homebrews or new bottles from the pub. Put the lid on and walk away. Whenever I have a few moments, could be days or a week later, I take the bottles out in pairs , empty and rinse them in the utility sink, and put on the bottle tree to dry.
Empty the water out of the cooler, refill it with clean water and oxiclean, add more bottles, put on the lid and walk away.
I visually inspect the bottles when i rinse them to make sure they are clean. If not, i put them aside for a quick scrub with a brush. I've never had more than 2 bottles out of a case that needed a scrub.
