I finally plan on bottling my 1st homebrew pale ale today after work. I soaked the bottles in warm water yesterday to get the labels off an soaked some overnight in diluted ammonia due to some mold stuck on the bottom of a few bottles then rinsed with my jet bottle washer this am which worked great. I have the ld carloson no rinse sanitizing powder for keeping everything clean tonight when bottling. Any idea how long the bottles should soak in the sanitary solution? I planned on about an hour? Any thoughts are much appreciated! Cheers!
yeah that would prob be fine, I soak mine in starsan at the same time I bottle, still foam in there but- don't fear the foam from what everyone says.
I bottled for the first time yesterday. The main thing I learned was when using random bottles saved from a variety of breweries, make sure the caps you have will fit them all BEFORE you start. We'll find out in a week or two if I screwed anything else up.
You could have just removed them from the dishwasher on bottle day and used them right after the sanitize cycle was complete.
I generally rinse my bottles well after I enjoy them that way their is no "crust" when it's time to sanitize. I also use starsan. I dunk them in a bucket with about 6" of solution, pour out the solution, fling it a few times in the sink and set it aside until finished for bottling. Bottle caps soak in a large beer glass. So, maybe the first bottle sits 5-8 minutes and the last one 1-2 minutes with never an infected bottle that I drank anyway. As stated they do not have to be bone dry. Also, make sure you have a few extra bottles on deck in case. Better to put them back, than to start hunting for bottles at the last minute. Also, from experience, make sure you have enough caps before you start the process.
OP, sounds like you will be fine. In the future you might want to look into getting some starsan. Great stuff and it only needs 30 secs and the foam is as good as the liquid. That being said, I still prefer to err on the safe side and soak for a few minutes. For removing labels, I have found soaking them in a cooler of hot water with some oxyclean for a couple of hours works wonders.
+1, I always rinse immediately after pouring, then I just dip in starsan shake a bit, empty, and they are ready to bottle. Also, it is a very good idea to have a helper to bring new empties and to cap and box the newly filled ones. Make a drinking evening out of it and it becomes much more fun than a chore. I always have to drink homebrew when I brew/bottle, once you have batches made I suggest you do the same.
