# Washing Bottles In Dishwasher



## itguy1953 (23/4/08)

I normally keg my beer, as I quickly got sick of washing bottles, and then sterilising them. 

I have a need to soon bottle off some batches as my kegs are full (and I am not drinking them fast enough  ).

I have access to lots of bottles, mainly stubbies, but they are dirty, still have the labels on and often have mould on the inside. I can easily remove the labels in a tub of hot water from my HWS, with some dishwasher powder in it. A 4 hour soak makes the labels easy to peel off, and loosens most of the mould.

I have put 24 Carlton Draught (de-labelled) stubbies in a standard dishwasher tonight, and I will check out the result in the morning. I have stood the bottles upside down on the spikes, so water will drain out. 

I am concerned that the hot water will not penetrate the bottle, and effectively wash the mould off the bottom of the bottle. 

Anyone got any experience on making modifications to a domestic or commercial (fast cycle) dishwasher to ensure bottles get cleaned and sanitised properly. I have a spare domestic dishwasher that I can modify, and I can get access to cheap commercial dishwashers, which have a 2 minute wash cycle.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Barry


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## Prawned (23/4/08)

check the other thread you posted in. im not very good at explaining things, but when i seen the picture the spinny arm thingys were replaced with pvc pipe for water to jet through, and there was 24 posts for bottles to be put on


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## pb unleaded (23/4/08)

Back in my bottling days I used to put bottles in a dishwasher and found that only the outside of bottles got cleaned (really well), even the labels came off. However the inside of bottles was not completly clean, some still dirty.
Soaking them and using a bottle brush worked much better.


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## joecast (23/4/08)

arthur said:


> Back in my bottling days I used to put bottles in a dishwasher and found that only the outside of bottles got cleaned (really well), even the labels came off. However the inside of bottles was not completly clean, some still dirty.
> Soaking them and using a bottle brush worked much better.



same here. i'd be wary of using any bottle thats had mould in it, and certainly not after only a spin through the dishwasher. at the least they should get a good scrubbing with a bottle brush to clean out the insides then a soak in bleach or the like. 
if i'm re-using bottles, i give em a good rinse once empty, then through the dishwasher, then into the oven with a bit of foil over the tops. then store until needed. hope that helps.
joe


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## TidalPete (23/4/08)

joecast said:


> same here. i'd be wary of using any bottle thats had mould in it, and certainly not after only a spin through the dishwasher. at the least they should get a good scrubbing with a bottle brush to clean out the insides then a soak in bleach or the like.



+1

When I bottled (Tallies) I used to use a bottle brush on every bottle every time, rinsed, & then put them through the heat cycle in the dishwasher to sterilise.
There is no way that a normal dishwasher will clean the insides of your stubbies or tallies.



> check the other thread you posted in. im not very good at explaining things, but when i seen the picture the spinny arm thingys were replaced with pvc pipe for water to jet through, and there was 24 posts for bottles to be put on



What post was that fellas? Always willing to learn something new but can't see the missus letting me fiddle with her dishwasher. :lol: 


TP. :beer:


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## BOG (23/4/08)

I've seen some discussion around taking out the lower wash arm and plumbing in some pipe with a spigot to spray water into the bottle. If each bottle is placed over a spigot it will wash fine.

The issue will be getting stainless Steel tubing to do the job. Plastic will melt during the drying cycle.

There was a discussion here at some time but I cannot find the thread now.


BOG


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## LethalCorpse (24/4/08)

TidalPete said:


> When I bottled (Tallies) I used to use a bottle brush on every bottle every time, rinsed, & then put them through the heat cycle in the dishwasher to sterilise.






BOG said:


> The issue will be getting stainless Steel tubing to do the job. Plastic will melt during the drying cycle.


