Bottling Day coming up

[Crazygoldfish]

Hello folks,

some newbies questions about bottle and key cleaning.

Im planning to try two methods.

1.Re-use Empty beer torps

https://blog.machanon.net/2018/11/21/hopsy-sub-torp-refillable/
2. Reusing old bottles that have been in my recycle bin since start of lock down.

Read lots of guides on cleaning glass bottles out but wondering if I should soak in sanitizer or something else for longer to ensure clean.

Also wondering if anyone else had experience cleaning out the torps. Now these I did crack open and rinse when I was finished.

thanks

 

[Leon103]

Hello folks,

some newbies questions about bottle and key cleaning.

Im planning to try two methods.

1.Re-use Empty beer torps

https://blog.machanon.net/2018/11/21/hopsy-sub-torp-refillable/
2. Reusing old bottles that have been in my recycle bin since start of lock down.

Read lots of guides on cleaning glass bottles out but wondering if I should soak in sanitizer or something else for longer to ensure clean.

Also wondering if anyone else had experience cleaning out the torps. Now these I did crack open and rinse when I was finished.

thanks

You want to clean them before sanitising the bottles

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Hello mate, I know nothing about torps, but my bottle cleaning regimen is fairly standard, I rinse out bottles after use, wash with no fragrance washing up liquid and scrub with bottle brush, rinse out then dunk in VWP for 10 minutes, bring out, rinse well and leave to dry. Spray with starsan just before bottling.

 

[Clint]

Bottles...you'll need to spend a bit if time with those. Soak in hot water and scrub to remove the labels. Those plastic type labels I leave on..
I then give them a good thrashing inside with hot oxi and a bottle brush. My last lot,which were really filthy were then left in a bleach soak in a big tub for a few days before another bottle brushing and a good rinse. They are now sparkling!
Oh...they then get stored on the bottle tree until needed...on the day they get a rinse and sanitised.

 

[Galena]

If they have been laying around unrinsed for a long time they will need a really good clean with VWP or similar and a bottle brush then sanitise.
My regime is similar to pilgrimhudd, rinse after drinking, soak and remove label, rinse and store. Morning of bottling, clean with VWP and bottle brush, rinse than sanitise with starsan in one of the bottle plunger things, drain and then bottle the ale

 

[Crazygoldfish]

Brilliant thanks everyone - bathtub won’t be an option as wife would probably cut me, but I’ll figure something out

 

[Galena]

I use THESE to sanitise the bottles prior to bottling, it means nothing goes inside the bottle

 

[dad_of_jon]

I then give them a good thrashing inside with hot oxi and a bottle brush.

This sprung to mind! -

 

[Clint]

That's not unheard of....

 

[Crazygoldfish]

Ok so my cheapo baby bottle brush didn’t fit. So I’ve ordered a proper brush off amazon.

I washed the bottles out with boiling hot water with washing up liquid, then a little Oxy clean.

also gave a rinse and then filled with no rinse sodium percarbonate.

When the brush arrives ’ll give them a good scrub and then sanitise again.
The beer torps I gave a good wash out with hot water + washing up liquid.
Rinsed a few times and will leave them filled with sanitiser overnight.

Questions.

1. Will that be enough?

2.Should I let them dry completely or just make sure there’s no excessive sanitizer left?

thanks

 

[starseeker]

What are you using to sanitise ?

 

[Clint]

Oxy clean is sodium percarbonate...

 

[starseeker]

Oxy clean is sodium percarbonate...

That was what i was asking for really ,as this is a cleaner not sanitiser ?

 

[Crazygoldfish]

What are you using to sanitise ?

No rinse sodium percarbonate

 

[starseeker]

Most people only use oxy (sodium percarbonate) to clean ,and then use a sanitiser like starsan /chemsan, thin bleach/white vinegar etc to sanitise ,if you use the search function you will find a few pages of info on the subject :)

 

[Petrolhead]

I cut the handle off my bottle brush and fit it into my bat drill, brush is a bit small tbh but still gives a good scrub.

Another tip from a forumite was to buy some small stainless ball bearings, cheap on Amazon, and if you have any particularly grubby areas which are difficult to get to such as the base a quick swirl with the bb’s does the trick.

 

[stan.distortion]

For demijohns I use washed coarse sand, it used to be common before scouring pads where invented. It would work fine for bottles, half a handful and enough water to give it a good shaking and swill around and it will scour off pretty much any stuck on grime. If the bottles are well rinsed after use then there's no need, I boil mine before bottling because that's the way I've always done it but a damn good rinse and a blast in the oven is a common way of sterilising and probably a lot easier (about 180 deg C iirc).