Sterilising bottles

[dad_of_jon]

my dishwasher does a heated steam dry, so it does get into all the bottles, I rinse after dishwasing do remove any change of rinse aid killing head.

 

[Dutto]

I've looked at dozens of different types of bottle washers (both DIY and available to purchase) and this one seems to be the best yet!



I like this system because, despite having five different sizes of "bottle brush" in the garage, all to them are difficult to either get through the neck of the bottle or difficult to bend to the right shape to be able to clean the whole surface of the bottle interior.

Unlike the wine bottle in the video, my beer bottles don't have concave bottoms, so they should be easier to clean and I reckon that I can build something similar, using a length of 8mm copper tubing and a cut-off from an old chamois leather.

I'll keep you posted. :thumb:

Update:

Er, I tripped up over a couple of litres of Premium Bitter today (9th) and nodded off! Sorry!

Next chance will be Wednesday when (hopefully) I will be wide awake!

 

[Roger Wilko]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like a big bucket and vwp then

 

[Clint]

Fill each one with neat hydrochloric acid...followed by an industrial strength IPA isopropanol alcohol rinse...that would fix it.

 

[StFlipper]

My method is to combine sterilising the bottles with sterilising a second fermentation bin which is then used for batch priming the brew. In other words I fill a 30L plastic fermentation bucket with VWP to about the 25L mark, sterilise the bottles in it, give the bucket a good rinsing, siphon the beer into it, dissolve the priming sugar into that, then siphon into the bottles. That way the sterilising solution does two jobs for the price of one.

Most 30L buckets can accommodate 16 x 500ml bottles, so 48 bottles (=> 24L) can be done in three goes. I'm always surprised at how long it takes to thoroughly rinse the bottles though - I give every bottle 3 complete fills + empties, and even with a bottle in each hand (one bottle filling under the tap while the other is emptying) it takes well over an hour to do the lot. Something interesting (to me) which I've found is that it's quicker to empty a bottle by holding it still than it is by shaking it vigorously.

I still prefer VWP chlorine based steriliser to no-rinse option, mainly because it cleans as well as sterilises and can also remove any odours of the previous contents, given enough time. Recently I was starting a batch of white wine but found that I'd accidentally ended up brewing beer in all my buckets (I try to keep one just for wines) and they all smelled pretty strongly of IPA, despite having been cleaned thoroughly afterwards. However, after 48 hours filled with a fairly strong VWP solution and then rinsed thoroughly there wasn't even the slightest smell of beer left.

 

[MmmBeer]

As an aside, I find a trick to empty bottles far more quickly when rinsing. Hold a full bottle upside down, then quickly move it around in horizontal circle a couple of times to create a vortex, this draws air up the centre in a constant stream, emptying the bottle in half the time.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Emptying-a-Bottle-Faster/

Great with DJ's.

 

[Tripster]

After having a batch of gushers I decided re- evaluate my bottle cleaning process.

This Is now what I do

After emptying contents of bottle I thoroughly rinse with warm water, when I have about 20-25 bottles I then soak In a solution of oxi for about 10 mins and use the bottle brush on em' I then rinse In cold water after that I put In dishwasher with no detergent when the cycle has finised they go In the oven for 30 mins at 150 when they come out the oven I leave them to cool down a bit and then cover the tops with cling film. when It comes to bottling time I remove clingfilm give em' a blast with star san In the bottle rinser then stick em' on the bottling tree whilst they are draining I sanitize the bottling wand with star san then I'm ready to go. I know It seems a bit OTT but It works for me

 

[StFlipper]

As an aside, I find a trick to empty bottles far more quickly when rinsing. Hold a full bottle upside down, then quickly move it around in horizontal circle a couple of times to create a vortex, this draws air up the centre in a constant stream, emptying the bottle in half the time.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Emptying-a-Bottle-Faster/

Great with DJ's.

That's a neat trick. Just roughly timed some of the options with a 500ml bottle:
a) holding still upside down = 7s
b) vigorously shaking upside down = 8s
c) holding still at 45 degrees upside down = 6s
d) the vortex method = 4-5s
so I guess the bottle in his video was 1L.

 

[chrisbjones202]

Can anyone recommend a decent bottle brush? I've bought a couple over the years but none clean the bottom of the bottles properly when there is some stuck on yeast.

Note I always give the bottles a good rinse after pouring and tried various cleaners.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Dutto]

I knocked this up today from an old chamois leather and a length of copper pipe.

The chamois leather is cut lopsided because when I originally made it with even sides the leather simply wrapped itself round the copper tube rather than flinging itself out sideways to hit the bottle.

I tried it out on both 500ml capped bottles and 650ml flip-top bottles and it works much better than a brush; especially when cleaning the inside shoulder of a bottle. :thumb:

 

[brewhaha]

I knocked this up today from an old chamois leather and a length of copper pipe.

View attachment 14414

The chamois leather is cut lopsided because when I originally made it with even sides the leather simply wrapped itself round the copper tube rather than flinging itself out sideways to hit the bottle.

I tried it out on both 500ml coped bottles and 650ml flip-top bottles and it works much better than a brush; especially when cleaning the inside shoulder of a bottle. :thumb:

Will be trying this as I seem to have a particular issue with shoulder debris!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk