Botteling question

[Deon Botha]

Hi fellow brewers. So after a failed first attempt, I am ready to bottle my second batch of beer. I have taken extra precautions with cleaning and sanitizing this time. So after cleaning each bottle with a brush, I have now sanitized the all with Starsan. The directions on the Starsan bottle says to let it air dry. So although my bottles are dry on the outside, there is still some foam on the inside that was created when rinsing them out. So my question is whether I have to wait for all the foam to dry before I can bottle? Or what is my options? Thank you in advance.

 

[Jag75]

Hi fellow brewers. So after a failed first attempt, I am ready to bottle my second batch of beer. I have taken extra precautions with cleaning and sanitizing this time. So after cleaning each bottle with a brush, I have now sanitized the all with Starsan. The directions on the Starsan bottle says to let it air dry. So although my bottles are dry on the outside, there is still some foam on the inside that was created when rinsing them out. So my question is whether I have to wait for all the foam to dry before I can bottle? Or what is my options? Thank you in advance.

Nope , once you sanitize you can fill. At least that's what I do .

 

[Deon Botha]

Nope , once you sanitize you can fill. At least that's what I do .

Thank you

 

[CodeSection]

....Hi fellow brewers. So after a failed first attempt, I am ready to bottle my second batch of beer. I have taken extra precautions with cleaning and sanitizing this time. So after cleaning each bottle with a brush, I have now sanitized the all with Starsan. The directions on the Starsan bottle says to let it air dry. So although my bottles are dry on the outside, there is still some foam on the inside that was created when rinsing them out. So my question is whether I have to wait for all the foam to dry before I can bottle? Or what is my options? Thank you in advance.

Just to clarify, what do you mean when you use the word "rinsing"? Typically, I associate the word "rinsing" as washing or removing something with clean water. I'm not sure if you are following the normal recommended process such as:

1. Let bottles soak in a cleaner; or use a cleaner with a brush; or use a FastWasher piece of equipment with a cleaner.

2. Regardless of how you used a cleaner above, rinse bottles with clean water several times to remove the cleaner.

3. Soak bottles in the NO RINSE StarSan solution for a least two minutes; or if using a FastWasher piece of equipment spray for at least two minutes. Many people who use a FastWasher use the less foam version NO RINSE Saniclean and let it soak/spray for at least five minutes.

4. Do NOT rinse the StarSan off. Merely turn bottles upside down to allow excess solution/bubbles to drain and to prevent nasties in the air to get into the bottles. As mentioned by @Jag75, you can fill bottles immediately even with StarSan bubbles in there. It does no harm and is preferable. I do it that way and when the bottles fill up, the bubbles are pushed out of the bottles.

Good luck!

 

[RPh_Guy]

Don't Fear the Foam!

This little doodad is a great tool for applying sanitizer:
https://www.morebeer.com/products/economy-sanitizer-injector-stationary-bottle-tree.html

use a FastWasher

Is that what you use? I bought one and it was the most useless and poorly designed piece of crap I've even encountered for homebrewing. The assembly is absurd. The plastic they use is way too soft and frail. It leaked like a burlap sack. The pump is attached by the same fragile plastic.
Furthermore I tried returning it directly to FastBrewing but they wouldn't take it back, and only offered replacement parts if I paid for shipping... Thumbs down for their service too.

 

[CodeSection]

Don't Fear the Foam!

This little doodad is a great tool for applying sanitizer:
https://www.morebeer.com/products/economy-sanitizer-injector-stationary-bottle-tree.html

Is that what you use? I bought one and it was the most useless and poorly designed piece of crap I've even encountered for homebrewing. The assembly is absurd. The plastic they use is way too soft and frail. It leaked like a burlap sack. The pump is attached by the same fragile plastic.
Furthermore I tried returning it directly to FastBrewing but they wouldn't take it back, and only offered replacement parts if I paid for shipping... Thumbs down for their service too.

That little single bottle injector would drive me nuts trying to wash and sanitize roughly 104 bottles in a 10 gallon batch.

