Sanitize bottles in dishwasher but...

Isn't it the high heat from the dry cycle that you need to get good sanitizing?

 

No, it's the steam generated from the hot water rinse. Dry heat is poor at sanitizing, wet heat is far, far better. This is the principle behind a steam sterilizing autoclave. I worry a bit about unfiltered dirty air blowing over the sanitized bottles. This is why I skip the dry cycle.

 

I have used the dishwasher to sanitize my bottles for, well about 6-8 years, prior to my break in brewing. I use it now that I'm back to brewing and have yet to have any issue. I think the most important thing is the cleaning of the bottle, if it isn't clean prior to putting in the dishwasher, you may have problems.

The dishwashers I have used all had a heating element in the bottom, so no forced air movement, just natural heat convection.

 

I've used my dishwasher n many different places since 1999 I've lived and NEVER had a problem. The key to the dishwasher is the heat, for as long as the temperature reaches at least 70 C, that will kill most bugs, which is definition of Sanitized. If the bottles are almost too hot to touch when you take them out immediately after the the cycles have completed, they're sanitized. What I do is even leave the bottles in the dishwasher for hours and keep the dishwasher door shut tight, and as long as ambient air doesn't reach them, they stay sanitized. I only use flip top bottles, so I close them as soon as I pull them out, then they can be used for bottling days later without any risk of infection.

Also, the bottles, as mentioned before, must be free of any particulate matter before going in. The dishwasher can't remove those deep in the bottom of the bottle encrusted mold particles, so the eye test (look through the bottle into the light) is generally good here.

 

I always sanitize bottles using the dishwasher before bottling.

Before sanitizing the bottles I clean the dishwasher itself with one of the commercially available products after removing the screens at the bottom and cleaning them by hand (I do this approximately monthly, anyway). This process helps to keep hard water deposits from building up, which is helpful for dishwasher life (IMHO).

As others have mentioned, the bottles themselves need to first be cleaned. For me this involves rinsing all particulates out of each bottle just after pouring. I also soak each in a Chlorox solution for (at least) a few days before the sanitizing treatment.

 

I don't bottle, but I've been saving some up to beer gun soon to clear out some odd and end kegs, and beers that I want to age more.

I normally just rinse out well, brush them if they have sediment in them, and store them away. When I need to use them, I normally have a bucket/kettle or something with hot PBW in it, brush them all, rinse them all, and then when I go to bottle, I have a bucket of star san. I put as many as I can in there, they fill with star san. Pick one out, pour it out, fill it up, and repeat.

Easy enough. Double that I have PBW mixed up and can clean/soak some other stuff and get dual use from it. Starsan is made up, and can be used for everything else.

 

Rinse immediately, dry upside down completely, then cover with a square of foil to keep out dust. Alternatively you can store then in a beer box upside down to keep out dust, but I prefer the extra security of using foil. Any bottles not in this format I reject (my friends know I'm very picky about taking bottles). Since you need to get them this clean anyway, the dishwasher isn't necessary if you have starsan.

Starsan is the shit. I can't see any dishwasher method really being superior or easier.