Bottle washing idea

[peterlonz]

Nothing in the above posts to fault. All procedures will work!
I can advise with 40 years of brewing (experienced but not a true expert) I have never had a bottle infection.
Two basic rules:
1) Your first use bottles need special attention, God know where you got them: soak, sanitise, inspect, dry & cover.
I have necessarily used at times really grotty bottles. To get the hardened bottom sediment out I use a half handful of course sand or fine gravel, add cold water, shake the **** out of the bottle & repeat until no more sediment is seen, then sanitise normally. It's tedious but there were times when that was my only option.

2) For repeat use bottles: It's crucial that the empty bottles are washed asap, no longer than overnight. Just get into the habit. Washing normally is a quick rinse & shake with hot tap-water, At least twice, normally 3 times, about 300 ml of hot tap-water per rinse, Drain on a bottle tree until dead dry, inspect & cover.

These days when I use bottles some of which are 10 years+ old, I just pick from my collection, without any further effort to clean; but you can only do this if you have used screw down tops, They are the means by which you effectively "cover". Tried other ways & once ended up with every bottle half full of ants making a home/city. Never again!

Note the simplicity of this routine which works. Back when I started, it was with the help of a couple of old time brewers (washing machine bowls for fermentors) covered with clean towels. They also never had bottle infections (or ants!) & used the above procedure. So it's well proven. I see now an almost fetishist attitude to bottle cleansing. Its just not necessary!

 

[wide eyed and legless]

A rinse after use, a misting with Star San or whatever you use, cap them with these plastic caps and they are ready to go next bottling day.

 

[kadmium]

Yes, you should.

I would give the fermenter a good clean using a soft cloth or any other item which will not scratch your fermenter. HDPE (plastic) should not be scrubbed or marked, as it will create abrasions in the surface which will allow bacteria to live, eventually leading to an infected fermenter which can be hard to recover.

I would then give it a quick spray down with some Star San in a spray bottle. Just coat everything inside, pop the lid on and leave for a couple minutes. It's a quick, easy guarantee that you have prevented the chances of an infection.

Foaming sanitiser like Star San (or the generic brands from LHBS) are around $15 for 500ml which you use at 1.5ml per L of water. So you get 750L of solution from one bottle. Make up a spray bottle, and you just need to wet the surfaces to sanitise, no need to soak them.

 

[butisitart]

i found napisan + 10min soak in cold water + bottle brush pretty easy,
without the hot water or the overnight
having said that, bottles hadn't been disgusting for all that long
(talking about what i dig out of the bin at the back of the german club here).

 

[Paddy Melon]

The answer is yes, I think all will agree that as a precaution against infection/contamination the fermenter should be sanitized. Just a cup full of star san solution shaken around the fermenter and left for a few minutes will do it.

 

[peterlonz]

You know you should. No problems so far but it's a bad habit which may catch you out one day. The degree of risk is significant. You reduce the risk if your immediate next brew is a quick starter. If it's not you are potentially exposing possible pathogens to your wort for maybe up to 8 hours at an ideal temp for rapid pathogen growth. That sounds like disaster round the corner to me.

 

[peterlonz]

I'm with the Napisan or Aldi di-San powders soaked over night. Make up a bucket with warm water pour into bottles, a carton at a time, then rinse next morning. Never had any crud left, mind you apart from the initial wash,( I got most of my bottles from the back of the local restaurant), I haven't had any issues as I always do the three times rinse after emptying each bottle. I also found that using this stuff to remove the Krausen, after brewing, works a treat. I plug the bubbler hole in the lid with one of those ear protection noise inserts (the ones you role in your fingers to fit) place a bucket of solution into the fermenter put on the lid turn fermenter upside down making sure the solution covers the Krausen line and leave over night. Krausen all gone no scrubbing. The Aldi Di San is cheap and works a treat for this kind of stuff.

Ok that works. But it involves a fair bit of handling. I have worked over many years to minimise handling of water & equipment including bottles. Don't be afraid to lightly scrub your fermenter, one of mine is 20 years old & is not compromised. I can easily get the crud/Krausen off with hand rubbing & cold water.

 

[butisitart]

The answer is yes, I think all will agree that as a precaution against infection/contamination the fermenter should be sanitized. Just a cup full of star san solution shaken around the fermenter and left for a few minutes will do it.

yep, and a quick run through the tap. when the inside starts getting the orange tinge, it's a napisan soak.
i like paddy melon's upside down ear plug soak above.

 

[kadmium]

Ok that works. But it involves a fair bit of handling. I have worked over many years to minimise handling of water & equipment including bottles. Don't be afraid to lightly scrub your fermenter, one of mine is 20 years old & is not compromised. I can easily get the crud/Krausen off with hand rubbing & cold water.

Yeah scrub with soft cloths, or sponges etc. I would avoid the Chux scrub pads etc is what I mean on the HDPE. Just my opinion. Stainless Steel obv non scratch pads are fine!