Cleaning bottles

[Piggle]

Hi all

Just wondering how you all go about cleaning and sterilising your wine bottles prior to bottling? Got 120 bottles that need doing tomorrow. Easiest way of doing it would be best as I'm a lazy person.

Cheers

 

[oldbloke]

It's best to do them as you empty them into your gullet, rinse same day, leave no more than a couple of days, sanitise, cap, store. Standard Monday job on the weekend's bottles.
I can get 8 500ml or 6 750ml in my sink, with a gallon of sanitiser made up I can fill those, leave 20 minutes, see if anything nasty comes out and re-do if it does.
Repeat as req'd

120 to do, not previously cleaned... Nightmare. Hope you have a good bottle brush!
A 30 minute no-soap dishwasher run can't hurt.

 

[graysalchemy]

I would stack them into the bath fill with warm water and add plenty of oxy cleaner leave for about an hour and then rince them through. Jobs a goodun. :thumb:

 

[Maysie]

Anyone tried sticking their bottle brush on the end of a cordless drill?

I have over 1000 bottles in my barn which need a good soak and scrub. The bottles had previously been stacked on a pallet outside, so got very wet and covered in crud which has since dried on.
I soak them in a plastic box full of soda crystal solution for 20-30mins, then scrub each one in turn before rinsing and sanitising. I usually do them by hand in 80-120 bottle batches, but its getting quite tiresome now!

Obviously when done once, they are much easier to do the following time around as I rinse each one as I go.

 

[graysalchemy]

Have you tried Oxy? I get bottles from a bar which are left outside for months before they are collected. They come up a treat just soaking in oxy.

 

[Maysie]

Hi Grays, no I haven't, but I think I need to!
What exactly am I after and where can I get it?

I have another 100 bottle batch to do for a friend of mine this weekend, so will give it a try.
Does it get rid of cobwebs too, as they seem particularly hard to get rid of.

My bottle scrubbing is probably a bit OTT, but I am obviously keen that ALL traces of the crud are removed before I use them for the first time.

 

[oldbloke]

Any of the modern cleansers with Oxy in the name, but you want an unscented one, which is often cheapest at a garden centre.

 

[Maysie]

I just bought 2 x 1kg tubs of Wizz Oxi Powder from Tescos. Ingredients seem to be Sodium Carbonate Peroxyhydrate and oxygen bleaching agents.
Will give it a try at the weekend.

May also try my drill/bottle brush idea and see how it goes (if needed). :idea:

 

[Moley]

Got 120 bottles that need doing tomorrow.

I have over 1000 bottles in my barn which need a good soak and scrub. ........ I usually do them by hand in 80-120 bottle batches

:shock: The most I've ever done in one session is around 40 bottles.

:hat: :hat: :hat:

 

[Maysie]

:shock: The most I've ever done in one session is around 40 bottles.

:hat: :hat: :hat:

That sounds like a day off!

 

[whiter shade of ale]

I just bought 2 x 1kg tubs of Wizz Oxi Powder from Tescos. Ingredients seem to be Sodium Carbonate Peroxyhydrate and oxygen bleaching agents.
Will give it a try at the weekend.

May also try my drill/bottle brush idea and see how it goes (if needed). :idea:

That's the stuff i use. Although if you can get to a poundland/home bargains type establishment it's much cheaper (looking at your location that's probably a no!)

 

[Maysie]

I do have two relatively nearby Poundlands to choose from, but the drive to them and parking charges wipes out any saving.
Thanks for the tip though, as I may grab a batch when I am next passing by. :thumb:

 

[Maysie]

Welcome to the future of bottle-cleaning home-brewers.....

As promised in an earlier post, I introduce the BottleBrush-o-Matic!





Works a treat too! :thumb:

 

[Berk]

That looks like a serious piece of hardware. :geek: When can we expect the youtube video of it in use?

 

[Maysie]

That looks like a serious piece of hardware. :geek: When can we expect the youtube video of it in use?

I can just about manage to shove a bottle brush into the end of a drill and have also just managed to upload a photo to the forum using PhotoBucket, but I am afraid YouTube is way beyond my patience threshold!!

 

[Berk]

Fair enough. I'll go the old fashioned way and use my imagination.

*drifts off into a world of loud whirring, and water being sent flying everywhere* :rofl:

 

[Maysie]

You would be surprised, it is actually quite a controlled process - so long as you keep the bristles in the bottle and below the water line.
I was worried about water flying everywhere, but I made less mess than I would doing it normally.

I think next time I will have the water hotter and add a few more scoops of oxi-powder as the cleaning on the outside of the bottles was so-so despite a good soak and scrub with a scourer pad.
The insides are great though - due to the BottleBrush-o-Matic! :