gytski Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Hey Up, I'm new to the home brewing and after doing a American IPA in a keg which turned out nice I am now doing a lager which I am wanting to bottle. I have brand new pet coopers bottles and was wondering the best way to clean them before use. I was considering placing them into a big bowl with cleaner/sanitizer and leaving for a short while before giving a good rinse with cold water then rinse again with warm water. Also I was going to do the same with the caps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RepSpec Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 ive got an 80ltr tub half fill it with water and Miltons sterilizing solution. Fit as many bottles in and caps and fill them, let them sit for 15mins, empty and rest on the bottle tree. Seems to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Firstly we need to know what cleaner/sanitiser you have? I'd suggest soaking them in sodium percarbonate (or Napisan, Aldi Di-San), then rinsing thoroughly before spraying them out with a no-rinse sanitiser like Starsan. Let them drain a bit then fill with beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark D Pirate Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 New bottles shouldn't need a soak in sodium perc , a quick spritz of starsan and fill them up There are plenty of generic branded phosphoric acid based sanitisers on market , dirt cheap and a bottle lasts for years . After drinking the bottles a good rinse and an overnight soak in sodium perc is a great way to keep them clean Don't leave them soak too long or you get a white build up that's a pita to remove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 I used to get a white residue from the nappy cleaners if they were soaked and it evaporated a bit but I've never had any of that with pure percarbonate. All it leaves behind is sodium carbonate, which has a soapy feel to it but easily rinses off with hot water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gytski Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Sorry, should have said what I'm using. I've got a tub of Wilko steriliser/cleaner but I can get something else instead, I was going to use this for cleaning the FV out afterwards but been told its ok for doing the bottles with as long as its well rinsed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 It'd be nice if they told you what was actually in the stuff. What's it say on the container? In any case, you might as well use what you have while you have it. It can always be replaced with percarbonate later when it runs out. Unless of course that's what it is. ED: It appears that stuff is percarbonate from a couple of forum posts elsewhere. It can just be used as a soaker in warm water then rinsed with hot water the next day or whenever. It's funny reading posts from people who clearly have no idea what they're talking about in relation to it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 lol[/img] I'm certainly one who has no idea! I bought a bottle of sanitiser from the brew shop and they said just mix it up with 30ml / litre of water then rinse bottles, FV etc. drain and use. No soaking time, no rinsing. Granted you had to wash them at some point with hot water and sometimes mild detergent. There was no mention of minutes or hours of soaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryano2 Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 soaking them in sodium percarbonate (or Napisan' date=' Aldi Di-San), then rinsing thoroughly before spraying them out with a no-rinse sanitiser like Starsan. Let them drain a bit then fill with beer. [/quote'] This is my method, works a treat! never had an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beervis Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I don't bother sanitising my bottles anymore, it's a lot of effort and I probably only get 1 dodgy bottle out of every 50 or 60. Seriously! I do soak them for a few hours in cleaner first then rinse. I don't clean the new bottles or rinse them or anything and I haven't had any trouble with that either. Beauty of the pet's is they're disposable so they just go in the trash if they're giving me too much trouble. Thoroughly rinsing them out after you're done drinking them has made the biggest improvement for me. Can't let that sediment dry out or it's much more difficult to clean. My LHBS sell alkaline salts as the cleaner, but I haven't been able to see any reason that it would be better than sod perc or any of the other products out there. Curious if anyone else might know anything about it? the alk salts aren't the most cost effective product for sure, but they seem to do a really good job soaking the bottles. It makes good sense to do some research about this, to cut on costs. An example: Mangrove Jacks's cleaner (not steriliser) is just sod carb in a tiny bottle for big $$. Could get triple the quantity for less at Coles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I don't bother sanitising my bottles anymore' date=' it's a lot of effort and I probably only