How hot do you pair think a dishwasher gets? It doesn't get hot enough to sterilise, and certainly not hot enough to melt PVC. Up to about 70c as a general rule. Have a look in your dishwasher at home - it's chockers with plastic, and you put plastic through it without ill-effect (unless it's particularly cheap plastic on a particularly hot cycle). The existing arms in mine are moulded plastic. I reckon it'd be fairly easy to fashion a manifold out of smallish diameter PVC and couple it to the outlet. Certainly cheaper and easier than stainless or copper, without the attendant metallic problems.


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## braufrau (24/4/08)

If it were me, I'd do the rubbish bin full of bleach trick first. i.e. fill a rubbish bin (or bath) full of bleach solution and let the stubbies soak and then wash.


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## Cracka (24/4/08)

Barry R said:


> I normally keg my beer, as I quickly got sick of washing bottles, and then sterilising them.
> 
> I have a need to soon bottle off some batches as my kegs are full (and I am not drinking them fast enough  ).
> 
> ...






Cube it, till a keg is free.


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## itguy1953 (24/4/08)

Cracka said:


> Cube it, till a keg is free.



How long can you cube it for at various temps?

I have a chest freezer I have converted to a lager fridge (and kept at 15 deg C at the moment, but I can easily drop it down to 5 degC.

I am still looking for a simple way to wash bottles (mainly stubbies) as I like to take them out with me, and a keg is to much trouble. I am also interested in keeping some of my brews in stubbies for medium to long term storage, to see how they taste over time. 

I washed the Carlton Draught stubbies in the dishwasher last night, after soaking them yesterday to remove the labels. They are spotless on the outside, but I noticed a few mould bits on the inside after the "wash". So I have washed them by hand this morning with alkaline wash. I plan to soak them in white king for a few minutes before I use them and then rinse them off with no rinse steriliser.

I am going to talk to the local dishwasher repair man today, as I think that I can make up a tray for the bottles to fit into the dishwasher. Then I will plump up the "spikes" as copper tube, and then make a manifold adapter to fit into the dishwasher water line. The idea is to have all of the water will go through the manifold, and then out the tubes which will be spraying the bottom of the bottles.

Anyone tried this before?

Barry


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## dug (27/4/08)

We have a "dishwaher" at work for cleaning our lab glassware, (conical flasks, measuring cylinders etc). It looks exactly like an ordinary dish washer, but instead of a spinning arm it has a star like arrangment on the bottom with thin ss tubes coming off it. These tubes then have a plastic X on them to stop chips and breakages. The tubes are also of variying legths to accomadate different sized glassware.

If I remember to bring the camera into work I'll take a photo.


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## microbe (27/4/08)

LethalCorpse said:


> How hot do you pair think a dishwasher gets? It doesn't get hot enough to sterilise, and certainly not hot enough to melt PVC. Up to about 70c as a general rule. ~snip~


That's enough to sanitize or pasteurize to levels appropriate for homebrewing isn't it?

Cheers,

microbe


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## itguy1953 (28/4/08)

dug said:


> We have a "dishwaher" at work for cleaning our lab glassware, (conical flasks, measuring cylinders etc). It looks exactly like an ordinary dish washer, but instead of a spinning arm it has a star like arrangment on the bottom with thin ss tubes coming off it. These tubes then have a plastic X on them to stop chips and breakages. The tubes are also of variying legths to accomadate different sized glassware.
> 
> If I remember to bring the camera into work I'll take a photo.



Many thanks. Sounds like what I am looking for. Can you give me the make and model so I can chase up specs on the internet?

Any idea how long the cleaning cycle takes? The commercial dishwashers take around 2 minutes, but domestic ones take an hour or so.

Barry


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## TidalPete (28/4/08)

LethalCorpse said:


> How hot do you pair think a dishwasher gets? It doesn't get hot enough to sterilise, and certainly not hot enough to melt PVC. Up to about 70c as a general rule. Have a look in your dishwasher at home - it's chockers with plastic, and you put plastic through it without ill-effect (unless it's particularly cheap plastic on a particularly hot cycle). The existing arms in mine are moulded plastic. I reckon it'd be fairly easy to fashion a manifold out of smallish diameter PVC and couple it to the outlet. Certainly cheaper and easier than stainless or copper, without the attendant metallic problems.



