Cleaning Bottles?

[sid]

Hi all.

I was wondering how many of you here don't steralize your bottles for your home brew.
I personaly clean my bottles out with bottle wash and brush and then stand a small amount of steralizer in each bottle and leave for an hour or two, then rinse out twice and there are ready to go. This is with plastic bottles. For glass I wash them, then cover the tops with foil and leave them in an oven for 1 hour at 170F.

I know people that Just wash the plastic bottles (bottle wash) and don't use any steralizer on them. I have another mate that just used to rinse out the glass bottles and use them again. I have never noticed any difference between the beers, certainly no infections at all.

Makes you wonder how much cleaning is needed sometimes.

 

[Barramundi]

there no such thing as too much cleaning ,,,

 

[Gavo]

there no such thing as too much cleaning ,,,

+1 here. I rinse all of my bottles as they are used then rinse and sanitize on bottling day also. No sense on risking a brew to a few minutes of extra work.

 

[Adamt]

I never bother to sterilise my bottles, I sanitise.

Especially using glass bottles, you're silly not to at least sanitise, one little nasty is all it takes and you have a beer powered grenade.

Eventually one of your mates will get caught out, it may just be a bad bottle, they may be lucky to detect it early, or they may cop a barrage of flying shards of glass. Wayne Carey eat your heart out.

 

[buttersd70]

Rinse with water when emptied (unless I forget, then it needs a bloody good soak. If that happens, i wash with either percarbonate or pink stain), then no-rinsed when bottled. Use a no-rinse of some sort, whatever takes your fancy. Rinsing defeats the purpose of sanatising, anyway.

The one and only exception I have to this is when I bottle out of the keg to take beer out. If it's going to be consumed within a day or 2 after bottling, I just rinse.

 

[rwmingis]

Rinse with water when emptied (unless I forget, then it needs a bloody good soak. If that happens, i wash with either percarbonate or pink stain), then no-rinsed when bottled. Use a no-rinse of some sort, whatever takes your fancy. Rinsing defeats the purpose of sanatising, anyway.

+1 for the rinse after use. If you get a furry patch growing on a bottle it's hard to clean, and if you brush it, you risk just sharing it with other bottles you brush. I rinse after each use. I also use that bottle and carboy jet washer from the US (great time saver) and blast each bottle with hot tap water. Then I I put a swig or two of Iodaphor solution in each bottle (really helpful to use a small funnel here) and shake the shyte out of it. I know Iodaphor is no rinse, but I don't want to wait for it to drip dry, so i fill my HLT with boiling water and rinse each bottle out with boiling water one last time. No brushing required, and doesn't take too long and good results.

 

[Osangar]

I always wash my bottles after use at sink.

Then on bottle day, I dip and shake in some pink stuff mixed in a bucket and then wash out with water using the little bottle attachment to the tap.

Then give it a squirt or three with the no rinse sanitiser using the bottle tree attachment.

Works a treat, so far so good.

 

[BungalowBill]

I use neopink and rinse, until i can get to the local HBS which is 50 od klms away till I can get some no rinse stuff that will do the lot kegs bottles and all.

 

[kevo]

What sort of cantact time does the pink sanitiser need?

Is the pink sanitiser at Big W the same as the sterophos(?) available at HBS?

 

[sid]

I use sodium meta bisulphate for my steralizing, i noticed on the container it says not to rinse, but there is one hell of stink from this stuff, so I have always rinsed out after.
Is not rinsing safe with this stuff, that is it wont affect my beer?

 

[wambesi]

+1 for the rinse after use. If you get a furry patch growing on a bottle it's hard to clean, and if you brush it, you risk just sharing it with other bottles you brush. I rinse after each use. I also use that bottle and carboy jet washer from the US (great time saver) and blast each bottle with hot tap water. Then I I put a swig or two of Iodaphor solution in each bottle (really helpful to use a small funnel here) and shake the shyte out of it. I know Iodaphor is no rinse, but I don't want to wait for it to drip dry, so i fill my HLT with boiling water and rinse each bottle out with boiling water one last time. No brushing required, and doesn't take too long and good results.

Similar to my methods, after finishing bottle quick rinse a few times with hot water to clean the bottle and let dry.
Once dry it gets stored out in the brewing cupboard until bottling time, then it gets a shot of iodophor, shake the hell out of it, drip dry and then filled 10mins or so later (when I get to it).

 

[Effect]

would using starsan work?

Coopers PET bottles we are talking about here, could I rinse after use and give a little soak with starsan and no rinse before bottling? Would that be sufficient?

 

[wambesi]

would using starsan work?

Coopers PET bottles we are talking about here, could I rinse after use and give a little soak with starsan and no rinse before bottling? Would that be sufficient?

Sure I do the same procedures for PET and glass.
Starsan is no rinse too I'm pretty sure when mixed right so no need to rinse after and soak for long either.

 

[fraser_john]

Starsan is an excellent product and you can save and re-use it over and over again! Just make sure that the bottles are absolutely clean, if not, the starsan will not be re-usable as it goes a bit funky after a while.

 

[Peaka]

I normally just rinse with hot water after drinking the contents then drain and put the lid back on. I then rinse again with hot water before filling the bottles again...I have also skipped that step before as well and the beer has still been normal.
So the only thing I sterilise is the fermenter before I use it.

 

[raven19]

+1 for rinse at sink straight after use.
Then on brewday I sanitise then rinse in hot water, then bottle the beer.
Cheers.

 

[Pollux]

I normally pour the beer into a glass and then in an act of laziness just throw some tap water in (roughly 3-4cms worth) and then they sit on the windowsill until the morning when I shake to loosen the yeast, rinse and then rinse again...

On bottling day I use the no-rinse that is made up in my bulk priming carboy to sanitise and then I fill...

Works for me.

 

[wambesi]

I normally pour the beer into a glass and then in an act of laziness just throw some tap water in (roughly 3-4cms worth) and then they sit on the windowsill until the morning when I shake to loosen the yeast, rinse and then rinse again...

Must admit this happens more often than not with me too, I usually get to them unless the other half gets sick of it and rinses them first.

 

[white.grant]

I use sodium meta bisulphate for my steralizing, i noticed on the container it says not to rinse, but there is one hell of stink from this stuff, so I have always rinsed out after.
Is not rinsing safe with this stuff, that is it wont affect my beer?

Hi Sid,
You should always rinse sodium met, but then its better not to use it anyway. Sodium met is know to have a range of health related issues relating to its fumes, especially for asthmatics and its usefulness as a sanitiser is actually suspect.

No rinse sanitisers are much more convenient and the Likes of Iodophor and starsan are well worth using and safer to boot.

cheers

grant

 

[Gavo]

No rinse sanitisers are much more convenient and the Likes of Iodophor and starsan are well worth using and safer to boot.

+1 for the no rinse sanitizers, I used Starsan for the first time today and it made bottling sooo much faster by not having to rinse the bulk priming cube, bottles and any other equipment.