get 1 dodgy bottle out of every 50 or 60. Seriously! I do soak them for a few hours in cleaner first then rinse. I don't clean the new bottles or rinse them or anything and I haven't had any trouble with that either. Beauty of the pet's is they're disposable so they just go in the trash if they're giving me too much trouble. Thoroughly rinsing them out after you're done drinking them has made the biggest improvement for me. Can't let that sediment dry out or it's much more difficult to clean. My LHBS sell alkaline salts as the cleaner, but I haven't been able to see any reason that it would be better than sod perc or any of the other products out there. Curious if anyone else might know anything about it? the alk salts aren't the most cost effective product for sure, but they seem to do a really good job soaking the bottles. It makes good sense to do some research about this, to cut on costs. An example: Mangrove Jacks's cleaner (not steriliser) is just sod carb in a tiny bottle for big $$. Could get triple the quantity for less at Coles. [/quote'] So my question is what about the other way around? Thorough rinse of the bottles after use, then sanitise just before bottling. Do I need to soak them in sod perc or something like that first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I never bothered Starsanning my bottles either, or the crown seals for that matter, and never had a bad one in the probably thousands of bottles I did bottle. But, it is recommended best practice. If you want to prevent your bottles building up a cloudy residue inside them after a while then it's best to soak them in cleaner after each use. Sodium percarbonate is a very effective cleaner. When it is added to water it reacts with it, and breaks down into its components - sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide - which do the cleaning. Afterwards all that's left is water, sodium carbonate and oxygen. Some of the bottle detergents are sodium metasilicate and possibly sodium metabisulphite as well. These are best rinsed; percarbonate doesn't have to be rinsed but it will leave a soapy residue due to the sodium carbonate. I always rinse it. I buy sodium perc in 25kg bags for $80. It's cheaper than buying it in small packages or buying nappy soakers at the supermarket that contain it. It usually lasts me about 15-18 months. There was a bulk buy of it on the other forum recently with a 25kg bag as low as $40, but I still have plenty left from my purchase back in Feb. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I never bothered Starsanning my bottles either' date=' or the crown seals for that matter, and never had a bad one in the probably thousands of bottles I did bottle. But, it is recommended best practice. If you want to prevent your bottles building up a cloudy residue inside them after a while then it's best to soak them in cleaner after each use. Sodium percarbonate is a very effective cleaner. When it is added to water it reacts with it, and breaks down into its components - sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide - which do the cleaning. Afterwards all that's left is water, sodium carbonate and oxygen. Some of the bottle detergents are sodium metasilicate and possibly sodium metabisulphite as well. These are best rinsed; percarbonate doesn't have to be rinsed but it will leave a soapy residue due to the sodium carbonate. I always rinse it. I buy sodium perc in 25kg bags for $80. It's cheaper than buying it in small packages or buying nappy soakers at the supermarket that contain it. It usually lasts me about 15-18 months. There was a bulk buy of it on the other forum recently with a 25kg bag as low as $40, but I still have plenty left from my purchase back in Feb. Cheers Kelsey[/quote'] As always, advice plus explanation = good practice! Looks like I'll be soaking my bottles from now on! Ta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beervis Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I'd recommend that. It's a good option that's also low effort. Soak plus rinse = done. When I first started brewing I was washing and cleaning each one, rinsing then sanitising and it was a total ordeal. Soaking = no work except waiting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 Yeah I soak my fermenter as well because it's easier to just fill it up, dump in some perc and leave it until I'm ready to pitch the next batch, then it just gets emptied through the tap, the tap removed and rinsed and the FV itself rinsed, Starsan on all of it and in goes the wort. I have been kegging for a bit over two years now, and originally I'd bottle the surplus from my 25 litre batches into a couple of 6-packs of stubbies, but I don't bother anymore. These 4-5L amounts get blended in a 10L keg, so I don't bottle any beer at all these days. Much quicker to clean a keg than a batch of bottles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 Here's how I soak my bottles - Still working on a quick-rinse method, but FWIW you shouldn't use warm water as it can damage/weaken PET bottles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.