mass bottle cleaning?

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bizit524

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As i've been reading through threads about bottling etc i have one thing that I havent really found on them. How to you mass clean all your bottles? Obviously we want them sterile as possible (learned that from breaking bad and you guys :p ) Gotta keep my crack containers sterile as well... just kidding!

Some say put them in a bucket overnight but I have about 50 bottles...and they wont fit in a bucket or 2 or even 3. The only possible thing I could see using is my bath tub fill it with water put them in there and then put the sterilizing agent in there.

the only thing is.... my roommates would hate me if I did that. Do you have any other suggestions? because I'd like to have ALLL my bottles clean at one time instead of clean some, fill and cap them. clean some more, fill and cap them etc etc.
Would it be possible to mix up some sterilizing agent then fill the bottles with them and let them sit? the only downside of that i see is the outside is not being cleaned...
Or can I do that then right before I bottle I just have a bucket that I rinse the outside of them since the inside will be clean already?
 
I clean my bottles as I go. As I empty them, I put them into a Homer bucket and once that is full I will take them out, mix hot OxiClean and put the bottles in to soak & de-label. Once they are clean I store them inverted in carriers/crates. That I do as I go so I'm not cleaning a ton of bottles at once. Then when I'm ready to bottle a batch of beer, the bottles just need to get sanitized (can't recommend a Vinator and bottle tree enough for that) which is a far quicker process. You don't have to clean the bottles immediately before sanitizing - that would make bottling day a royal PIA.
 
First of all, cleaning and sanitizing are two separate steps. De-labeling is a third, if you're into that. If you rinse the bottles well immediately after drinking, that's all you need to do for cleaning. If not, you can soak them with some oxiclean and scrub them using a bottle brush. The oxi soak will also get most of the labels off for you.

Sanitizing should not be done in a bathtub! A quick dunk in star san right before you fill them is all they need, if you have a vinator it makes it a bit easier.

As for the soaking, I've found that a cheap rope-handled tub (the ones that you put a keg in) works very well. I also use them as fermentation water baths, so they're good to have around. They can get heavy when full though!

Once you get enough delabeled bottles in your rotation, you won't need to soak them again if you're good about rinsing them after pouring.
 
+1 what zachattack said. There's cleaning and then there's sanitizing. You can't sanitize them if they aren't clean. Also don't confuse sterilized with sanitized.
 
+1 on both posts above.

Delabeling is a process you only have to do once. Once it's done, then clean all the delabeled bottles, let them dry on a bottle tree, and then put neck down in your case. When you're ready to bottle, give each bottle two or three quick pumps on a starsan filled vinator. I always spray the bottle tree with starsan before I put sanitized bottles on them, just to be safe. Then after consuming your beer, give each bottle a good rinse in hot water, put neck down back in your case, and they're ready for next time!
 
Once you get caught up, the best thing to do is clean a few at a time. Cleaning and removing the labels from 50+ bottles is a tedious task.

I do about a half dozen or less at a time. I soak them in a small bucket with hot water and oxy, then rinse and let them dry. That way I can do them in the kitchen sink and take care of them as I do other things around the kitchen and it isn't such a chore.

I don't re-rinse prior to bottling, I just hit them with some StarSan. (get a Vinator and bottling tree if you don't have them yet, they make bottling much easier) They are already clean, the StarSan rinse will clean out any dust that may have accumulated when they were stored and sanitize your bottles.
 
Like everyone else said, if you clean them as you go, its a lot less work when its bottling time. I use the same this, however if you give some away, you might get them back with a little funk growing in side. Its not the easiest to get with the bottle brush, and oxyclean soak might take too long. That's when I break out mr Bleach. I dilute the bleach accordingly, then add about 3 oz to a bottle, use my thumb as a stopper and shake. The little goodies on the bottom will just float away

You then need to to make sure you rinse, and rinse and rinse. Once you think you've rinsed enough, rinse the bottle again.

I use a large spray bottle with star san in it. When the bottle is cleaned and rinsed, I spray it a couple time with star san then cover and crimp with a piece of aluminum foil. Then I store them in the cardboard case. Anything with an aluminum foil top I know that bottle is cleaned and sanitized.

I will spray it with a little more starsan right before I bottle, but that is the OCD in me.
 
Man you guys are awesome, this is by far the most active forum I've ever been on.
You guys get me every time with not being very specific.

