draining bottles

[Robbo851]

Hi, I've seen the draining trees for bottles but I haven't got one yet and I've spent to much on this hobby recently to go out and get one but I have to sterilize 40 odd bottles soon. Does anyone have a DIY solution or do you just turn upside down on the draining board? just a bit worried about one falling and them all smashing.

 

[braziliain]

I turn a crate upside down and poke back through the hole from the bottom.

 

[Robbo851]

don't have a crate

 

[WierdFish]

Get yourself a plank of wood and drill 2 rows of 20 holes, big enough to take the neck of a bottle (or go wider and shorter, 4 lines of 10). Screw a block of wood at each end (maybe one in the middle if using a long piece of wood) to hold the bottles off the ground. Like this, or...

Or maybe something like this home made bottle tree instead.

 

[phildo79]

That looks like it would take up quite a bit of room.
I used to soak my bottles in the bath with 200ml of thin bleach. Drain as many as I could fit into a cardboard beer box, bring downstairs to rinse and fill. It's tedious.
Recently I started a new method. 6 litres of water into an FV with adequate amount of 'no rinse' sanitiser. I find you can only get 2 x 500ml bottles in at a time but you just plop another 2 in straight away for a soak whilst you fill the two you have just taken out. I prefer this method as everything is to hand, no more traipsing up and down the stairs and no more using bleach.
Having said that, I recently bought a corny keg because I had reached the end of my tether when it came to bottling up.

 

[Robbo851]

Get yourself a plank of wood and drill 2 rows of 20 holes, big enough to take the neck of a bottle (or go wider and shorter, 4 lines of 10). Screw a block of wood at each end (maybe one in the middle if using a long piece of wood) to hold the bottles off the ground. Like this, or...

Or maybe something like this home made bottle tree instead.

great response, thanks very much looks like I have a diy project although concerns about storing it.

I found this

looks like it would be easy enough to sterilize and wont break the budget though obviously wont be able to strain them all at once

 

[Cwrw666]

I just have a strip of 1 x 2 inch wood with nails knocked in every few inches. The bottle neck fits on the nail and leans against the wall. Can do 5 at a time. I use it after cleaning the bottles most days.
I sanitise with boiling water just before filling so that's a non rinse sanitiser I reckon.

 

[DavidDetroit]

Bottom dishwasher rack removed from dishwasher. If you don't have one, getting one for free should be simple.

 

[Robbo851]

Bottom dishwasher rack removed from dishwasher. If you don't have one, getting one for free should be simple.

that is so simple yet I would never have thought of it which is why forums are great. I think my mum has a dishwasher she never uses so i'll borrow/steal that.

cheers

 

[Ciaran12s]

When the bottles have been cleaned, spray some no rinse sanitiser in, seal up using the old lids, give them a shake and they're ready to go next bottling day. I keep a pan beside where im bottling and shake out as much sanitiser from each bottle in to it while filling another. I hate cleaning and sterilizing a batch of bottles on bottling day. I've never had a bad bottle with this method.

 

[MyQul]

Before I got a drainer (FastRack) I just used the cardboard box my Coopers kit came in. I'd just carefully stack the PET bottles upside down leaning against one another. When it came to the next bottling day the box had dried out

 

[cushyno]

I don't bother with a drainer. This is the 2 stage process I use:

Stage 1 - removing labels & cleaning

1. Batch of 10 bottles in a sink of hot water. Leave to soak.
2. Remove labels by hand if possible.
3. Scrape labels off with the back of a kitchen knife.
4. Scrub off the remaining glue+paper with steel wool pan scourer.
5. Rinse.
6. Fill with VWP solution using a funnel. Leave to stand 10 mins.
7. (Meanwhile start cleaning another 10 bottles)
8. Pour out half of VWP into bucket.
9. Use bottle brush to scrub inside.
10. Pour out remaining VWP solution into bucket.
11. Rinse with cold water 3x.
12. Drain upside down in plastic box with newspaper in bottom. Tilt box so that it's easy to stack bottles beside each other.
13. Cover box with an old sheet or binbag.
14. Leave in garage until needed.

Stage 2 - Sanitise

1. Take two bottles, spray in or pour in some made up StarSan solution.
2. Shake with thumb over end of bottles.
3. Use bottle brush again on bottle 1 if more than a couple of weeks since cleaning.
4. Leave for a minute while doing bottle 2.
5. Shake again.
6. Pour out StarSan from bottle 1 to bottle 3 and repeat with bottle 2.
7. When all 40 bottles have been done, pour out more dribbles of the remaining StarSan
8. Add priming sugar solution using a syringe
9. Fill with beer.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I assume that the discussion is about draining bottles prior to storage.
If you are sanitising the bottles just prior to bottling they don't need to be dry.
I sanitise immediately before filling, in batches of 6 bottles - pour in a small amount of solution, shake, pour out and dip the spout in the solution. I don't bother with "total immersion" for sanitising.
EDIT - in the past I have thought about using a storage container and garden wire to make a draining box. Create a grid with the wire to support the inverted bottles and either paper towels to absorb the drainings, or drill holes in the base to allow the drainings to run away.

 

[Keats]

I use a shelf from a greenhouse over the sink.

https://goo.gl/images/nfumwg

 

[DavidDetroit]

I use a shelf from a greenhouse over the sink.

https://goo.gl/images/nfumwg

That's a nice idea, with the wider spaces.

 

[Mike in Borneo]

I use two large plastic storage boxes that hold 24 x 650ml bottles each. I constructed plastic interlocking dividers, like the cardboard ones you get in a commercial box of bottles, but waterproof. Now I have two multipurpose storage boxes, holding 48 bottles snugly:

1. Normal storage for cleaned empty bottles, with the lid on (to keep our tropical bugs out!)
2. Drainage container after sanitising with StarSan. The bottles go in upside down to drain, so that the bottle mouths stayed sanitised as they sit in the drained StarSan at the bottom of the container.
3. Immediately after bottling and capping, returned to container right way up, and rinse off all bottles in container with hose-pipe.
4. Storage container for conditioning the bottles (opaque with lid on, so no light gets in).
5. For a session with friends, chuck a bag of ice cubes into the container for some chilled down amber nectar.

Got 33 x 650 ml bottles of Young's American IPA conditioning in the boxes right now. Can't wait!

Mike

 

[DavidDetroit]

Does anyone else use the Vinator Bottle Washer?

Just fill the base with Starsan.

 

[Brightonnik]

Further to the dishwasher rack, go to your local pub/restaurant and ask if they have any spare racks.

Coincidently my one holds 40 bottles which is usually how many beers I end up bottling.

 

[MmmBeer]

Does anyone else use the Vinator Bottle Washer?
View attachment 16322
Just fill the base with Starsan.

I use one of those with a 45 bottle tree, one of the best brewing investments I have made.

 

[Linalmeemow]

I use one of those with a 45 bottle tree, one of the best brewing investments I have made.

I've got a similar model. Knocked at least an hour off bottling day.