Extreme noob question - clean bottles?

When I'm reusing bottles (from commercial beer) for the first time, I'll soak them all in Oxyclean for a few days to take off the labels and allow any gunk in the bottles to dissolve. After that, I do what others have mentioned, rinse well after each use and then dry and store. Before I use them again, I rinse again and sanitize very soon before bottling.

 

I'm in the rinse and StarSan camp. It will reduce all microorganisms to negligible levels. I used to cover the lids in foil and bake the bottles for hour in the oven at 350, but I decided it was overkill after reading more books on homebrewing and talking to people at my homebrew supply.

 

Yea, don't use detergent. Just the High Heat Sterilize Setting. I put a drop of iodine in each bottle before I run it and after I drain them into the sink, shake them dry the best I can, and bottle.

 

I've touched upon this in other threads..but I really wonder how hard it is to infect a batch, esp through stuff like rinsed out bottles, etc. I've made one gallon batches with intentionally 'poor' sanitation practices (ie: no starsan, just hot water rinses/cleanses on anything touching the wort, but still ensuring they are 'clean') and have yet to have something go awry. Might have to do with each of these experimental batches being really hoppy ipas, but it's interesting regardless.

 

My regiment looks like this.

Drink beer
Soak in oxi clean or PBW
Rinse
Dishwasher on sanitize
Soak in star san
Fill
Cap on foam

If new glass:
Dishwasher on sanitize
Soak in star san
Fill
Cap on foam

Never had an issue, even with filling from a keg

 

I guess I do things the easy way. I rinse out a couple times when I empty the bottle.
WHen it's time for filling, I rinse one more time, then do the "look down the neck out the window / at a light bulb" think (Make sure you drain it well; I've gotten more than one eyeful of water this way...)
Presuming everything looks clean, I dunk in Starsan for a couple minutes, then put in the box upside down on a clean paper towel. If it doesn't look clean, I either put it aside for recycling if it looks real gross in there, or if it's a bit of gunk (mold gets straight to recycling) I wash with bottle brush and return to coda.

 

you need to run the dishwasher on the hottest temp setting you have and use the heat dry, all without detergent and rinse aid. basically you are steaming the bottles to get rid of any unwanted living things that may cause funk or bombs. you do need to start with clean bottles.

basically I drink and then rinse the bottles several times (until I cant see anything by holding up to light or smell beer) with hot water, let them dry and store. These bottles are "clean" but not sanitized. then the night before bottling day I line them up in the bottom rack of the dishwasher upside down and run the washer. next day they are sanitized and cool enough to add beer.

some people have suggested adding a little bleach to the detergent part, but I never do this. a guy who worked at a homebrew store advised against this, he said the bleach can eat little pits in the glass which would make it very difficult to get this part of the bottle clean in the future.

 

My process for bottling with used bottles is: I consume the beer, rinse the bottle out good and put it in a case upside down to dry. On bottling day I pull out my case of bottles, grab a bottle, squirt a bunch of starsan mix into it using a vinator bottle rinser, fill bottle with beer, cap. Rinse and repeat until the whole batch is bottled. I've never had an infection, and that includes beers that I have aged for as long as 5 years. Seems like some homebrewers go overkill on this, but whatever works for you.

 

Never had a problem with detergent from the dishwasher. My old kenmore doesn't have a sterilize setting. I just use Finish tabs.

 

After I drink a brew I triple rinse with hot water. Then on bottling day I give them all quick swab with a bottle brush and bath in star San. Then hang em out to dry. Some nights with the guys I can't be a nanny and keep track if bottles are washed out. So I hit em with a brush. Just good cleaning and sanitation, I wouldn't want to drink out of the same coffee cup over and over just by rinsing it out.

 

This is my exact method also, and I've never had an issue with carbonation or bottle bombs. Can get a batch of 50 bottles washed and sanitized in about 45 minutes. The only reason it takes that long is because my bottle tree doesn't have enough tiers/limbs to fit all 50 bottles on it (I know I can buy an extra tier to add to I just haven't really felt the need) so I have to wait for the first batch of bottles to try before finishing the rest.

 

Why wait for them to dry? I'd just give them the required 2-3 minutes for the StarSan to do its thing and then take them off to make room for the rest of the bottles. Don't fear the foam!

 

I rinse out with water then let it dry then a couple of squirts of sanitiser on the bottling day

If there is a bit of crud there then it'll get a half hour soak in percarbonate, then rinse then dry.

I've never had a bottle bomb from doing that, the only time I've had an infection was from my boiler that I used as a bottling bucket, an old hop from the previous brew had got stuck in the tap and I didn't notice until I started to fill the bottles.

 

If you use detergent you run the risk of killing your foam. Its not a risk I'm comfortable taking. To mitigate it, a really good rinse is needed. Behind those closed doors in the dishwasher, I don't trust that its rinsing the inside extremely well, especially since some bottle will have some water still in them at the end (with at least some soap in it if you use detergent).

If you don't have sterilize setting I'm sure you have a hot temp setting, which is basically what I meant.

 

I try to be diligent about rinsing bottles I plan to reuse for bottling immediately after drinking them. The day before I bottle, I soak the bottles in OxiClean and rinse thoroughly with hot water. On bottling day, each bottle gets a few squirts of Star San from the viniator right before I fill it.

 

Yeah, I don't know. I know the foam isn't supposed to cause any problems but I'm still a little bit paranoid about filling up my bottles with beer while there's still StarSan foam hanging around in some of the bottles. Just doesn't seem right to me even though I know it's fine.

 

Sure, we all take whatever risks we are comfortable with. I have laughably never had a problem with my foam in the bottled beer being killed. I chuckle because, we've been maybe more on the other side of that problem. I think it is influenced by what your water quality is. Mine is on the tad hard side. Softened hard water may not do as good of a job. (I do NOT have a water softener, I think those things are largely evil). YOu can read your DW manual and see how much water it's using and when it uses it.

I don't ever have bottles with water in at the end, it may be the peculiarity of my own dishwasher or whatnot.

I always put them in the bottom rack in the middle.

anyway, everyone's dishwasher is different, the water quality will be different, and the cycles will be different.

I've had no problems with my kenmore and finish, but obviously ymmv.