Sanitizing bottles - most efficient way?

[bolepa]

After drinking bottles of beer I rinse them out, 2 rinses and a shake. Then let them drain upside down till the next day, when I put them away in a cardboard case box.

On bottling day I gather enough bottles for a batch, dunk them a few at a time in a bucket of Starsan, and set them all to drain in Fast Rack trays. Then bottle.

This is exactly what I do to sanitize bottles....

 

[Broken Crow]

Haha no. Filling and submerging. But it takes a long time for enough to get in there, plus it's messy.

For my next bottling session, I'm going to run all the bottles through the dishwasher, then through the oven at 200ºF or so for 30 minutes. I wonder if my dishwasher technically gets above 150ºF, because it does have a high heat option.

Umm... I do a case or 2 in less than 20 minutes and don't have hot bottles to deal with... I really don't see how you're saving any time. If you don't like getting your hands wet, just wear gloves. Did I fail to properly describe my simple process?:
-5G bucket containing 3G or so of Star San next to the dishwasher. -spray dishwasher and tray. -sink 6-8 bottles at a time - put bottles upside down in dishwaher rack to drip. - prepare bottling bucket and capping area. - carry tray of ready to go bottles to bottling area. By the time your bottles are finishing the dishwasher cycle, I'd have half or all of mine filled and capped!

 

[MaxStout]

Yeah, gloves are a must if you're dunking bottles into Starsan.

 

[bike2brew]

This little hook up helps with the post-pour bottle rinse.

 

[MaxStout]

This little hook up helps with the post-pour bottle rinse. View attachment 866695

I have one of those. Whatever you do, don't bump that lever when there's not a bottle over the nozzle.

 

[bike2brew]

No, that's never happened to me.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Maybe I'm just a rube, but last time I bottled (over a decade) I used my bathtub. Soaked them in there for a bit, dump and shake dry, put in box. Bottled shortly afterwards. I have a picture on my phone, but it's just a bunch of bottles in a tub, not real exciting!

To clean, I also used the bathtub. One time there was a bunch of mushy labels that came off (oxiclean), and the wife was not happy, but that only happened the first time with the bottles.

 

[Rish]

bathtub

My first homebrew was back in the late '90s and I did this. It was such a PITA on the floor beside the tub that I only did one batch then quit. When I started back 5+ years ago I learned that oven pasteurizing is much easier, IMHO.

 

[InspectorJon]

last time I bottled (over a decade) I used my bathtub

That was 40 years ago for me, along with a lot of other foolish things I did when I was young. OP doesn’t have one, but I now use the dishwasher sanitize cycle. I run it through a rinse cycle empty first. Then I load it up with bottles and do the whole sanitizing cycle with no soap. It’s been working fine for about 6 years now.

 

[BrewZer]

Haha no. Filling and submerging. But it takes a long time for enough to get in there, plus it's messy.

Pro tip -- when submerging bottles in sanitizer, hold a drinking straw about 1/4 inch into the bottle along the high point of the bottle rim. The outrushing air will channel through the straw and sanitizer will flood the bottle in about 2 - 3 seconds.

Point the high end of the straw away from your face -- you will get occasional burps of sanitizer during the process.

 

[Chorgey]

Pro tip -- when submerging bottles in sanitizer, hold a drinking straw about 1/4 inch into the bottle along the high point of the bottle rim.

Finding a quicker way to filling a bottle with sanitizer via submerging the bottle is very intriguing.
Do you have a visual of holding a drinking straw about 1/4 inch into the bottle along the high point of the bottle rim?
I cannot envision if the bottle is on it's side, straight up, and is the position of the straw on an angle?

 

[firerat]

Pro tip -- when submerging bottles in sanitizer, hold a drinking straw about 1/4 inch into the bottle along the high point of the bottle rim. The outrushing air will channel through the straw and sanitizer will flood the bottle in about 2 - 3 seconds.

Point the high end of the straw away from your face -- you will get occasional burps of sanitizer during the process.

When i read this i immediately thought of this thing I used to use back in my dumber days that I imagine uses the same mechanics to archive the opposite goal.