I was mainly referring to sanitizing. Over the past week I have been gathering bottles , cleaning and de labeling them. So that is not a problem.

I was jus curious on how you sanitised so many bottles right before bottling, but you guys have answered everything, ha.

I will have to read all responses later as I am in class:p
 
I literally only rinse my bottles with hot hot water after use and leave em upside down. Sanitize right before bottling. Good to go
 
I rinse scrub rinse my bottles after drinking. Then on bottling day,some Starsan in the vinator an top of my bottle tree. Quicker & easier. Cleaned/dried bottles get stored in covered boxes.
 
If you're willing to make a small investment, I recommend buying a Jet Bottle Washer that attaches to your sink faucet, a Vinator Bottle washer, and a bottle tree. Typically after finishing a beer, I will rinse the bottle to get the beer and yeast out. But on bottling day, I used to rinse each bottle again inside and out, and then submerge each bottle in a bucket of sanitizer. This took a long time. Now,with the jet bottle washer, you can rinse each bottle for a few seconds, and then hand pump it 2 or 3 times on the vinator, and put it on the bottle tree to dry. Saves a lot of time, but its probbaly a $40-$50 investment. The bottle tree also takes up a lot of space, and is pretty ugly.
 
45 bottles on a bottle tree takes up only about 2 square feet of space. Better to me than having them all over the floor pouring sanitizer from one bottle to the next. It def works better & faster using the bottle tree/vinator combo.
 
I'm thinking the best purchase I have made thus far was a vinator. The sanitizing process prior to that was stupid tedious.

I've given away quite a bit of HB since I started brewing. One neighbor gave me back 6 bottles that were not rinsed at all. They were sitting for well over 2 weeks and they were crusty and gross. I was mildy annoyed because they offered to return the bottles and I figured no one wants gross ass bottles sitting around for weeks, right? I was wrong. Whatever fell from one was so hard my disposal crackled a lot when I ran it. Those bottles get a HOT HOT water soak, a bottle brush, oxy inside to sit, and then rinse, rinse, rinse. With the bottles I have on hand, I just assume to toss the gross ones going forward.
 
Hello said:
I'm thinking the best purchase I have made thus far was a vinator. The sanitizing process prior to that was stupid tedious.

I've given away quite a bit of HB since I started brewing. One neighbor gave me back 6 bottles that were not rinsed at all. They were sitting for well over 2 weeks and they were crusty and gross. I was mildy annoyed because they offered to return the bottles and I figured no one wants gross ass bottles sitting around for weeks, right? I was wrong. Whatever fell from one was so hard my disposal crackled a lot when I ran it. Those bottles get a HOT HOT water soak, a bottle brush, oxy inside to sit, and then rinse, rinse, rinse. With the bottles I have on hand, I just assume to toss the gross ones going forward.
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I recently had some bottles returned with lumpy green and black stuff in the bottom. These bottles had been sent off a year ago. This is where the electric drill, battery operated safer, and chucked bottle brush comes in handy. Like stated above, a long soak first.
 
Mogie said:
If you're willing to make a small investment, I recommend buying a Jet Bottle Washer that attaches to your sink faucet, a Vinator Bottle washer, and a bottle tree. Typically after finishing a beer, I will rinse the bottle to get the beer and yeast out. But on bottling day, I used to rinse each bottle again inside and out, and then submerge each bottle in a bucket of sanitizer. This took a long time. Now,with the jet bottle washer, you can rinse each bottle for a few seconds, and then hand pump it 2 or 3 times on the vinator, and put it on the bottle tree to dry. Saves a lot of time, but its probbaly a $40-$50 investment. The bottle tree also takes up a lot of space, and is pretty ugly.
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+1 on the jet washer, but I don't use it on bottling day, because by storing my clean bottles neck down, I don't need to re-rinse them. But the jet washer is a HUGE time saver for the initial cleaning, expecially when trying to rinse off the oxyclean, and it makes quick work of the bottom of my carboys after bottling.
 
What do you guys think about using a dishwasher to clean and then sanitizing before bottling?
 
I really don't think the dishwasher could get enough cleaner & water up inside the narrow opening of the bottles to clean & rinse well.
 
