Sanitizing Bottles

[msppilot]

I am almost ready to bottle my first batch of home-brew. The questions I have is should I sanitize my bottles? I washed the bottles and then put them through the heat cycle in my dishwasher on Sunday. I plan on bottling this Saturday. Should I have waited to run the bottles through the heat cycle or will they be okay? After I ran them through the heat cycle the first time I put them back in the box. Now they are sitting on the dining room table. Thanks in advance.

 

[JBrady]

I always sanitize mine as do most people I think. I'm not quite as anal about it though at bottling time since the beer is fermented out and less likely to get any infections. I would go ahead and sanitize if I were you even if you feel the bottles are bacteria free.

 

[agodfrey11]

I always run them through the dishwasher without any other dishes in it. Then I sanitize each one by dunking it in iodine solution or Starsan, then place them back on the dishwasher racks to drip dry as I fill them.

So I would say YES. Do sanitize them. They dont have to soak in sanitizer, just a good dunk and rinse.

 

[K5MOW]

I this can not hurt to sanitize the bottles. Would not be that much extra work.

Roger

 

[jaythebassist]

To be sure, I would run them through the dishwasher again an hour or so before you actually bottle.

I'm always paranoid that dust and bacteria may have fallen into the bottles if they're stored upright.

My rule of thumb is: clean the bottles little by little (as I drink them), and then sanitize all at once just before bottling.

Also, make sure you're not puting any detergent in the dishwasher, and also let the high heat cycle work to completion. Good luck!

 

[devilishprune]

If you're going to bottle Saturday, definitely re-sanitize. If you want, you can just run them through the dishwasher on "sanitize" on Friday night (just the bottles) and leave them until you want to bottle them on Saturday. I've done this in the past to no ill effect.

Or, you can dunk them in a no-rinse sanitizer like star-san right before you fill them up. Either way, sanitize them again. Leaving them open on the table isn't a good way to keep them sterilized.

 

[SKMO]

If they are visually clean and have already been through the dishwasher, just give them a shot or two of StarSan inside (like with a windex type spray bottle) just prior to bottling.

Briefly dump out the couple drops inside, fill and cap. It is not that difficult and there is no reason to think you are doing brain surgery here. It's beer. It will work. You ain't going to get no infection.

 

[msppilot]

Thanks everybody for the quick responses. Now all I have to do is wait for Saturday. Too bad work get in the way of beer.

 

[iamatuna]

It might be a bit more work but i bake mine at 450 for 1 hour to sanatize them all a day before i brew.

havnt had any problems with it yet and your not messing with chemicals which is what i like.

Cheers