Cleaning bottles!

Northern Brewer General
1

Ok, been brewing since the early 90’s, took a break but now I am back. I have brewed about 10 batches in the last few months and have been cleaning my bottles in the dishwasher. I wash them out very well, store them, then run through a hot water/rinse/dry cycle then bottle.

I’m kind of thinking the water in the dishwasher isn’t getting all the way to the top of my bomber bottles and my last batch was a little off.

What do the rest of you do? Should I be hitting them with Star San and letting them drip on a bottle tree?

Looking for any advice and very appreciative of taking the time to comment.

I’m not in position to keg at this time so that idea won’t happen yet, so I will take advice from you all to see what you do.

Thanks,

buddha :cheers:

2

I usually triple rinse after use (aggressively, thumb the opening and shake a lot), store, then soak in oxyclean then rinse or blast with the device below (sometimes I honestly skip the cleaning step if they are already clean), sanitize, and fill.

These are absolutely great, and for $14.99, totally worth it. Good for carboys and misbehaving wives too.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/jet- ... asher.html

Bottle brush if it is a really stubborn yeast cake/gunk, but I will usually just recycle/return those.

I have never done the dishwasher thing, I don’t think it does much more than wash the outside of your bottles. I used to set them in there to let the bottles dry, but then I stopped caring about bottles drying.

3

I rinse them with a faucet mount bottle washer then soak them in PBW and hot water. A rinse with the bottle washer and check to see if it is clean, dirty ones go back to soak for more time. I use starsan to sanitize.

4

I keg most everything now but I did use a dishwasher before without any issues. Mine has a “sanitize” feature which produces super hot water/steam.

Now I do bottle usually a couple 6 packs while I’m filling the keg for more aged samples. For those, I just fill them with star san, empty then fill with beer.

5

I do as a few others state just rinse/shake them out real good after you are done with them. I used to also soak them in PBW overnight before bottling but I dont even do that anymore. I just sanitize them with star san before bottling and im good to go.

I do however visually inspect the inside bottom of every bottle with a flashlight to make sure there is no yeast or other residue caked on before I sanitize. If there is something caked on, I’ll give it a quick scrub with a bottle brush and another rinse. If that doesn’t work i just recycle it.

6

I triple rise my bottles when I empty them and store them upside-down so dust and critters don’t get in them. I give them another quick rinse and an inspection before I throw them in the dishwasher for a wash and heated dry. Never had a problem.

7

Clean them after you drink them, store them in a box with a cover,then all you need to do is rinse in sanitizer before filling.

8

Thanks for the help. I think a Star San bath is in order for the next batch. Everything else I am good but I might be setting myself up for some problems if I don’t sanitize. Prosit!

9

I have not had any issues yet and I rinse well after emptying the bottle, then store away. On bottling day I run them through the dishwasher on the sterilize cycle with no soap, then I take them out and they go directly into a starsan bath. I take them out one by one and fill. I always inspect as well to make sure there’s nothing in the bottle. You are correct that perhaps the water does not get all the way in the bottle but typically there is not a lot of residue in the bottle to clean out of it. So the sterilize cycle likely does enough.

10

This is basically what I do. Triple rinse, inspect, store upside down in the six pack holders. I inspect them before use as well. If they don’t look clean, they either get soaked again or recycled. Bottles are free if you buy beer, so it’s not like if you lose one or two here and there, that it’s a big loss…

11

Exactly my process! No infections…no worries.

12

This is basically what I do. Triple rinse, inspect, store upside down in the six pack holders. I inspect them before use as well. If they don’t look clean, they either get soaked again or recycled. Bottles are free if you buy beer, so it’s not like if you lose one or two here and there, that it’s a big loss…[/quote]

They’re a nickel here, still not worth wasting 12-22oz of beer. I pretty much use the same process as the rest. The sooner you rinse emptys, the better.

The Jet works great for knocking off stubborn crap.