New Brewer And Sterilisng Bottles

[Ducatiboy stu]

Fill your bottles with a HOT napisan solution and let them soak. This will remove any remains left in the bottle and sanitize.

Rinse with warm water and let them dry upside down


If you use bleach, use COLD water

 

[mistat]

so is it right to assume you need to sterilize your caps too?

I've got a couple of 750ml PET 15 bottle packs which are brand new, so I just need to sterilize them and the caps.

I gather the best method is to simply fill up a sink with some hot water, and the no rinse sanitiser, then dunk each bottle and cap in there, splash them around a bit, and leave them to drain/dry on a bottle tree?

Cheers,
Mike.

 

[Hatchy]

Cold water is fine for no rinse.

 

[twavvy]

Seems to be a small amount of confusion above. Twavvy, if you think a no-rinse sanitiser is going to save time you are wrong - it is an extra step and adds time. You still need to make sure the bottles are clean before you use it. You can, of course, work out a way that is less time consuming to do the initial cleaning.

As for your distinction between cleaning bottles and brewing gear - there is no difference. Clean is clean and sanitised is sanitised. They are not the same and both vessels need to be cleaned and sanitised properly (CM2's reasonable points above notwithstanding).

Ok thanks mate - They were all clean before I "sanitised" them, as I had soaked them in water previously overnight (In batches of about 12 for the past week) to get the labels off and rinse them out. There was no gunk or residue on any of them leading into my arduous process!

I'll try no rinse stuff next time, then probably just move onto kegs!

Cheers

Trav

 

[felten]

There's 2 podcasts on cleaning and sanitising on the brewing network if you are interested, that would probably clear up a lot of things for you, they even have the bloke from five star chemicals on the show.
cleaning, sanitation

 

[twavvy]

There's 2 podcasts on cleaning and sanitising on the brewing network if you are interested, that would probably clear up a lot of things for you, they even have the bloke from five star chemicals on the show.
cleaning, sanitation

Thanks mate - Very cool site with heaps of info!

Cheers

Trav

 

[colonel]

I'm with you, CM2.
This subject seems to come up every second day.
I must live in a "bug free zone", as i rarely sanitize anything,.

I'm running a bit of an experiment at the moment though (accidentally).
The batch I bottled last night had been sitting for a few weeks, and, while I know that's not a problem, the airlock was completely dry. Probably had been for a week or more.

I'm confident it'll be fine, but if it does turn out ugly, I'll "fess up" and add to the discussion.

I think we all start out trying to do "the right thing",re. sterilization, but after a few hundred batches, it becomes obvious what "needs" to be done, as opposed to what the instructions say.

Cheers

Just a word if caution, whilst it good to get into good habits for sanatisation, one can go overboard. When I bottled I did all the right things as mentioned above and all was good. Bloody time consuming and yse a lot of PBW sod met star san etc. Went to kegs and only bottle a few each batch now. But I don't bother washing the bottles with star San or anything any more. Just a rinse out once finished, dry then either screw back in lid if PET, or a bit of glad wrap over the top if glass. I can count the number of infections I've had in all my years on one hand (and still have spare fingers). Same with the kegs. I'm not overly fastidious with those either.

My fermentors on the other hand get washed well as that's where your mist likely to get an infection.

Now of course if u aren't rinsing or keeping ur bottles clean between brews (ie leaving them outside to collect dust etc) well then yes I give them a good clean to kill nasties.

Im not advocating that u dont clean. U should. Sanatisation practices are good and have a place in brewing. Its Just some food for thought.

 

[mwd]

so is it right to assume you need to sterilize your caps too?

I've got a couple of 750ml PET 15 bottle packs which are brand new, so I just need to sterilize them and the caps.

I gather the best method is to simply fill up a sink with some hot water, and the no rinse sanitiser, then dunk each bottle and cap in there, splash them around a bit, and leave them to drain/dry on a bottle tree?

Cheers,
Mike.

Pretty much correct but you don't need the water to be hot. I make up my Iodophor to 10litres in a clean plastic bucket and stand that in the sink and use a 2 litre jug for the bottle tops or caps. No need to drain them and dry just fish them out give a quick shake and away you go easy as. With the bottles give a good shake and empty with a circular motion and the liquid comes out real fast in a whirpool motion. ( Easier to do than explain ).

 

[manticle]

I think we all start out trying to do "the right thing",re. sterilization, but after a few hundred batches, it becomes obvious what "needs" to be done, as opposed to what the instructions say.

Cheers

Depends on your experience. I started out being more lackadaisiacal than I am now. A few infections up my sleeve and I'm a lot more anal just because tipping out beer (or drinking your way through a shit batch) is depressing.

Each brewer needs to work out for themselves what processes work best for them.

 

[Fourstar]

probably being a kegger and not bottling a lot these days (only 3-4 from the dregs of the batch and filtered for comps) i will shed a few words of wisdom, especially if you move to kegging and only bottle handfuls.

- dont faff about with bottle relics your grandpappy dug up from under the house, the time you spent cleaning a dozen of them you could have brewed 3 batches of all grain. trust me i know. send them back to where they came from, landfill or antiques roadshow if they are really that old.

- do all bottles in one batch in one big massive soak. my weapon of choice is nappisan or PBW if its beer related gunk (typically if its old bottles its dust, and bug grime/gunk). Again, if the bottles need a lot of scrubbing and elbow grease, turf em. i found the ones that required the most effort and ended up looking clean i still ended up with some bottle infections.

