# AHB Wiki: Cleaning Bottles



## peas_and_corn (11/4/07)

This is the discussion topic for article: Cleaning Bottles


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## peas_and_corn (11/4/07)

I wrote the 'conventional' manner of cleaning, please add alternative ways of cleaning bottles


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## appius (24/3/09)

According to the wiki it says clean with napisan. I dont have any napisan would it be ok to use the sodium metabisulfate?


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## reviled (24/3/09)

appius said:


> According to the wiki it says clean with napisan. I dont have any napisan would it be ok to use the sodium metabisulfate?



:icon_vomit: IMO, not at all, sodium met isnt a cleaner or a sanitiser, it simply prevents growth of bacteria, doesnt kill it tho..


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## itguy1953 (24/3/09)

appius said:


> According to the wiki it says clean with napisan. I dont have any napisan would it be ok to use the sodium metabisulfate?



Try some dishwashing machine powder. This is caustic, and a good soak of the bottles in a solution of 1 tablespoon per 10 litres of warm water will loosen all of the organic material left in the bottles. A bottle brush should then be able to remove all of the organic material.

Then rinse in clean water, and put on your bottle tree to dry off. Just before you bottle, give the bottles a rinse in your sodium metabisulfate (although better to soak for a few minutes.

When handling the caustic solution, use rubber gloves.

Barry


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## Stagwa (26/3/09)

If cleaning bottles with a brush modify the brush handle to fit into a cordless drill. 
This makes cleaning so much easier and quicker.


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## Dilligaf (3/7/09)

My Mate ( and I have done the same) puts his washed bottles into an oven and heats them up to 105 degrees C before bottling.

Is this dangerous?
This is using old style 750ml CUB bottles


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## pdilley (3/7/09)

Caustic Soda soak for stubborn bottles. Turns the glass clean like new bottle.

Rubber gloves apply as with using Oven Cleaner sprays but rewards are worth it.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## brettprevans (3/7/09)

Dilligaf said:


> My Mate ( and I have done the same) puts his washed bottles into an oven and heats them up to 105 degrees C before bottling.
> 
> Is this dangerous?
> This is using old style 750ml CUB bottles


that's steralizing the bottles. he should have a bit of ali foil loosely over the end. but others do it without that.

nothing wrong with it provided the glass isnt cracked or broken.


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## GTS350 (17/7/09)

Gday all , 
Wondering if someone can explain, in laymans terms, the difference between Sodium Metabisulphate and Sodium Percarbonate, they both seem to clean and sterlise, is one better than the other?
Thanks in advance.


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## Thirsty Boy (17/7/09)

I'll have a crack - I dont have nough chemistry to do it in anything other than laymans terms.

Bascally its this 

*Sodium Met -* really only does one thing. It releases Sulphur dioxide into solution, and this inhibits bacterial growth. Thats all it does.

*Sodium Percarbonate -* Is alkaline, mildly caustic and releases oxygen in solution. The alkaline/caustic part of the deal means that is effective as a cleaner. It will penetrate and loosen organic soiling, allowing it to be washed away. The oxygen part means that it also has some effectiveness as a sanitiser, killing bacteria etc by oxidising action. BUT - as a sanitiser it has the disadvantage of needing to be rinsed, which immediately unsanitises whatever you just sanitised, unless you are rinsing with sterile water.

In short. Sodium Percarbonate (nappisan) is a quite good cleaner. Sodium Met is a really quite bad sanitiser and should be tossed in the bin and replaced with something good and no-rinse.

I have recently started using Powdery Brewery Wash (PBW) and it is like Sodium Percabonate on steroids. Nearly as good as, and much safer/easier to use than caustic solution. I sanitise with either starsan or iodophor.

PBW cleans bottles like new and also takes off even the most stubborn labes with a bit of a soak. I love this stuff.

TB


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## GTS350 (6/8/09)

Thirsty Boy said:


> I'll have a crack -


A crack!? Mate you smashed it for six !! - Thankyou


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## WSC (8/4/10)

Thirsty Boy said:


> I'll have a crack - I dont have nough chemistry to do it in anything other than laymans terms.
> 
> Bascally its this
> 
> ...



Re PBW - do you need to scrub or is is cuastic enough to eat away gunk by itself?


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## dpadden (8/4/10)

WSC said:


> Re PBW - do you need to scrub or is is cuastic enough to eat away gunk by itself?




Depends on the gunk of course, but PBW should get rid of most gunk with a good soak and no need to scrub. I use glass fermenters and a good 24 hour soak with PBW gets rid of everything...remember to rinse well and then sanitise


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## WSC (8/4/10)

Paddo said:


> Depends on the gunk of course, but PBW should get rid of most gunk with a good soak and no need to scrub. I use glass fermenters and a good 24 hour soak with PBW gets rid of everything...remember to rinse well and then sanitise



I usually rinse with water using a hose with a high pressure nosle after soaking, then drain on a bottle tree. I guess that would be a good enough to rinse it off. Then sanitise with morgans no rinse or starsan.


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## haysie (13/4/10)

WSC said:


> I usually rinse with water using a hose with a high pressure nosle after soaking, then drain on a bottle tree. I guess that would be a good enough to rinse it off. Then sanitise with morgans no rinse or starsan.




If the bottles are clean, i.e a coopers you drunk then rinsed then sealed via some cling wrap/foil, all will be fine. Naysayers will say the water you rinsed with carries bacteria etc, All those chemicals for a clean bottle FFS. I rinse after drinking, when I have an oven full say 20-30 tallies I bake em at 200 for 50 minutes. No chemicals no fuss and always bottles on hand.


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## jzani (24/4/10)

Dilligaf said:


> My Mate ( and I have done the same) puts his washed bottles into an oven and heats them up to 105 degrees C before bottling.
> 
> Is this dangerous?
> This is using old style 750ml CUB bottles



It's only dangerous if you change the heat of the bottles quickly. Heat and cool them slowly and you will have no probs. Put the bottles in a cold oven then switch it up to 200C, needs to stay at this temp for about 50min to sterilise everything, then switch the oven off and allow to cool. If you put cold brew in hot bottles they WILL smash.

Some say that as the bottles cool they could draw bacteria/wild yeast in with the air that enters them, but then, we are only trying to sanitise, rather than sterilise anyway, aren't we? :huh: 

Juz


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## Yob (12/5/10)

Proceedure varies with how sullied the bottles are but in general this is my method..

Alkaline salts bath overnight then bottle brush in drill (great tip picked up from AHB)
Cold water rinse x1
Hot water rinse x 2 
Drain on tree
No Rinse Sanitiser via squirt tub... ya kinda push the bottles down on a device that squirts sanitiser all over the inside of the bottle and drains out its awesome x 3 squirts 
Drain on tree and store in cupboard

Prior to reading this thread I used to bring the bottles out on brew day and give em another squirt but I might try the oven idea, I like the sounds of that one.. it all might be a little too much but I dont think so and I havnt yet had one go bang (touch wood)


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## haysie (12/5/10)

iamozziyob said:


> Proceedure varies with how sullied the bottles are but in general this is my method..
> 
> Alkaline salts bath overnight then bottle brush in drill (great tip picked up from AHB)
> Cold water rinse x1
> ...




Faaark!! You do all that for a clean bottle? Your bottles must have been dug up . Give it time, you will hate beer!


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## Yob (12/5/10)

haysie said:


> Faaark!! You do all that for a clean bottle?



only on the first wash to make sure.. labels get pretty mushy from the salts so a good rinse is well worth it, after the 'first one its just a hot rinse when they are empty and a squirt of sanitiser on brew day, these ones have already had the good dose!

you would go mad doing that all the tiime but I like to make sure a dirty bottle gets CLEANED and SANITISED or all the work we go through is pointless if the damn bottle ruins it all... B)


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## Hatchy (12/5/10)

I've become suspicious of my squirt tub. I used it with sod met many moons ago before I discovered the interweb & AHB. No rinse sanitiser asks for contact time so I soak in the sink for a 2 minutes & use the squirt tub for squirt tub for rinsing. I'd be happy to go back to the squirt tub sanitising but I'm not confident about the contact time.


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## leiothrix (12/5/10)

The contact time for the no rinses is the surface being wet. The bottles are still wet after several minutes with just a squirt from the rinser and being hung on a bottle tree.

Rob.


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## Nodrog (3/6/10)

can someone please post a link to the 'squirt tubs' you mention.

Googling squirt tub is not pretty by the way !!


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## mkstalen (3/6/10)

Nodrog said:


> Googling squirt tub is not pretty by the way !!


