Sanitising

[manticle]

As far as sanitiation goes: if you're bottling immediately afterwards I wouldn't worry. If you're bottling the next or subsequent days I would.

As far as bleach goes: bleach can react with compounds in the beer and give medicinal tasting chlorephenols. I've experienced this but only from too much bleach being used during fermentation so I'm not sure how it reacts in the bottling stage (I assume it's probably no different). Having experienced it (and it's horrible) I would be super carfeul using bleach.

I still sometimes use it but I follow it with a rinse with cold water, a rinse with boiling water (no good for bottles generally unless you put a long piece of clean metal in each one as you pour), a dose of sodium met and another rinse and then a dose of no rinse sanitiser like saniclean.

The only reason I do the above is a recent spate of infections - it's quite probably massive overkill. I'd rather overkill than lose 60 L of carefully nursed beer again.

 

[kelbygreen]

haha yeah true. I gave then a shack befor hanging to dry a bit there was at most a drop of water in each. Bleach will go away if left uncovered long enough. we had to do it at one place bottle water and leave the lid off for a day befor it was drinkable, Seemed to work. but I guess only time will tell I used about 30ml in 10-11lts of water so I dont think I used a heap to much if any but just dont like the smell lol.

hopefully My job starts this week or next so I can afford to buy proper cleaning stuff haha

 

[Count Vorlauf]

There seems to be some confusion between cleaning and sanitising. Two different parts of a whole!

Cleaning breaks down and removes any residue. Without doing this, you can sanitise til the cows come home and still end up with an infection because the beasties were hiding underneath and protected by the crud the whole time. With bottles, I just make sure I give them a very vigorous rinse after emptying them. If you don't leave them lying around to dry out, a bottle brush usually isn't necessary.
Alkaline solutions such as PBW are handy for cleaning your fermenter without risking scratching the inside with a brush (assuming you're using plastic) and creating hiding spots for bugs. A good splash around and maybe a wipe with a soft cloth is adequate. Again, best to do this ASAP after use so trub and other gunk doesn't have time to dry and harden.

Sanitising kills a majority of the bugs on the surfaces that will come in contact with the wort/green beer after the boil. When I first started out I took the sanitising thing a bit too far, sanitising EVERYTHING including the kettle and paddle. As long as you are boiling your wort you could actually brew in a bathtub. It's only once the wort cools down afterward that infections can set in. So the heat exchanger, fermenter, bottling bucket, bottling spear, bottles all need to be sanitised. Like others have said just make sure the concentration is right for whatever you're using and that you absolutely cover all areas that will come in contact with the wort/beer. Putting some in a spray bottle is handy.
Most of the sanitisers depend on staying wet to do their job, so if you sanitised your bottles and left them hours while they dried out, you'd probably be in strife. I'd recommend sanitising immediately before bottling.

PS Thanks to Thirsty Boy for the bleach/vinegar recipe - just realised that I ran out of StarSan and the LHBS is closed!!

 

[Hatchy]

My last batch I sanitised my bottles the day before I bottled & left them with glad wrap over the top overnight. It seemed to me to be a good way to safe some time on brewday. I haven't had any bottle bombs (yet).

 

[booyablack]

I've heard of people sanitising their bottles by putting a small amount of water in the bottom of each one and then popping them in the microwave to steam them. Does anyone do this? I haven't read anything about this technique on this forum yet.

Is it dangerous? Can it make the glass brittle or anything like that?

 

[Hatchy]

Would that sanitise them? I'll stick with the no-rinse I reckon. In how to brew he says you can chuck (place) the bottles in the oven with a bit of alfoil over the lid of each one, I can't remember how hot he said to get them but apparently they'll stay sanitised pretty much indefinitely with the alfoil over the top. Obviously you'd want to be careful with heating them up/cooling them down too quickly. I can't see myself using this method. The mrs would kill me if I broke a whole heap of longnecks in her oven, not to mention that I really don't want to sacrifice any of my bottles.

 

[Fourstar]

Would that sanitise them? I'll stick with the no-rinse I reckon. In how to brew he says you can chuck (place) the bottles in the oven with a bit of alfoil over the lid of each one, I can't remember how hot he said to get them but apparently they'll stay sanitised pretty much indefinitely with the alfoil over the top.

I believe Thirsty Boy uses this method for all of his glass bottles.

 

[zebba]

In how to brew he says you can chuck (place) the bottles in the oven with a bit of alfoil over the lid of each one, I can't remember how hot he said to get them but apparently they'll stay sanitised pretty much indefinitely with the alfoil over the top. Obviously you'd want to be careful with heating them up/cooling them down too quickly. I can't see myself using this method. The mrs would kill me if I broke a whole heap of longnecks in her oven, not to mention that I really don't want to sacrifice any of my bottles.

That will actually sterilise them, which is one step better then sanitising. But like you, I'd be worried about stressing the glass. Mother in-law is a lab tech and uses this technique for her work needs, says you just need to make sure you do it slowly. She said she'd give me some charts showing ideal times, temps, etc, but I'm in no hurry - since I worked on the cleaning aspect (after a few dodgy bottles I gave out @ the Vic swap), I've had no complaints with idophur.