- the more cleaning you have todo, the greater the chance of it causing an infection. Again, toss it. If you have a source thats willing to drink longnecks for a month for you you will make them up quick smart.

- once cleaned do a bulk rinse in the laundry sink full of water. simple, effective, minimal residue and doesnt waste water.

- sanitisation time. we have two options starsan or iodophor, you have to dump just enough into each bottle for it to be coated in foam, you then have to somehow get the foam out of the bottle. easy for PET, a PITA for glass. leaving overnight is only the real solution, then you can end up with dust and wild yeast inside bottles partially negating the sanitisng effect.

- my choice for glass is sterilising by baking. Easy, effortless and no wrinkly grandma fingers and a sore back from sanitising a few dozen bottles.

Once the bottles have been cleaned and dried, cap each one with alfoil and bake in the oven starting them in the COLD oven, set your temp, bake and then allowing to cool in the oven overnight with the door closed. if you open the door stright avter and try and handle them you can cause the glass to explode... this bad for obvious reasons. Baking bottles correctly will give better results than sanitising. after all they are sterilised.*


* im not going to give out info how to bake bottles for sterilisation as i dont want to kill anyone or their children with exploding bottles, i do know ThirstyBoy had a write up over this process however.

 

[Fish13]

probably being a kegger and not bottling a lot these days (only 3-4 from the dregs of the batch and filtered for comps) i will shed a few words of wisdom, especially if you move to kegging and only bottle handfuls.

- dont faff about with bottle relics your grandpappy dug up from under the house, the time you spent cleaning a dozen of them you could have brewed 3 batches of all grain. trust me i know. send them back to where they came from, landfill or antiques roadshow if they are really that old.

- do all bottles in one batch in one big massive soak. my weapon of choice is nappisan or PBW if its beer related gunk (typically if its old bottles its dust, and bug grime/gunk). Again, if the bottles need a lot of scrubbing and elbow grease, turf em. i found the ones that required the most effort and ended up looking clean i still ended up with some bottle infections.

- the more cleaning you have todo, the greater the chance of it causing an infection. Again, toss it. If you have a source thats willing to drink longnecks for a month for you you will make them up quick smart.

- once cleaned do a bulk rinse in the laundry sink full of water. simple, effective, minimal residue and doesnt waste water.

- sanitisation time. we have two options starsan or iodophor, you have to dump just enough into each bottle for it to be coated in foam, you then have to somehow get the foam out of the bottle. easy for PET, a PITA for glass. leaving overnight is only the real solution, then you can end up with dust and wild yeast inside bottles partially negating the sanitisng effect.

- my choice for glass is sterilising by baking. Easy, effortless and no wrinkly grandma fingers and a sore back from sanitising a few dozen bottles.

Once the bottles have been cleaned and dried, cap each one with alfoil and bake in the oven starting them in the COLD oven, set your temp, bake and then allowing to cool in the oven overnight with the door closed. if you open the door stright avter and try and handle them you can cause the glass to explode... this bad for obvious reasons. Baking bottles correctly will give better results than sanitising. after all they are sterilised.*


* im not going to give out info how to bake bottles for sterilisation as i dont want to kill anyone or their children with exploding bottles, i do know ThirstyBoy had a write up over this process however.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html

i dont think my missus would like to see 30 bottles in the oven....


I think its crazy that beer bottles need to be sterilized yet the baby bottles and formula are fine to be washed and rinsed in detergent...

 

[pyrosx]

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html

i dont think my missus would like to see 30 bottles in the oven....


I think its crazy that beer bottles need to be sterilized yet the baby bottles and formula are fine to be washed and rinsed in detergent...

Do you store the formula in the baby bottles for 6-12 months?

 

[Fish13]

good point 8 hours max.

 

[stux]

I think its crazy that beer bottles need to be sterilized yet the baby bottles and formula are fine to be washed and rinsed in detergent...

FWIW, they sell baby bottle "sterilizers"...

 

[Fish13]

yeap miltons but i dont fully understand the need to waste shitloads of time on a baby bottle that is going to be drunk in 10 minutes to a bottle of beer which will be drunk 3 weeks later.

I have gone overboard cleaning now as i got mold and cabbage taste in my first extract brew.

 

[Yob]

- sanitisation time. we have two options starsan or iodophor, you have to dump just enough into each bottle for it to be coated in foam, you then have to somehow get the foam out of the bottle. easy for PET, a PITA for glass. leaving overnight is only the real solution, then you can end up with dust and wild yeast inside bottles partially negating the sanitisng effect.

why do you feel the need to get the foam out? I dunno how many times Ive heard the Starsan podcast thingy on the BN and I ditinctly remember the saying "Don't Fear The Foam" ??

I do this all the time, sanitise with starsan just prior to botteling (usually while Im raking to bulk prime), when botteling I know when to take the wand out when the foam comes out of the top of the bottle, drip free but there is usually foam in there... :icon_cheers:

in fact I kinda like it.

Lids sit a small container of starsan beside the Capper and go on foamy too... I will tip the starsan out of the container just as I start to bottle.

Yob

 

[Fourstar]

why do you feel the need to get the foam out? I dunno how many times Ive heard the Starsan podcast thingy on the BN and I ditinctly remember the saying "Don't Fear The Foam" ??

Sorry, some clarification needed. As someone who typically bottles under pressure/carbonation/keg transfer.

Bottling on top of foam = more foam = 1/2 filled bottles.

Bottling from the fermenter however i simply fill with whatever residue is there and cap on foam. (if i can be othered i will flush with some CO2.) As noted "dont fear the foam".