Same for me. I’ve been using the dishwasher for bottling for years now. I put the bottling bucket on the counter above the dishwasher and sit on a stool in front. All the drips land on the door of the dishwasher instead of the floor and cleanup after basically involves closing the dishwasher door.
The key for me is rinsing bottles with hot water immediately after pouring out the contents.
BUT, last night I drank a 3 year old porter that was in the back of the beer fridge. After a couple of rinses there were two small spots on the bottom of the bottle. I added a small amount of TSP and some hot water and let it soak for a while then gave it a good shake and poured out the contents in a glass in case I needed to do a second cleaning. A ton of gunk came out that I hadn’t seen. Other than the two spots I really thought the bottle looked clean. It really made me rethink my process. Granted, this was a 3 year bottle-conditioned beer, so had a fair amount of sediment, but it made me wonder.
I always rinse my bottles right after pouring 3x with about half bottle of water then let them drain until dry. Before bottling I inspect and if no debris seen I rinse with starsan pouring from one to the next. If I see debris I spray a little diluted clorox inside then let sit until other bottles are sanitized then rinse out clorox 3X . Never had a problem in 20+ years, In fact before starsan was popular I always used diluted clorox. Never have used dishwasher.
I have been sterilizing bottles that are pre-cleaned, in the dishwasher for 3 decades with never a problem. The technique is simple but you must combine the best of both approaches. No soap, PBW, or especially rinse aid, should be present. A recently used dishwasher is fine. Just be sure the trap is clean. Load the clean bottles - the rinse function is very effective in modern washers but should not replace a bottle brush. Start the washer on sanitize cycle and listen for the fill part of the cycle to finish and the first sounds of actual water spraying to be audible. Open the door and add 1 cup bleach to the water in the bottom and close. Perfect sanitized bottles every time. Curt.
I’m another with 2+ decades of sanitizing in the dishwasher with great success. And I concur: The bottles need to be clean BEFORE going into the dishwasher. No cleaning product, no rinse aid. Be sure to use the drying cycle. That will get the bottles good and hot and steamy. Keep the dishwasher closed (if possible) until you’re ready to use the bottles.
I do your step 1. religiously and drain thoroughly. I consider it the MOST important step.
On bottle day, I give each bottle two pumps of StarSan in a Ferrari Bottle Sanitizer (vinerator) and drain in a Fastrack bottle drain. The Fastrack is more compact than a bottle tree and doesn’t touch the inside of the bottle.
That’s it! In 4+ years I’ve never had a bad bottle of beer.
Note: This is only for beers that I’ve consumed and know that I’ve done step 1. Others get the whole soak/scrub/sanitize routine.
