Best way to Clean and Sanitise Bottles

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I started bottling initially because keging was too expensive.

Don't rush out and buy a keging system if you can't afford it!

Once you have spent long enough bottling initially (it took me 17 brews) then maybe look at kegging.

Don't get me wrong, kegs are great but bottles are heaps cheaper to get set up with and you can start bottling beer heaps sooner at a cheaper cost. A lot cheaper than $350.
 
aydos said:
I started bottling initially because keging was too expensive.

Don't rush out and buy a keging system if you can't afford it!

Once you have spent long enough bottling initially (it took me 17 brews) then maybe look at kegging.

Don't get me wrong, kegs are great but bottles are heaps cheaper to get set up with and you can start bottling beer heaps sooner at a cheaper cost. A lot cheaper than $350.

But if you spend $100 on bottle tress and all other crap trying to make bottling easier, and then move to kegs....
 
carniebrew said:
Agreed, and one squirt will do it.
Had a few issues with mild infections early on so bumped up the regime accordingly. Often I am using bottles that have been stored for a few months or been given to other people as samples. Either way it costs very little in terms of money (half a cap of HB napisan, half a cup of bleach, and 150mL of dilute Starsan) and a bit of time while I am doing other things. Not a big deal, maybe over the top, but every Pro brewer article I have ever read begins with a rant about cleanliness, sanitation etc
 
KingKong said:
If your bottles are rinsed and stored clean, you could save yourself a heap of time and just sanatise with starsan. That looks like very over the top pain the arse.
With glass, yeah. Not with PET as specified in his post. I've had too many PET bottles hold on to smells from previous batches to not wonder what else might be being retained. Plastic needs a wash.

[EDIT: more words = more sense]
 
bullsneck said:
Later I 'cap' them with a little bit of foil and chuck them in a COLD oven. Bump up the heat gradually to 200 to leave for 60 minutes. Do not open the oven, you will crack 20 clean and sterile glasses. Get them the next morning or whatever.
You will have sterile bottles up until you take off that little foil cap. The process is so easy and can be done whenever you have a spare hour or so. Not very labour intensive at all.
A like the piece of mind as well. I usually bottle beers I will keep for 6 months or more so I need to ensure sanitary practise.
Oven works a treat, foil caps too. Easiest method I have used.

Put them in the oven cold, and turn on to 200 (oven is slow enough by itself) leave for at least 30min at 200 then kill the oven. Leave the bottles in the oven until they cool. A little bit of moisture in the bottles will also help the sterilisation.

At 200degC you are getting sterilisation not sanitation. You are guaranteed to get all the nooks and crannys, and residual crud is less important but you still don't want it in your beer.
 
And for the "you must build a gadget to perform any homebrew process" crowd (in which I include myself): http://www.brewgeeks.com/bottle-washer.html. Cheap submersible pump connected to pipework which sit inside each bottle and blasts starsan/sod perc/whatever is in your sink up inside the bottles. Would be cool to build this into a bottle tree for the cleaning and draining combination.

I am thinking about building one of these even though I keg my beers. I am starting to bottle a few extra bottles to pass onto to other people, so will start upping my fermenter volume so I can keg 19L and then bottle some beers. Plus I can build a system which will clean kegs as well.

8207556_orig.jpg
 
angus_grant said:
Plus I can build a system which will clean kegs as well.
Hot water and elbow grease?


Pretty neat looking bottle cleaning setup though..
 
mark0 said:
...
You are guaranteed to get all the nooks and crannys, and residual crud is less important but you still don't want it in your beer.
If you have nooks and crannies in your bottles I think it's time for new bottles!
 
sponge said:
Hot water and elbow grease?


Pretty neat looking bottle cleaning setup though..
yeh, cleaning kegs is pretty easy but I figure whilst building a system for the bottles may as well include kegs.

I would look at using garden irrigation sprayers. Would be easier than JB-welding connections like in the link...

I really like the idea of hooking it all up to bottle tree though.
 
For removing labels, I used to soak the bottles in hot water to soften the glue. But this would only make it easier for some labels. Next I tried pouring a bit of Ammonia to the water. Brilliant! Most paper labels come off heaps easy in ammonia water.

I end up chucking the bottles with stubborn labels, yet I still get plenty off with the ammonia method.

As for cleaning, I rinse after I drink, drain and store in a cupboard. Then on bottling day just submerge them in a sink of iodophor at the start, giving each a quick squirt under the tap at filling time. Never had a bad bottle - only had badly sealed caps. Don't forget to put your caps in the sanitizer too.
 
Ready to be flamed here, but sometimes I think sanitising is a bit overrated. I went 10 years in my K&K days (read lazy uni-student needing large volumes of cheap beer quickly) using unsanitised long necks and Grolsch bottles without a noticeable infection. I'd religiously wash them out after use and sit the caps back on once dry with the Grolsch or just lay a sheet of something over the top of the longnecks. I'd always sanitise everything fermenter side, as I worked on the theory that losing 1 bottle in 40 odd I could take, but a whole batch no. It was also the standard Coopers kit yeast every time, so cross contamination of yeast wasn't an issue.
In saying this, I have now kegged for a few years and sanitise everything including any leftovers I bottle, mainly because it's already at hand. I've also moved to AG, and with a lot more time and money invested in each beer it's worth it.

Maybe lucky for the first 15 years, and I'm not encouraging others to do so, but some of the cleaning and sanitising regimes seem a bit excessive when you could just rinse well, store covered and use your preferred sanitising method when bottling.

Cheers,
BB
 
Maybe lucky for the first 15 years, and I'm not encouraging others to do so, but some of the cleaning and sanitising regimes seem a bit excessive when you could just rinse well, store covered and use your preferred sanitising method when bottling.

Cheers,
BB

yep.......rinse well, store properly and sanitise at bottling time

Sterlo
 
Just like the vast majority of posts have advised already you mean?

+1
 
mark0 said:
Oven works a treat, foil caps too. Easiest method I have used.

Put them in the oven cold, and turn on to 200 (oven is slow enough by itself) leave for at least 30min at 200 then kill the oven. Leave the bottles in the oven until they cool. A little bit of moisture in the bottles will also help the sterilisation.

At 200degC you are getting sterilisation not sanitation. You are guaranteed to get all the nooks and crannys, and residual crud is less important but you still don't want it in your beer.
Have to disagree with this. I've used this method on glass jars before, tightly sealed with foil and a little bit of moisture left inside. The moisture just prompted mould to grow inside after a few weeks.

Dry heat sterilization is best done dry IMO. The steam inside the bottles/jars is definitely not going to reach 200c.
 
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