Sorry to thread jack.

To stay on topic, I used one of those bottle tree and i think it was called a vinator that had the bowl of starsan on top you'd squirt into it.

I have it in a box somewhere as I haven't bottled more than a6 pack from my keg in years.

 

[BrewZer]

I cannot envision if the bottle is on it's side, straight up, and is the position of the straw on an angle?

Fill the holding basin with your sanitizer mixture to a level above the height of the bottle.
With one hand holding the bottle and one holding the straw*, insert the bottle into the sanitizer almost vertically with the straw held against the highest edge of the bottle rim as you submerge the bottle. Then stand the bottle upright or lay it sideways on the floor of the basin when it's full.

* Bendy straw optional

 

[Chorgey]

Fill the holding basin with your sanitizer mixture to a level above the height of the bottle.
With one hand holding the bottle and one holding the straw*, insert the bottle into the sanitizer almost vertically with the straw held against the highest edge of the bottle rim as you submerge the bottle. Then stand the bottle upright or lay it sideways on the floor of the basin when it's full.
View attachment 871071
* Bendy straw optional

Perfect! Thank you for the visualization and the detailed instructions. I will certainly try this.
I keg but during Christmas, I bottle and hand out as gifts.

Cheers!

 

[bike2brew]

Just bottled 5-gallon batch yesterday. Not a big deal w/ plunge sanitizing and priming the bottles prior to filling. Dumped and cleaned bottles from a previous batch that soured on me, likely infection prior to bottling. That took a bit of time w/ pbw & bottle brush, rinse, and dishwasher cycle. But it's done and ready for next batch. Having suffered through a couple of recent infections in my finished product, I have accepted the epiphany there are no short cuts to sanitization, so my post-bottling protocol has become as rigorous as my brew day protocol. As they say, anything worth doing is worth doing right.

 

[MaxStout]

I gave up on those Vinators after breaking two of them. The plastic is cheap and brittle. Now I just keep a 5 gallon bucket of mixed Starsan. It's a lot to keep around, but a batch lasts a long time and I use it for sanitizing anything that fits inside. Just before bottling, I grab 2 bottles in each hand, dunk in the bucket until filled, pour it back and set on FastRacks. Only takes a few minutes to sanitize 50 or so bottles.

 

[the user]

I have a bottle tree with one of the injector pumps that sit on top. Even though it's one bottle at a time you don't need to fill them. You just give them 2-3 sprays (which takes less than 1 second per spray) then place the bottle on the tree to drain. While I'm pumping with one hand I'm grabbing the next bottle with the other. I can do 100 bottles in about 2 minutes this way.

This is the type I have:

 

[bearpaw8491]

I'm a wine maker and when my old, old pump washer gives up the ghost, I'm going with one of these:
https://allinonewinepump.com/product/pressurized-bottle-washer-sanitizer-transfer-pump/
Works great for wine bottles and assume it would be fine for beer bottles. A big + is that you'll be hard pressed to find a nicer, more customer orientated businessman than Steve. I have a lot of his equipment and have never been disappointed.

 

[Broken Crow]

I suppose if you wanted to blast a cleaner through it rather than just tap-water and a regular bottle blaster...why not just get these:
https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Shop...ix=brass+bottle+blaster+washer,aps,77&sr=8-10
https://www.amazon.com/IEIK-Pressur...=diaphram+pump+garden+hose,aps,93&sr=8-8&th=1
and do it yourself? The pump can serve more than one purpose: I use a diphram pump for horizontal kegging-on-scale in an O2-free closed loop tranfer.
Just a thought,

 

[BRbarfanTimmy]

I use 22oz and 1L bottles and also bottle wine. After emptying them I try and rinse really well so that have a "clean" start for bottling the next time around. I do run them through the dishwasher on sanitize (no soap). Not sure if that makes a difference but it keeps my wife happy. Downside is I can only fit 14 at a time so it needs to be done the day before. On bottling day I use a vinator with star san and then put them in a fast rack prior to bottling. In the few cases where we've had bottles with sediment or dried material in them I soak in pbw and rinse vs the dishwasher.