sanitizing bottles / bottling day

If after dumping the Star San there is indeed 100% coverage of the liquid within the bottle that could be the case. After pouring out the liquid I would question whether you do indeed have 100% coverage for the allotted time (1-2 minutes) but perhaps you have the facts here?

Cheers!

 

No facts, just common sense, but I have never known a bottle to dry inside within a minute. I agree that it would definitely be worthwhile to confirm, though.

Another option is to fill, say, ten bottles at a time, let them sit for a minute, then pour each of them into another ten bottles, etc. That way, 60 bottles (just over five gallons) could be sterilized in less than 10 minutes, using less than a gallon of Starsan.

 

I do basically the same thing as the OP. Differences are: I rinse the bottle when it is first emptied pretty well, then put in into a cardboard case box.
When I start the bottling day, I look down into the bottle (against a light) to make sure there isn't anything in there. If there is, the bottle goes in the recycle bin - I have plenty of bottles so losing a couple of them isn't a big deal.
I'll rinse again at the sink, to get out dust and stuff that may have settled, then dunk in the bucket of sanitizer. I can fit 8 bottles in a Home Depot homer bucket, so about 3 rounds will get the 2 cases a 5-gallon batch will fill.
I leave them for about 5 minutes, I'm usually doing other things at the time, like getting the rest of my equipment out, boiling priming sugar and so on, so I'm not just sitting there waiting.
When I take the bottles out, I dump them back in the bucket (swirl it upside down gets the liquid out faster) and put them upside down in those cases, with a piece of clean paper towel underneath. Take out 3 at a time to fill.
I've never had an infected bottle (yet) with this procedure.

 

That sounds like a good idea to me.

Cheers!

 

I do the same as most here are describing: fill bottles, dump, fill more bottles. My biggest problem is foam...I know, I know, don't fear the foam. But it is aggravating when the bottom half of my bottles are all foam. Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid foam when you dump the Starsan out of the bottles?

 

That is an issue. Although it technically doesn't matter, it still makes a mess when filling the bottles, as the foam then flows out. What I usually do is place the sterilized bottles upside down on a sterilized bottle tree, and let as much of the foam drip out as possible. Every once in a while, I might shake the bottles vigorously as well. You will always still have a little foam, but in a way it might be helpful, since it will spill over the opening of the bottles and sterilize the edge of the opening before capping. You can throw the caps in a small container of StarSan solution and retrieve them as needed.

 

I have just been using my oven to sanitize lately. It only takes 5 minutes the night before to load the oven. The next morning the bottles are ready to go.

 

I haven't bottled in years now, but I always did the bathtub thing.

I'd always rinse the bottle after drinking. I'd fill the tub full of cleaner, toss all the bottles in, drain. Then do the same with sanitizer. Shake dry and put in box or whatever.

Then the next day fill with beer. I kinda liked bottling, but I found kegging to be a little easier, for a few other reasons.

 

That is what I used to do but if you have a dishwasher with a sanitizing or high heat mode it is so much quicker.

 

From how to brew.
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/brewing-preperations/sanitation/sanitizing-your-equipment

I use 350F for an hour. Cover the mouth of the bottle with little aluminum foil, crimped on before baking, and it will stay sterile.

 

285 degrees for 3 hours.

 

I've read that heating bottles might weaken them. That never made sense to me because bottles are made buy using a massive amount of heat. But, it always made me wonder if there is even a little proof to support that theory/rumor?

 

The topic of sanitizing bottles in the oven was previously discussed in this thread: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bottle-sanitization-in-oven.25219/

@jmartino posted: “You can effectively sanitize clean bottles in the oven at 170-180f for 10-20 minutes. Above 140F, bacterial replication is inhibited.”

I bolded the word sanitize since there a bit of discussion on sanitize vs. sterilize in that thread.

Cheers!

 

Can the glass bottles handle that much heat without cracking?

 

I put them in and take the heat up slow. Bake. Then when it goes off I leave them in until the next day. It is not an annealing oven, but I have not had any problems for the intended use - filling and sending off to competitions. So they don't get multiple cycles from me. A good point that you raised.

 

I'm curious, and I hope I'm not going off-topic. It appears that a few homebrewers feel that sanitization is good enough, while others take the extra step of sterilization. For those that sterilize, what are the arguments in favor of doing so? Does it really make much difference? I can see it's value if you have used the equipment previously for making a sour beer, but is it necessary for equipment used with regular brewing yeast?

 

Never have had a bottle crack or break after this, always letting it cool with th door closed.

Sanitation is fine. For major competitions I sterilize for no more than belts and suspenders reasons. Hated it way back when, when the score sheet said it gushed. Some of that was from bottles loaned to friends who did not rinse after use. I am more careful now with bottles. I also keg almost every beer, and bottle for competitions.

 

This may be a rookie mistake but what I did (for my second batch ever) was dunk the bottles with StarSan until full, let them sit for a couple minutes in my sanitizing bucket, THEN I used a bottle brush to clean.

Problem: Once I set the bottles out to be filled, there was a lot of sanitizing foam left in the bottles. I kept remembering the videos that said "don't fear the foam" so I went along pouring my bottles and capping them.

Will all that remaining sanitizing foam destroy my beer? Thanks for all the help.