PBW Questions

How long is a PBW solution good for and is it as effective at room temperature vs. warm water?

Here is what I am thinking…
Yesterday I bottled a batch. I then filled my fermentor up with PBW solution and let it soak over night.
I was thinking I would move the PBW solution into a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.
After drink a bottle (earlier batch) I would rinse out the bottle like I always do after poring it in a glass and then put the bottle in the PBW solution to soak over night. The next day or so I would rinse the bottle and put in a Fast Rack.
The the bottles would then be ready to be sanitized and refilled on the next bottling day.
Every bottling day I would replace the PBW solution and start the process over.

I don’t think it would last too long, but I also don’t think PBW is necessary for freshly opened bottles. After you pour from a bottle, a quick double rinse full blast from the sink usually cleans the bottles pretty well for me. I think just rinsing, then storing, you could get away with a Starsan soak on the next bottling day.

I’m happy to be proven wrong on the lifespan of PBW, by the way… in my experience, after an overnight soak, it doesn’t seem to do much else.

PBW will lose quick cleaning effectiveness but will still be effective for removing bottle labels weeks after the initial mix. I keep a bucket of PBW solution just for label removal. Change the solution when it becomes cloudy and slippery with old glue. Haven’t had a bad bottle for a long time to test the effectiveness of old solution for removal of dried gunk.

I jet rinse with hot water after pouring. Dry the bottle in the FastRack then store upside down in a case. Sanitize all the bottles with Star San solution before filling. Have the bottles in the FastRack to drip out the excess before filling.

Ditto what Flars says. PBW works great for label removal. I rinse the bottles after drinking and dry on the fast rack. Before bottling I do use the sanitizer setting on my dishwasher and then starsan. Two fast racks will fit in my dishwasher nicely which makes it easy.

I don’t think I would want to reuse PBW that has gunk from the trub and krausen.

You know, you can sanitize those bottles right after rinsing and store them upside down. Then they are ready for bottling the next tine you need them. No need to duplicate your work.

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That’s what I do. Rinse hot water, sanitize and store for next use.

Thanks for all the feedback. So I guess I don’t need PBW to clean the bottles unless to remove labels.
I have been using the plastic 16 oz bottles so after I empty one, I fill it half full of water, put the cap back on and shake very hard. I then rinse them at least twice and store upside down. They look very clean but every now and then I notice a bottle has a very bad smell coming from it. I was thinking my method was not working and that is why I went to PBW soaks.
Maybe it is something else I am doing wrong. Thanks.

I just did a batch of bottles tonight, I PBW all the bottles( when in doubt!) scrub, rinse, StarSan and the final touch… Wrap top of bottle w/ sanitized aluminum foil. Sit for weeks!

FWIW, I find Craftmeister cleaners to be much better than PBW. They have an oxygen cleaner that’s like PBW only dissolves and rinses more easily. Their alkaline cleaner works better in cold water than PBW works in hot water. Using the alkaline i hot water will take off about anything! Here’s a comparison we did…Craftmeister Cleaners - The Picturing - Carboy Test | Experimental Homebrewing

For some reason @denny that link didn’t work. Here it is:
https://www.experimentalbrew.com/blogs/drew/craftmeister-cleaners-picturing-carboy-test

Thanks!