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## booyablack (3/6/10)

Nodrog

Link to bottle rinser:

http://www.aussiebrewmakers.com.au/view/pa...item/53300.html


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## Hatchy (3/6/10)

leiothrix said:


> The contact time for the no rinses is the surface being wet. The bottles are still wet after several minutes with just a squirt from the rinser and being hung on a bottle tree.
> 
> Rob.



Well my bottling day just became a lot less of a hassle. If I start getting infected bottles I'm blaming you.

I'm glad I've never googled squirt tub, I don't even want to think about what might show up from that search. I wonder what those things are actually called.

Edit: they're probably called bottle rinsers. I didn't read the previous post.


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## Yob (2/7/10)

Pretty sure I read somewhere that caustic cleaners eat glass and shouldnt be used if you like nice shiny bottles... dont hold me to it I just read it in another thread.. and yes.. googeling squirt tub is messy  

edit: maybe someone with a little more knowlage on caustic cleaners can expand on which are OK and which to avoid?


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## Hatchy (2/7/10)

I saw that in the other thread as well. Sodium percarbonate seems to do a good enough job.


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## jakub76 (2/7/10)

I've taken to soaking bottles for 2 days in unscented napisan. Then I go through and scrub the label glue off and rinse with hot water 3-4 times, no brushing but I do rinse the bottles well when I first empty them. 
By doing it between brews it makes bottling less of a hassle, I now have a number of crates full of bottles ready to use - just a rinse with sanitiser and I'm off


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## Nodrog (11/7/10)

After learnign so much from this site, here's something which might help others? A small thing, but have been using it for a while, and saves a heap of time for my bottle cleaning routine.

I use 750ml plastic bottles, and x16 nicely fit in a $8 storage box from Bunnings.
I made a few covers for the boxes, 6mm ply, and a 50mm holesaw, and a bar that locks the cover into place. 
Would make them out of acrylic sheet if I did again, a bit cleaner.
I can take the tops on and off, but hold the bottles in the box, shake them, and turn them upside down. Now I can clean x16 bottle at once.

Bottles get a quick rinse when opened, once I've got x16 they go into a box with the lid, and get a 200mls or so of hot nappy san +water, caps on, shake around a bit, and leave for a few hours / days, shaking when i can be bothered. Caps off, and outside, rinsing is with a hosepipe, squirt it over the tops, then turn the box upside down. Do this a few times. Then I put a 100mls or so of sod met + water into each one, and cap, and leave the box in the garage.

Bottling day, take off all the caps, put them somewhere clean, and turn the box upside down to drain. 
Next job is to find a bottling / syphon wand that will let me fill x16 bottles at once.


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## pk.sax (28/10/10)

Nodrog said:


> After learnign so much from this site, here's something which might help others? A small thing, but have been using it for a while, and saves a heap of time for my bottle cleaning routine.
> 
> I use 750ml plastic bottles, and x16 nicely fit in a $8 storage box from Bunnings.
> I made a few covers for the boxes, 6mm ply, and a 50mm holesaw, and a bar that locks the cover into place.
> ...



After getting through the bulk of my initial bottle cleaning with a dishwasher, these days I am doing something very similar to your method. A few differences:

- Using milk crates, easier to drain, dry etc..
- No customised restrainer, I just sit another milk crate on top and turn the whole thing upside down to drain
- Using sodium percarbonate + Nappisan after plain water rinses with hose have stopped being foamy. Leave in bottles for until bottling day.
- Bottling day, take full crate - drain as before - fresh squirt of hose water in each - drain again - leave dry for 15-20 minutes (or until I am ready to bottle) - Squirt no rinse Hydrogen Peroxide in each bottle, start filling first bottle as soon as the last one has been squirted

^ Tested that last step with bottling some very pale and clear cider in some clear bottles, the cider remains very pale so no oxidation happening from the bit of spent H2O2 I leave in there.


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## williwilli (2/11/10)

business for sale


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## pkt_diamonds (17/11/10)

practicalfool said:


> After getting through the bulk of my initial bottle cleaning with a dishwasher, these days I am doing something very similar to your method. A few differences:
> 
> - Using milk crates, easier to drain, dry etc..
> - No customised restrainer, I just sit another milk crate on top and turn the whole thing upside down to drain
> ...



Plastic bottles are terrible


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## bum (17/11/10)

Are they? Or do you just not like them?


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