It is the drying cycle on my dishwasher that does it for me not the hot water. Have done this for over 11 years without an infected bottle. I have never rinsed any bottles with a sanitiser yet as I see no need to.  
As mentioned before, I use a bottle washer every time in conjunction with dishwasher detergent then rinse with tap water before placing the bottles in the disnwasher.

TP :beer:


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## Adzmax (28/4/08)

Ahhh bottles, I had to clean some last night after kegging for 6 months. It's a flat out pain in the ass huh! Would be nice if the dishwasher worked.


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## TidalPete (28/4/08)

Adzmax said:


> Ahhh bottles, I had to clean some last night after kegging for 6 months. It's a flat out pain in the ass huh! Would be nice if the dishwasher worked.



It's a PITA alright. These days I only need bottles to keep the surplus of a 24 litre batch after kegging a particularly fancied beer that I don't want to waste in the "Blend" keg. I sometimes bottle a beer that I want to age for a long time.

TP :beer:


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## SpillsMostOfIt (28/4/08)

TidalPete said:


> It's a PITA alright. These days I only need bottles to keep the surplus of a 24 litre batch after kegging a particularly fancied beer that I don't want to waste in the "Blend" keg. I sometimes bottle a beer that I want to age for a long time.
> 
> TP :beer:



So, why can't I find a 'Washing Kegs in the Dishwasher' thread?


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## rich_lamb (28/4/08)

Guys, you're not focussing on the real problem here. He can't drink his beer fast enough to free up the kegs.

What you need is some beer drinking helpers


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## itguy1953 (29/4/08)

Bitter & Twisted said:


> Guys, you're not focussing on the real problem here. He can't drink his beer fast enough to free up the kegs.
> 
> What you need is some beer drinking helpers


I am trying hard to keep up the drinking.

My problem stemmed from running out of beer, and then I got a spurt on and brewed 7x23 litre batches. The first 3 were supposed to be ready 2 weeks ago, but I had a problem with temp control and the ale yeast stopped working. I have since warmed up the brew, kegged it and chilled it. Will start on these tonight. These are K&K with 1.2kg of LME added and Saaz hops added for aroma and flavour. 

I also have Cascade Premium and Stella Artois clones fermenting in the lager fridge, and these will be kegged tonight.

I also had a Cooper Stout and Chocolate Mahogoney in fermenters. I bottled the CM into Coopers stubbies this morning, and I will bottle the Stout tonight into tallies. What a pain it is to wash and sterilise bottles.

I like to keep a few bottles of each brew for long term storage, to see how the brews mellow over time. Also stubbies/tallies are great to take out with me.

I am still interested in any details of dishwasher modifications that people have made, as I am seriously thinking about modifying a dishwasher to wash my bottles.


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## CASHMAN (29/6/08)

Whats the go with puting bottles in the oven... what advantages do you get ?


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## FireBlade (29/6/08)

I use a dishwasher. I rinse after drinking then before bottling I just chuck them in the dishwasher with some stericlean instead of dish powder. Haven't had a bad bottle yet.


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## haysie (29/6/08)

CASHMAN said:


> Whats the go with puting bottles in the oven... what advantages do you get ?




Hey Cashman, advantages are, no dishwasher (only use that to remove the labels) IF your stubbies/bottles ARE CLEAN, i.e no mould etc, a rinse, a shake, a rinse, in the oven [email protected], 2hrs later cap them with foil, 6 hhrs later remove them, and are great for months and months and months.

If your stubbies have stubborn stuff, I throw them out.

The main advantage of "baking" your stubbies is it works everytime , no caustic, no sanitiser, no brushes, no fuss. I keg yet every brew i like a half /full dozen too pass around etc. For me, the oven is grouse.

Haysie


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