Bottle Sterilizing - How Dry?

[Primax]

How far do you let your bottles dry before bottling? Completely?

 

[felten]

I probably leave mine for an hour, but that's down to procrastination not any desire to remove all trace of sanitiser.

[edit] using starsan

 

[peaky]

Do you mean after sanitising? I used to sanitise bottles with Starsan the day before bottling and leave the bottles upside down to drain until I'm ready to bottle. These days I rinse my bottles with tap water after emptying them, then once I have 15 bottles empty I bake them in the oven for 90min at 200 degrees. Bone dry after this treatment :icon_cheers:

 

[Primax]

Yup, after sanitising. I've used sodium metabisulfate.

 

[manticle]

You'll be rinsing that metabisulphite off hopefully.

To use it properly, you need to let it dry completely then sit for 30-60 minutes as it's the fumes that kill bacteria and so on.

Then rinse, thus negating at least some of the pros of using the stuff. I used to use it exclusively (now sometimes use it but always in conjunction with rinsing thoroughly then applying a no-rinse solution so I won't say don't use it but there are more effective and more economical sanitisers which are less hazardous to your health and easier to use.

Starsan needs three minutes contact time (actually I think 30 seconds to do the job and the other 2 1/2 minutes to satisfy legal obligations).

Any of this is sanitising, not sterilising.

Decent run down on things here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html

 

[Jamiepo]

I use starsan and I leave them for about 5 mins before bottling. Sanitizing the bottles is generally the last thing i do before bottliong

 

[Bats]

I use diluted Iodiphor and let air dry. Ideally you should let then dry completely but I have bottled before when still slightly wet.

I researched if there would be any negative effects on your beer and the answers I got was that it is completely harmless. The small amount left in the bottles is far to little to effect flavour etc.

It all comes down to which sanitiser you use in the end.

 

[warra48]

My bottles are always clean before I bottle. Ensuring clean bottles is 99% of the battle to prevent infections.

I use iodophor, just pour some into each bottle, shake and pour it out. The foam will work to sanitise the bottles. After about 5 minutes I pour out the residual sanitiser, and go straight to bottling.

I've not had an infection in my bottles for about 3 years. The only infections I've had were when I misguidedly used bundaberg ginger beer bottles and the caps, which I clearly could never sanitise properly. Never had a problem since I turfed them.

 

[iJosh]

Mine still have a few drops of tap water in them after rinsing off sanitiser... Is this bad?

 

[Yob]

Mine still have a few drops of tap water in them after rinsing off sanitiser... Is this bad?

er... you are rinsing off your sanitiser? :blink: ummmm... surely you jest...

[edit] I personally dont mind a bit of starsan foam left over in the bottle... afer all it breaks down to yeast nutrient...

 

[logie]

i always rinse my bottles after drinking, also before bottling i steralise the laundry sink and just use the hot water out of the tap as it is close to boiling,i find theres no need to be over cautious washing bottles the dont take much if they have been rinsed after use, also helps lables peel off

 

[Cloth Ears]

These days I rinse my bottles with tap water after emptying them, then once I have 15 bottles empty I bake them in the oven for 90min at 200 degrees. Bone dry after this treatment :icon_cheers:

I'm with you peaky. Wash 'em in hot soapy water (glove territory) and rinse 'em in hotter water (ouchy! ouchy! glove territory) and then bake 'em. I only use 130 degrees Celcius and for 30 minutes. But theyv'e just come out of (almost) boiling water, so they're dry pretty quickly. And anything over 115 for 15 minutes kills the nasties.

Doesn't work for PET, though, unless you want wierd, twisted, 300ml bottles.

 

[agorganic]

I tried to sterilise in boiled water within the old fowles vacola steriliser unit, was very awkard trying to get the very hot bottles out, let alone tip the hot water inside them back into the unit. There are only so many bottles you can fit inside it before its boiled, so any extra bottles you want to give a dip are just that little more difficult once its hot. There is a special tong tool for taking out the fowles vacola bottles, definately not designed for beer bottles.

Lucky I didn't burn my self, could have been a disaster and won't be trying that again.

 

[hoppinmad]

I'm with you peaky. Wash 'em in hot soapy water (glove territory) and rinse 'em in hotter water (ouchy! ouchy! glove territory) and then bake 'em. I only use 130 degrees Celcius and for 30 minutes. But theyv'e just come out of (almost) boiling water, so they're dry pretty quickly. And anything over 115 for 15 minutes kills the nasties.

Doesn't work for PET, though, unless you want wierd, twisted, 300ml bottles.

+1

that is exactly my procedure. never had an infection

 

[mickos]

as with most people on the thread I rinse my bottles out after drinking them, making them quite clean. On bottle day I clean them off in a sterilised sink with no rinse sanitiser and them leave them upside down to dry. Though they are not always totally dry when I add sugar to prime. My two cents.

 

[Fodder]

Interesting...I probably have the slackest regime here and yet never had an issue.

I use PET bottles, give them a good rinse once empty, then come bottling day a teaspoon of bleach and filled with water. Left to sit for a hour or so.

Emptied and rinsed with plain old tap water and good to go. Sometimes I let them dry completely, sometimes I dont.

Never had an issue.

 

[Spork]

Empty bottles get rinsed then sanitised with starsan (Italian bottle washer thingy lives on kitchen bench - before that it was just a 1 litre garden spray bottle) and allowed to drain upside down until next bottle is sanitised. A bit of alfoil over the top and put away.
On bottling day the foil is removed, another squirt of starsan, drain upside down and start filling pretty much as soon as the 26th bottle is sanitised. Most still have some foam in them at this stage.

Once all are filled and capped they get a quick wash in warm water to clean any sloppage up from the outside.
Never had an infection.

My BIL farts around putting all his in the oven. F%@# that. Electricity is too bloody expensive, and too bloody hot to use the oven like that in the summer.

 

[Tanga]

Cooking the bottles in the oven works great. =)

As long as they're glass, doesn't work so well with PET.

 

[QldKev]

How far do you let your bottles dry before bottling? Completely?

Use starsan, and don't fear the foam!

 

[bradsbrew]

Cooking the bottles in the oven works great. =)

As long as they're glass, doesn't work so well with PET.

Really? Do people really go to this much trouble and is an oven really a sterile environment? Hows about a good ole boiling water rinse follwed by a quick starsan.

Cheers