Bottle Cleaning Gizmos

[Drewch (Drew C.)]

@majorvices

I have to admit, you all make it more complicated than I do. A hot rinse after the bottle is empty. Another hot rinse followed by a good sanitizer rinse and upside down to drain (I use an empty dishwasher) then fill. Every once in a while I will give them a good hot oxiclean soak followed by a blast of hot water to rinse but aside from that, if they are so dirty that they need scrubbed, I usually just replace them.

Switching my soaking step to use actual PBW resolved most of my issues. And (bonus!) the PBW does a good job of taking off (most) old labels, too.

Just replacing bottles isn’t as easy for me since I like the lines on Belgian-style 33cl bottles (or the similar-looking 12oz ones used by a handful of American brewers) better than regular 12oz longnecks. Those aren’t widely available at homebrew quantities; so my primary means of replacing them is buying expensive 4 packs of Dupont or Madame Rose or similar.

[neuse]

[quote=“majorvices, post:20, topic:31271, username:majorvices”]

@neuse

Not saying you are wrong, but if you leave oxiclean for too long (even overnight) it can leave a film. I wonder if that is what you were seeing?

It could be an oxiclean film - good point. Now you’ve got me wondering if my overnight oxiclean soak of other equipment is leaving a film. But that’s another subject.

[denny]

[quote=“neuse, post:22, topic:31271, username:neuse”]

@majorvices

@neuse

Not saying you are wrong, but if you leave oxiclean for too long (even overnight) it can leave a film. I wonder if that is what you were seeing?

It could be an oxiclean film - good point. Now you’ve got me wondering if my overnight oxiclean soak of other equipment is leaving a film. But that’s another subject.

It kind a depends on your water.  If it has a relatively high level of minerals, I’ve seen oxiclean do that.

[neuse]

[quote=“denny, post:23, topic:31271, username:denny”]

@neuse

@majorvices

@neuse

Not saying you are wrong, but if you leave oxiclean for too long (even overnight) it can leave a film. I wonder if that is what you were seeing?

It could be an oxiclean film - good point. Now you’ve got me wondering if my overnight oxiclean soak of other equipment is leaving a film. But that’s another subject.

It kind a depends on your water.  If it has a relatively high level of minerals, I’ve seen oxiclean do that.

If it’s just with high mineral water, I’m ok - my water is very low in minerals.

[phbern (Paul Bern)]

I eventually bought all my bottles then I didn’t need to get the labels off and they are all the same size - much easier for capping. I rinse with hot water and a tiny drop of dish detergent immediately after pouring. Then I wait until my wife nags me about all the bottles in the dishrack and put them in the box they came in until I’m ready to bottle again.

I have a FastWash 24 with a second rack. I also got a plastic storage tub from Target and drilled a 1-inch hole in the bottom corner for easy drainage (use a rubber stopper when necessary). I do it in the utility sink in my basement; I imagine a bathtub would work as well. I put a rack of bottles in, wash with PBW for 5 minutes, put the other rack in, wash for 5 minutes. Drain the tub and rinse it good, put a rack in and rinse with clear water, same with second rack. Drain, then fill again with IoStar solution (need to use a low sudsing sanitizer) then run each rack for 5 minutes. The whole process takes about a half hour and much of the time I can putter around doing other things. It may not be cheap, but it’s waayyy better than washing each bottle individually!

[fredthecat]

@neuse

A couple of years ago I changed my bottle cleaning method. Now, I quick rinse immediately after pouring and let stand full of water. When finished drinking, I pour out the water and fill them with a bleach solution - 3/4 tsp bleach per quart of water, increasing the concentration as the jug of bleach ages. When 6 months old, it is half strength. These sit overnight. In the morning I rinse the outside manually with hot water, and use a jet washer for 15 seconds on each with hot water for the inside. I like that better than any other method I’ve tried.

why the bleach solution? did you find issues without it?

[neuse]

@fredthecat

@neuse

A couple of years ago I changed my bottle cleaning method. Now, I quick rinse immediately after pouring and let stand full of water. When finished drinking, I pour out the water and fill them with a bleach solution - 3/4 tsp bleach per quart of water, increasing the concentration as the jug of bleach ages. When 6 months old, it is half strength. These sit overnight. In the morning I rinse the outside manually with hot water, and use a jet washer for 15 seconds on each with hot water for the inside. I like that better than any other method I’ve tried.

why the bleach solution? did you find issues without it?

The bottles didn’t get clean enough with just hot water or with an oxi clean soak, even using a bottle brush. (See Reply #17.) I looked back at my CJHB by Papazian and found that he stated that a bleach solution of 2 oz bleach in 5 gallons of cold water removes most hardened fermentation residue with an overnight soak. This has worked flawlessly.

[majorvices]

@neuse

@fredthecat

@neuse

A couple of years ago I changed my bottle cleaning method. Now, I quick rinse immediately after pouring and let stand full of water. When finished drinking, I pour out the water and fill them with a bleach solution - 3/4 tsp bleach per quart of water, increasing the concentration as the jug of bleach ages. When 6 months old, it is half strength. These sit overnight. In the morning I rinse the outside manually with hot water, and use a jet washer for 15 seconds on each with hot water for the inside. I like that better than any other method I’ve tried.

why the bleach solution? did you find issues without it?

The bottles didn’t get clean enough with just hot water or with an oxi clean soak, even using a bottle brush. (See Reply #17.) I looked back at my CJHB by Papazian and found that he stated that a bleach solution of 2 oz bleach in 5 gallons of cold water removes most hardened fermentation residue with an overnight soak. This has worked flawlessly.

I remember that. Pretty sure I did that too back in the day. Still no difference in my bottles after a good hot rinse thankfully. I just started bottle conditioning again and I enjoy it but if there was scrubbing involved I’d be out!  The bleach isn’t a terrible alternative but so much rinsing involved to get it off. I just soaked my humming bird feeder in a gallon of water with about 2 tsp bleach and it took a really long rinse to get it all off.

[fredthecat]

@neuse

@fredthecat

@neuse

A couple of years ago I changed my bottle cleaning method. Now, I quick rinse immediately after pouring and let stand full of water. When finished drinking, I pour out the water and fill them with a bleach solution - 3/4 tsp bleach per quart of water, increasing the concentration as the jug of bleach ages. When 6 months old, it is half strength. These sit overnight. In the morning I rinse the outside manually with hot water, and use a jet washer for 15 seconds on each with hot water for the inside. I like that better than any other method I’ve tried.

why the bleach solution? did you find issues without it?

The bottles didn’t get clean enough with just hot water or with an oxi clean soak, even using a bottle brush. (See Reply #17.) I looked back at my CJHB by Papazian and found that he stated that a bleach solution of 2 oz bleach in 5 gallons of cold water removes most hardened fermentation residue with an overnight soak. This has worked flawlessly.

i have a few little spots of organic stuff that i have tried hard to remove and they just wont come off.

i have not had any infections though. for me, if it aint broke i wont fix it with bleach. yet. more worried about that because i notice and hate the smell of bleach intensely (more than other people i believe).