Sanitizing your bottle drier... an other questions???

[hydrasports]

This may sound crazy but do you sanitize your bottle dryers? I have the bottle tree (plastic store bought kind) and after I sanitze my bottles I put them on my tree to dry... Do I ever need to dip the tree or don't have to worry about sanitizing the bottle dryer tree. What aobut the bottle capper? I have been dipping the capper in my star san to sanitize that as well but not really sure if it is needed. i do it mostly just for the in case sinarios.

Also do you like to just let the wort mix in with the sugar water or dip a spoon in star san mix after the wort is filled? How long do you boil the water prior to adding the priming sugar?

 

[SD-SLIM]

Most people keep a sprayer bottle of star-san, in which they spray stuff like this prior to use...of course you should always clean it first, but spraying it after to sanitize works great.
As for priming sugar....Boil 3/4 cup of corn sugar (4 oz by weight), or 2/3 cup of white sugar, or 1 and 1/4 cup dry malt extract in 2 cups of water and let it cool. If you have a bottling bucket gently pour the priming solution into it. Using a sanitized siphon, transfer the beer into the sanitized bottling bucket. Place the outlet beneath the surface of the priming solution. Do not allow the beer to splash because you don't want to add oxygen to your beer at this point. Keep the intake end of the racking tube an inch off the bottom of the fermenter to leave the yeast and sediment behind.

Hope that helps!

 

[Joemama474]

I would clean my bottles and let them dry wherever, then sanitize with a no-rinse sanitizer. I'd bottle in six-packs, dumping the sanitizer immediately before filling the bottles. Revvy has a great thread on bottling in the bottling area. But no, I wouldn't be too concerned about the tree. I never sanitized my capper.

When I was bottle conditioning, I would mix the priming sugar with the water and boil it briefly together, allow it to cool and pour it into my bottling bucket. Then I'd siphon the beer into the bottling bucket and then siphon again to the bottles. I didn't do any more mixing, lest I add O2 to the beer.

 

[secinarot]

I use my dishwasher rack to dry my bottles. I run the dishwasher and then spray the rack with StarSan before using it. I would spray your bottle tree before using it. I also dip the bottle capper in StarSan like you.

For bottle priming I will boil the water for about 5-10 minutes, then add it to the priming sugar. I also sanitize the mixing spoon. Once the sugar water is cool I add it to the empty bottle bucket then siphon the wort in. I gently move the siphon hose around to mix up the sugar - I don't use a spoon for that.