I bought my first FastWasher from MoreBeer. It worked flawlessly when I was sanitizing the bottles, except for the foam with StarSan. When I switched to Saniclean, the foam issue went away. It is a real time saver for me.

The first time I used it with a cleaner, the instructions said not to use anything over 115F. So, I used 105F water with PBW cleaner. After washing the third case of bottles, I noticed leaking between the FastWasher's two halves that were assembled. The 105F water had warped the plastic frame. MoreBeer honored their one year warranty and took the unit back. They paid the return shipping and sent me another FastWasher even before they had received my returned unit. It was a very positive experience with MoreBeer and I highly recommend them. They stand behind their warranty. Their customer service is awesome!

After experiencing the above issue that resulted in warm water, MoreBeer suggested I use Craft Meister Alkaline Brewery Wash. Spike Brewing recommends it as well. Unlike PBW, Craft Meister Brewery Wash can be used in both cold and hot water and you don't have the white line issues that you get with PBW. I bought the 40lb bucket of Craft Meister Alkaline Brewery Wash. I highly recommend that too.

I have had no problems with the FastWasher replacement. It is a time saver and does a good job in washing,cleaning, rinsing and sanitizing the bottles. Maybe you got a defective unit. Below are a couple of pictures of my small cleaning area in my laundry room...

 

[Nate R]

Hi fellow brewers. So after a failed first attempt, I am ready to bottle my second batch of beer. I have taken extra precautions with cleaning and sanitizing this time. So after cleaning each bottle with a brush, I have now sanitized the all with Starsan. The directions on the Starsan bottle says to let it air dry. So although my bottles are dry on the outside, there is still some foam on the inside that was created when rinsing them out. So my question is whether I have to wait for all the foam to dry before I can bottle? Or what is my options? Thank you in advance.

+1 to the above.
I don't always bottle, but when i do (sounds like a great Dos Equis set-up) i use larger bottles (22oz bombers) as i hate bottling.
I am also super duper cheap-skate. So i get 5 gallon food grade white plastic buckets and lids at walmart. (in paint section). About $2.50 or so a bucket, and maybe $2 a lid
I use these buckets for PBW soak, StarSan soak, then pull bottles right out of starsan, flip upside down in a fully cleaned/ sanitized starsan bucket, seal it up with sanitized lid. Two buckets can just about hold a 5 gal batch.
These buckets are the workhorses of my brewing setup. Cannot even list all i use them for (grain storage, grain mill, cleaning my tap lines, etc. etc. etc.)

Best advice i can give you is rinse your bottles asap after you open them. Hot tap water rinse, a few shakes, then it makes the next round of cleaning so much easier!!

Also, look into kegging when you can. I think almost all home brewers will agrer one of the best investments ever!!

 

[RPh_Guy]

@CodeSection
Well, glad it works for you. It sounds good in theory which is why I bought it. Indeed I returned it to MoreBeer and their service is always A+ in my experience too.
IDK if mine was defective. Even on the stock photos the nozzles are pointing in all different directions because the plastic warps so easily. I could probably have glued it all together and used some caulking on the gasket but I wanted something that was going to last me a while and that didn't feel like it would. Oh well.

For cleaning I'm currently using this with a submersible pump, and I can easily attach it to a faucet for rinsing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B075JPVK7L
(I paid half that price, not sure why it's so much now.)
Granted it only holds 12 bottles at a time but it also accepts 22oz beer bottles and 750mL wine bottles, which I use.
I use the vinator for sanitizing. It takes only 3-4 seconds to sanitize a bottle with it so with my smaller batch size it's fine. I can certainly see how your setup is more convenient for a larger scale.

Also, look into kegging when you can. I think almost all home brewers will agrer one of the best investments ever!!

Kegging is for quitters!

 

[Jag75]

I use the vinator as well . It works great . I like those stack dryers you have there @CodeSection . I have 1 , I need a few more . I just dont bottle much .