Dishwashing is fine. Just don't use soap or Jet-dri as they can impart bad flavor to beer. Run the washer on the heated dry cycle. I personally run a load of bottles on bottling day and use the bottom rack on my dishwasher as a bottle tree. I rinse each bottle briefly in starsan as I am bottling. Worked really well and went pretty quick. Of course I also do what others have said in terms of 1. Delabeling and 2. rinsing each bottle after I use it.
 
Like others I just rinse and store top down in my cases with foil in the bottom so they dont stick to the box. On bottling day I flip the bottles over and shoot about 3 squirts of starsan into each bottle with a nice wide spray setting. I have my bottling wand attached to the bucket with a 2 inch piece of tubing (see Revvy's bottling sticky) and put an old kettle under it. Dump the starsan and fill with beer while dumping the next bottle. My bottle day goes nice and fast.
 
I have a neighbor that does private parties. So, about every month or so, I come home to 2-4 cases of bottles on my porch (pretty damn awesome). About 20% go in to recycling because of crap in the bottles or nice fuzzy mold. The rest get put in a plastic storage tub about 2' x3' x10" and holds 2 cases laying flat. I sprinkle in some Oxy Clean Free and slowly fill with water. Let that sit over night then pull them out, delabel and do a quick bucket dip in clean water.

I built a drying board with some dowel rods and a scrap peice of plywood that I put the bottles upside down in over night to dry.

Next day, these go into case boxes for storage.

Bottling morning the bottles go in the dishwasher on heat dry (no soap etc...) then to the vinator and on to the bottle tree.
 
I know I've made pretty much the same comment in several threads, but I see the dishwasher as a wasteful and pointless part of bottling. Using a sanitize cycle to sanitize the bottles is understandable, but tugbucket and Psycotte, why are you putting already clean bottles into the dishwasher on a sanitize cycle, then rinsing with star san after? I just don't understand what the dishwasher is doing for you in this process.
 
zachattack said:
I know I've made pretty much the same comment in several threads, but I see the dishwasher as a wasteful and pointless part of bottling. Using a sanitize cycle to sanitize the bottles is understandable, but tugbucket and Psycotte, why are you putting already clean bottles into the dishwasher on a sanitize cycle, then rinsing with star san after? I just don't understand what the dishwasher is doing for you in this process.
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I guess for me its how and where I am forced to store them. I don't trust them remaining clean and dust free after storing in my basement closet in the condo. Even in covered boxes they are under a staircase. Maybe its overkill but I would rather just make sure they are cleaned again (dishwasher) and then sanitized just prior to bottling. I know the dishwasher wont get up and in the bottles completely for sanitization so i do the Star San dip to be sure. Are you telling me that I could use just the dishwasher run as the sanitizing step? If so that would be good news for me.
 
That is why peeps store the bottles upside down or cover with a sheet of foil before closing the box. If you must rinse then a quick blast with a bottle washer is much faster than a dishwasher.
 
Psycotte said:
I guess for me its how and where I am forced to store them. I don't trust them remaining clean and dust free after storing in my basement closet in the condo. Even in covered boxes they are under a staircase. Maybe its overkill but I would rather just make sure they are cleaned again (dishwasher) and then sanitized just prior to bottling. I know the dishwasher wont get up and in the bottles completely for sanitization so i do the Star San dip to be sure. Are you telling me that I could use just the dishwasher run as the sanitizing step? If so that would be good news for me.
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i do the same thing.....it's not alot of extra work to put bottles in the dishwasher and then hit the start button
 
That's a fair answer. I guess I just see so many people on here that make bottle cleaning/sanitizing this incredibly complex and redundant procedure, when all one needs to do is rinse the bottles right after pouring then spritz some star san in right before filling. To me it seems like making a lot more work for oneself. I store my bottles open and right side up in a basement closet as well, if they look dusty I'll rinse them out real quick with cold water but I generally just go right to the star an.

If your dishwasher has a sanitize option/cycle, then it should be able to sanitize the bottles for you. I haven't done this but I'm pretty sure other people on here have. I think the sanitize setting uses an internal heater to boost the hot water temperature up even higher. The "heated dry" setting may get the bottles hot enough as well, but you'd probably want to verify. The water doesn't need to go up into the bottles to sanitize them, they just have to get hot.
 
