I discovered last night during a bottling session that my previous routine of rinsing a bottle out after opening a beer is woefully inadequate. I started inspecting the bottles with a light and half of them were still very dirty. They had a film that covered the inside, a ring at the top, yeast spots, or all 3. Mind you I have been reusing these bottles for years and entering, and winning many competitions with beers in these bottles. I am surprised all the beers were not infected. Most of them were higher alcohol Belgian beers so maybe that helped keep infection down.
After coming to this revelation last night I proceeded to put hot PBW in each bottle, shake it vigorously, then clean it with a bottle brush before rinsing it and giving it a few sanitzer quirts (from my bottle tree attachment). So, at least the two batches of beer I bottled last night a were in nice clean bottles.
I’ve seen this in some of my bottles recently, too. They look clean on a cursory inspection, but not under a good light. These were champagne bottles that had held a variety of strong Belgians and/or saisons.
Sadly, I really only noticed when I put one that I thought was clean on a bottle washer and stuff kept coming out.
Hmmm interesting… I’ve always poured a beer and rinse the bottle. I get the bottle about a quarter of the way full, cover the top with my thumb, and shake the bajeezus out of it, then rinse again. The bottles got into a “dirty bottle” stash before that pile gets out of hand… Then they will get soaked from anywhere from 6-24 hours in oxiclean. They get rinsed again and dried. Before bottling, I sanitize my bottles in the dish washer with high heat. I’ve never had any issues, and I’ve never thought about using a brush… Maybe I will now after reading this.
Typically, I rinse clean and let them dry. Check them and sanitize prior to bottling. The oxyclean soak isn’t something I’ve typically been doing bottles that appear visually clean. It appears to be needed more regularly. FWIW, the beer that left the film had been bottled for years and the saison definitely had gotten oxidized and funky.
I do this. I basically rinse/shake/empty/repeat until the rinse water runs clear, then rinse one more time. Still, the OP’s finding makes me want to do a QC check on a dozen bottles or so to ensure that I’m not missing anything.
I am not good about rinsing out my bottles, and neither are my friends or roommate, so I always do a long soak in oxyclean and warm water a few days before bottling. Then I “power wash” them with one of those spring-loaded bottle/carboy washers that screws onto the sink. This usually gets all the chunks and stains out, but I always inspect in front of a light before moving to sanitation. If they still look grimy, back into the soak they go and repeat.
Haven’t had any infection issues from bottles since I got the power washer.
Me too. I scrutinize each bottle and can tell if there is anything left in there by the way the water behaves.
Once the bottles are thoroughly rinsed and stored upside down in boxes I can utilize the sanitize feature on the DW with water only on any given bottling day. Even if I haven’t touched the bottles in six months.
I am not the best with cleaning my bottles after emptying them but I always check before refilling. If it doesn’t look clean in the light then I don’t use it. Instead it goes back to the sink for a more detailed cleaning and then it goes back in the stock for use in the future. If the bottle passes the visual test it gets a rinse to get out any dust and then hit with star-san.
Man, i get the same ring thing in the necks. Bottle washing is such a pain; most dreaded chore in the whole craft.What causes the ring? I was wondering if it might be iodophor residue. I have tried to pare down my used bottles, and having so many different types isnt a help either. I wish ther was an easier way.
That ring is frequently organic material. With my bottles, brett and wild ales tend to leave rings, but so do some clean beers, such as certain long bottle-aged batches.
Removing this ring (and other debris) is easy as long as you have a safe place to let your bottles stand for a few days. For me, that’s the tiled laundry room counter.
I put a small amount of bleach in each bottle and then fill the rest of the way with water. Forget about them for a week and then empty them, rinse and invert to dry. Do this as bottles become available, and you have a nice clean supply of bottles at your command.
Of course, gotta keep kids and pets away. And it helps with my wife that I volunteered for permanent laundry duty.
I guess I’ve been lucky. Rinse well after use. Run them through the dishwasher - has “sani-temp” no heat dry. store upside down in box until brewday. One-Step sanitizer soak before bottling. We put an eye on them at each step and we may have one or two culls that have to go back through again.
I have typically done a good vigorous rinse (2 - 3X) as described by several already right after pouring and stored them until the next bottling day. The day before bottling, I usually run them all through the hot rinse in the dishwasher on a spare bottom rack for the outsides, then do a hard and hot rinse with a jet bottle washer for the inside. Lastly I fill them all with a StarSan solution with the bottle filler and then drain the StarSan back into the bucket and place them upside down back on the spare dishwasher rack.
Maybe every third time or so I will soak them in a utility sink filled with PBW laced water in lieu of the dishwasher rinse. Occasionally/rarely during this I’ll notice scraps of film when I drain the PBW out of a bottle or two.
Been a while since I’ve bottled but usually I scrub inside and out in hot soapy water. I use no fragrance natural soap. Rinse well and dry. Then on bottle day I soak in no rinse starsan and drip dry on a bottle tree. Never came close to any problems
Yep, that’s it! I do this minus the PBW, just store them clean and sanitize with Starsan. I keep a spray bottle of Starsan under my sink too and try to hit them after the initial rinse most of the time too. I have enough bottles now that when I come across a dirty one prior to bottling I toss it in the recycling bin(and curse the person who did a lousy job rinsing it…couldn’t have been me!)
