Reclaiming Old Bottles

[hellbent]

After reading a post by "Colonel" (Flat Beer) it has prompted me to ask this question ... about 2 or 3 years ago I made a HB and bottled it up in "Tallies"........ when it come time to drink them they tasted terrible and were as flat as a "dunny carters hat," so I just boxed em up and put em under the workbench in the shed and forgot about em until I was cleaning up the other week and re-discovered them again, now I want to claim the bottles back for a new brew, the question is are they going to be ok??... if I tip the beer out and give them a good rinsing and soak them in iodophor over night would they be reusable even if the reason for the last batch going off was an infected beer, or is there a better way of cleaning them, or should I just ditch em and look about for some more tallies?... anyone had experience in this?

 

[DUANNE]

just tip the beer out of the bottles and clean and sanitise as normal,they should be fine. i have used bottles from sour beers to rebottle with in the past and never had an infection caused by it.you also never know the beer in the bottles may have carbed up by now and taste fine.

 

[DU99]

i would run a bottle brush thru them also..

 

[jakub76]

Your bottles will be fine but clean and sanitize properly - maybe soak in napisan overnight and rinse well if you're not going to brush. I'd chill one of your old beers and try it, might be a pleasant surprise.
If the last batch ended up flat then infection was probably not the issue, generally they would be gushers if infected...more carbonation not less.

 

[AntCoop]

As the guys have said above, all should be fine with a wash with a bottle brush and a cleaner.

I use a Brigalow bottle brush from Kmart with the handle rounded with a sharp knife so it can fit nicely in a cordless drill chuck.
Makes for a solid clean with ease.

Cheers Coops :icon_chickcheers:

 

[hellbent]

thanks fellas i may just do the chill one first to make sure