All my stuff is stored in the shed. So loading up the washer at 7am, pressing start and then making breakfast isn't a hassle. By the time I eat, clean the kitchen, get all the other stuff out that we need to bottle, they are ready to roll. And I'd hate to think that I'm over cleaning ;)
 
But my Dishwasher makes for such a nice bottle tree. :)

dishwasher.jpg
 
zachattack said:
Mine does as well! I've had the top rack so loaded with bottles I've been worried it's gonna bend. The dishwasher door is also a good drip catcher during the bottling process. :mug:
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That's the thing. I place my bottle bucket on counter over the dishwasher with the door down. I grab a bottle, dip, fill, loose cap and place to the side. I keep pulling the drawer out as I need more bottles. I do 6 and then secure loose caps with wing capper, then repeat. Works for me. :tank:
 
Psycotte said:
But my Dishwasher makes for such a nice bottle tree. :)
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I don't use my dishwasher to sanitize, but I do use it as a bottle tree. I rinse after I pour, store them in a rubermaid tub, dip in a bucket of star san, in the dish washer they go to dry.I do spray the rack in the dishwasher to be safe.
 
Those of you that are dipping the bottles in a bucket of starsan need to get a Vinator.

You'll thank me ;)
 
CGVT said:
Those of you that are dipping the bottles in a bucket of starsan need to get a Vinator.

You'll thank me ;)
Click to expand...

My wife does the sanitize and fill steps. After like half a dozen batches, I got one. She gave me the WTF really?! look real quick.
 
Like the others, I clean well in advance of bottling day.

As soon as I pour a bottle of beer, I rinse the bottle twice, then add it to the pile of bottles to be cleaned and re-used.

When I have time to clean some bottles, and enough have piled up, I take a Home Depot bucket and fill it with hot water and a scoop of Oxyclean Free. I submerge the bottles in the bucket until the bubbling stops (i.e., it's full). If I'm delabeling, I leave them like this for a day. If they've already been delabeled, then I continue.

I fill the basement sink about 2" deep with cold water, then put the jet bottle washer attachment on the faucet head and turn on the tap. I then take each bottle out of the bucket and dump out half of the Oxy solution. I cover the mouth of the bottle with my thumb and give the bottle a good shake to "scrub" the inside, then pour out the rest of the cleaning solution and set the bottle in the water bath in the sink until I've done this for all of the bottles in the bucket.

Once all of the bottles are in the sink, I take a sponge and scrub the outside to remove any soapy residue, then blast the inside for a couple of seconds with the bottle washer nozzle, then "hang" it on the bottling tree to drip dry.

The bottles stay there until bottling day. They're partially upside-down, so nothing too bad can get up inside them. When bottling, I give them a quick blast of StarSan with the Vinator anyway, so if any dust did float up inside, it gets rinsed out by the StarSan immediately prior to filling.
 
I clean as I empty the bottles, then remove the labels in batches of 14 or so (Used PBW and hot water works well) if required. Bottles are stored neck down in either my fast rack or a old beer case. For the last two batches I have rewashed and sanitized in the dishwasher - with a finish 4 in 1 tablet - on the hottest cycle, which keeps them at 180F for about 60 minutes. But before that I was dipping and draining them 8 at a time in a bucket of starsan (the bottling bucket, which therefore got a good long soak).

My dishwasher rinses well, so I'm not worried about soap hanging about.
 
first i wash all my bottles with hot water and rinse them out, then i make a 6 gallon bucket with starsan water and siphon it into the bottles and leave it for a while to sanitize
 
songe said:
first i wash all my bottles with hot water and rinse them out, then i make a 6 gallon bucket with starsan water and siphon it into the bottles and leave it for a while to sanitize
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That is really a waste of starsan. Starsan is a contact sanitizer (30 seconds). Just getting the inside of the bottles wet would do the job.

That is why the Vinitor is such a great tool. It only takes a few ounces of mixed starsan to do a enough bottles for a 5 gallon batch.
 
CGVT said:
That is really a waste of starsan. Starsan is a contact sanitizer (30 seconds). Just getting the inside of the bottles wet would do the job.

That is why the Vinitor is such a great tool. It only takes a few ounces of mixed starsan to do a enough bottles for a 5 gallon batch.
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since the bottles are used i dont wanna risk having an infection. + there are cigarets in allot of them and snus and moltet beer residue... so yeah... i use around 10 ml of starsan.. so its not a waste... and starsan is quit cheap here only 22 dollars for 8 oz
 

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