Bottling

How do you guys clean your used bottles? I just bottled my first batch and rinsed the hell out of them with hot water and soaked them in a bucket of IOstar for ten min. or so. Really wanted to avoid soap and detergents. That should be ok right?

I'd recommend that after drinking a bottle, rinse heavily. Wash with a bottle brush as soon as you can with soap, PBW, etc. Then store in a dry location. Sanitize before filling.
cheers,

ryno1981 said:

How do you guys clean your used bottles? I just bottled my first batch and rinsed the hell out of them with hot water and soaked them in a bucket of IOstar for ten min. or so. Really wanted to avoid soap and detergents. That should be ok right?

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If they are bottles you just obtained then a good PBW or OXY soak to clean with a bottle brush and then rinse well and drip dry.

On bottling day use Star San to sanitize and bottle.

When you drink them, simply pour, rinse well with hot water and drip dry and store until the next bottling day

A bottle tree and vinater will be great investments

I clean with hot water immediately after drinking and I store them in a clean area. If they get real dirty I clean with a bottle brush and oxy. Of course I use StarSan on bottling day.

My method is probably overkill but I rinse the bottle as soon as I pour it, then stick it in a bucket.
When the bucket is full, I fill with hot water and a half scoop of OxyClean.
Soak for 24 hours and rinse with a jet bottle washer.
Load in the dishwasher with no detergent and especially no Jet Dry.
Rinse with Star San on bottling day.

If they are bottles I've used before, I simply put them in the dishwasher and let the heated dry portion of the cycle sanitize the bottles. If I emptied the brewery's bottle, I soak it in water overnight to remove the label, and then I make sure the inside of the bottle is clean. If the bottles are given to me, I soak them in hot water and some oxyclean, take the labels off and use a bottle brush, if necessary. And if I can't get the inside bottom of the bottle clean, it goes into our recycling bin!

glenn514

I clean them as I drink them and store dry. On bottling day I sanitize with some star san and start filling. Never had an issue.

I recently got a set of Fastracks to replace my bottle tree, wonder why someone didn't think of this years ago....

I soak newly aquired bottles in a 5G home depot bucket with just enough PBW to fill & cover them by 2" or so. Soak them overnight & the labels have floated off & the glue is dissolved or mushy. I use a dobie & bottle brush to scrub them quickly inside & out. Rinse & onto bottle tree to dry. I dtore them in craft 12 pack boxes & cases. A have a vinator on top of the bottle tree half full of starsan to quickly sanitize on bottling day.

I have a couple of 20 gallon meat lugs that I keep a solution of Duo Pfan. Any given bottle is rinsed with clean water and then sunk in the solution and remains there until I get around to needing bottles, days to weeks. When needed, bottles are rinsed clean on the outside, blasted on the inside, placed in a plastic soda carrier with another placed on top and then inverted to drain. It takes about 5-10 minutes for 34 bottles. Extra bottles are stored away dry and touched up with iodine when needed.

Someone mentioned the Jet Carboy and bottle rinser...this lil thing saved me a ton of time..and well worth the 13 bucks...also those fastracks look like a pretty good thing...I just cant pull that 50 buck trigger....Tom

Thank you all for your feedback. I'm new to brewing, only done three batches so far. Really glad I found this forum! No better way to get advice but from people with experience.