I just opened my 3rd gusher bottle last night, which came from batch #5. So that's 2 batches with gusher problems now. I figure the issues are limited to specific bottle sanitation rather than the whole batch since the rest of these batches were fine.
I'm now up to batch #16 and have revised processes a lot since this was bottled, but I really want to make sure my revised process is good and there are no more surprises. I was wondering is someone could sanity check my process please?
So here's how I do it now.
** Incoming bottles start here **
- I have been getting my bottles from the recycling center - some are pretty clean, some are terrible. Going forward I won't need to do this anymore.
- I fill a bin with water and leave them to soak outside until I'm ready to process them. This loosens the crud and the label.
- Bring bottle inside to the sink, empty out the water and crud, fill with hot water and shake, empty again.
- Scrape the label off with a knife, which gets some or all of it off.
** Bottles I have brewed with already start here **
- Put the bottle into a bleach solution (1Tbsp per gallon) and let soak for 30 mins minimum, but usually longer.
- Scrub the inside of the bottle with a bottle brush on the way out of the bleach.
- Scrape off the rest of the label and remove the glue residue with soapy water and a scrubber pad.
- Rinse the bleach off with warm water.
- Spray the bottle inside with Starsan and leave upside down to dry completely.
- Store the dry bottle in closed cardboard boxes somewhere cool, dry, non-dusty until bottling day.
** On bottling day **
- Inspect the dry bottle by holding up to the light
- Spray the bottle with Starsan and allow to sit for 1 minute
- Empty (most of) the Starsan out and fill immediately with beer
- Once 4 bottles are filled I put on a cap that has been sitting in Starsan
Once I drink a bottle I rinse it immediately and immerse it in bleach solution until I have a few bottles to process together. I actually have enough bottles now that I don't need to collect bottles from the recycling center - so this means bottles will be starting in a much cleaner state as I am good about rinsing them straight away.
One thing that is important to me is being able to pre-process bottles a few at a time, which the bucket of bleach works very well for. I like to store them sanitised and dry so that they don't need as much processing on bottling day. I find it no trouble to find 5 mins to scrub a couple of bottles but adding an extra hour to bottling day for sanitation is hard to work around.
Is there anything that you would do differently? I think this process is solid but I'm willing to admit I don't know everything. Is a spray with Starsan on bottling day enough if the bottle has already been sanitised with bleach before storage?
Also interested in how often I should be changing the bleach solution?
I'm now up to batch #16 and have revised processes a lot since this was bottled, but I really want to make sure my revised process is good and there are no more surprises. I was wondering is someone could sanity check my process please?
So here's how I do it now.
** Incoming bottles start here **
- I have been getting my bottles from the recycling center - some are pretty clean, some are terrible. Going forward I won't need to do this anymore.
- I fill a bin with water and leave them to soak outside until I'm ready to process them. This loosens the crud and the label.
- Bring bottle inside to the sink, empty out the water and crud, fill with hot water and shake, empty again.
- Scrape the label off with a knife, which gets some or all of it off.
** Bottles I have brewed with already start here **
- Put the bottle into a bleach solution (1Tbsp per gallon) and let soak for 30 mins minimum, but usually longer.
- Scrub the inside of the bottle with a bottle brush on the way out of the bleach.
- Scrape off the rest of the label and remove the glue residue with soapy water and a scrubber pad.
- Rinse the bleach off with warm water.
- Spray the bottle inside with Starsan and leave upside down to dry completely.
- Store the dry bottle in closed cardboard boxes somewhere cool, dry, non-dusty until bottling day.
** On bottling day **
- Inspect the dry bottle by holding up to the light
- Spray the bottle with Starsan and allow to sit for 1 minute
- Empty (most of) the Starsan out and fill immediately with beer
- Once 4 bottles are filled I put on a cap that has been sitting in Starsan
Once I drink a bottle I rinse it immediately and immerse it in bleach solution until I have a few bottles to process together. I actually have enough bottles now that I don't need to collect bottles from the recycling center - so this means bottles will be starting in a much cleaner state as I am good about rinsing them straight away.
One thing that is important to me is being able to pre-process bottles a few at a time, which the bucket of bleach works very well for. I like to store them sanitised and dry so that they don't need as much processing on bottling day. I find it no trouble to find 5 mins to scrub a couple of bottles but adding an extra hour to bottling day for sanitation is hard to work around.
Is there anything that you would do differently? I think this process is solid but I'm willing to admit I don't know everything. Is a spray with Starsan on bottling day enough if the bottle has already been sanitised with bleach before storage?
Also interested in how often I should be changing the bleach solution?
Last edited: