Has My Laziness Cost Me

[wyatt_girth]

Got a bit lazy on my last bottling arv and skipped the washing of the bottles and went straight to sanitising with hydrogen peroxide sanitiser. I always give the bottles the triple rinse and shake the shit out of them immediately after emptying so I took a gamble.

And so I am after some opinions (possible reassurance?) on whether my laziness has cost me dearly? I have heard / read of other people doing this some regularly.

I have never touched a bottle with a bottlebrush yet - usually only give them a good shake with the detergent on bottling day, aside from the above, and rinse before sanitising.

Only a few more bottling days left my shopping basket at CraftBrewer is loaded with kegging gear and I am just waiting for the tax office to hand over the funds.



BTW the e-tax is pretty easy to do - less than an hour and return's due in two weeks.

 

[Sammus]

I haven't personally tried it, but have read of many who swear by it with no problems. I think it was Tony who's even had spiders and flys floating in bottled beer and they didn't get infected.

And yeah, e-tax is good, with the Uni submitting my group cert electronically, I was able to put through my forms in the first week of july, and got paid in 3 days! If you use EFT payment option it speeds it up even more...

 

[pint of lager]

Some members have very lax bottle cleaning. They swear by a good rinse once the bottle is empty. They report no problems.

The day you have a bottle explode due to an infection, you will wish that you had taken more time to clean thoroughly. Fast flying shards of glass embedded around the house, nasty stuff.

Most members have a very rigorous cleaning regime of every surface that comes into contact with their beer.

If you hate using a bottle brush, use a good chemical cleaner, allow the bottle to soak for a day or so, rinse thoroughly and store upside down. Use a good quality no rinse sanitiser at bottling.

After consuming the contents of a bottle, I rinse thoroughly and then fill with PSR solution. The next time a bottle is emptied, the PSR solution goes into it. When the PSR solution looks manky, I tip it out and make some more up.

For all brewgear, rinse promptly, clean well, rinse again, air dry and store dry.

 

[Interloper]

Some members have very lax bottle cleaning. They swear by a good rinse once the bottle is empty. They report no problems.

First time I get new bottles from anywhere they get hit hard with sodium precarbonate and bottle washing powder in scalding hot water, then rinsed and dried on my bottle tree and capped with a peice of foil so they are sterile for bottling day (Got that tip from someone here - onya :beerbang: )

Then when the bottle is emptied of its beery goodness it gets a scalding hot triple rinse and back onto the bottling tree. No hardcore santising after the initial blast. Maybe a quick freshening up with a no rinse sanitiser if they have been foil capped for ages, but no probs yet....

 

[petesbrew]

Every now and again you get offered longnecks "from a neighbour who used to brew". Have you seen inside these bottles?
The last freebies I got, I almost spewed looking at the shit floating round the sink upon washing.
A bottlebrush is a good tool to have handy in these cases, as well as a good soaking in bleach or whatever.

 

[solidghost]

First time I get new bottles from anywhere they get hit hard with sodium precarbonate and bottle washing powder in scalding hot water, then rinsed and dried on my bottle tree and capped with a peice of foil so they are sterile for bottling day (Got that tip from someone here - onya :beerbang: )

Then when the bottle is emptied of its beery goodness it gets a scalding hot triple rinse and back onto the bottling tree. No hardcore santising after the initial blast. Maybe a quick freshening up with a no rinse sanitiser if they have been foil capped for ages, but no probs yet....

Have you tried cling wrap? Those they use to wrap food in? I think they are better than foil since it can be made nearly airtight.

 

[Interloper]

Have you tried cling wrap? Those they use to wrap food in? I think they are better than foil since it can be made nearly airtight.

When foil is crimped/clamped around the seal it looks pretty tight, I worry that glad wrap would come loose? It doesn't look like it would cling to the bottle? I guess if you put a rubber band around each bottle it might work...

 

[reviled]

I personally never "wash" bottles with any kind of cleaner, just rinse the crap outta them after every bottle gets emptied, so I pour a beer and before I drink it rinse the hell out of the bottle with excessively hot water, then rinse out again on bottling day, sanitise, then good to go...

I havent had a problem so far, no infections and it manages to get the bottles pretty clean ie, no surface filth, so any left over bacteria should be taken care of by the sanitiser?

 

[DiscoStu]

The morning after I've drunk any I wash the bottles in normal dishwashing liquid in the sink at the same time as my beer glasses. Give a good rinse and leave to dry, then they go in plastic crate with lid ready for refilling. On bottling day the just get a dose of a no rinse sanitiser.

Never had any problems with doing it this way.