Cleaning Residue from inside Bottles

[Potatoes]

Hi All,

 

Since I started Home Brewing in Melbourne, I have started to notice a residue being left inside my bottles. Seems to happen all the time and is quite hard to remove. After I have drunk the beer, I rinse the bottles but still it sticks. I even started rinsing with boiling water- still sticks.

 

The most successful method I have found of removing it is to use sodium percarbonate. I basically, soak over night, rinse in the morning and they are clean as jiffy. Bleach also works. Seems to happen with all brews, and I don't taste anything funny with the beer.

 

Do other brewers face this issue in Melbourne? Is it to do with the water?

 

When I was in the UK, I had no issues at all with giving bottles a quick rinse.

 

Cheers, Dan

 

I don't know how to attach a picutre.

[Phoenix76]

G'day Potatoes

 

Not an uncommon problem. I get the same thing all the time although maybe lesser than you. I rinse, only in cold water because I use PET bottles, and they usually come out quite clean. But after several uses the residue you mention starts to build up. What you are doing with the sodium percarbonate is spot on. I do the same thing. I just fill the bathtub with water and SP and soak overnight. I'll do as many as 30 bottles at a time. They come sparkling.

 

Don't know if it's your water, although coming from Victoria a long time ago, Melbourne always had an excellent water supply. I only have tank water, no options, and don't have any great problem. Maybe other members have other suggestions but using SP as required will solve your problem.

 

Cheers

Bill

[Otto Von Blotto]

I think it's yeast buildup. Either that or beer stone (minerals etc). I noticed similar things in my bottles that only ever got rinsed with hot water, until I started soaking them in perc as well.

 

I also found some years old bottles in the olds' garage a few weeks ago. These bottles were clean when they were filled, but when I pour them now they have a cloudy film on the inside. I'm not keeping these bottles for re-use but it's interesting to see it there after a lengthy storage period.

[Potatoes]

Thanks Bill and Otto VB,

 

So SP is the solution. How often do I need to bother with that? I find that if I squint hard enough, I can normally see the residue after 1 use. However, it is more pronounced after 2-3 uses. The cleaning and rinsing of the bottles is the only part of the process that really annoys me. I don't mind bottling at all.

 

Cheers, Dan

 

P.s. I am offically on my last beer. Have not been brewing much over Summer.

 

 

[ChristinaS1]

Hi Potatoes,

 

I find soaking a whole batch of bottles at once a PITA and don't really have the space or time for that, or enough well water, so I do it as I go.

 

Here is how I do it: for most of the year I just triple rinse my bottles as I pour but, when I start drinking my first new batch after New Year's, I start filling each bottle with hot tap water and add 1/8-/1/4 tsp of scent free generic Napisan to each bottle and let them soak overnight on the counter. The next morning I scrub the two or three bottles with a bottle brush (I use glass bottles), and rinse. I do this to every bottle in the first four batches of the year, and that way I treat every bottle once a year. This results in every bottle being deep cleaned after four uses.

 

BTW, on the off chance that you are using DME for bulk priming instead of dextrose, sugar, or carb tabs, you might want to switch to something sugar based. Not sure if it is true or not but I have read that using malt results in a rim of scum in the bottle neck that is difficult to remove.

 

Cheers,

 

Christina.

 

PS I would add that if you happen to have a batch that tastes off, best to give the bottles in that batch a deep cleaning.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Thanks Bill and Otto VB' date='

 

So SP is the solution. How often do I need to bother with that? I find that if I squint hard enough, I can normally see the residue after 1 use. However, it is more pronounced after 2-3 uses. The cleaning and rinsing of the bottles is the only part of the process that really annoys me. I don't mind bottling at all.

 

Cheers, Dan

 

P.s. I am offically on my last beer. Have not been brewing much over Summer.

 

[/quote']I used to do it after every use, but rather than do 2 or 3 at a time like Christina, I'd build up a collection of about 35, soak them all overnight then rinse out the next day. Then I got sick to death of faffing around with all that shit and switched to kegs

[Potatoes]

Hi Christina,

 

Thanks for the reply, its really helpful. Yes, that sounds a go. I will try a clean as I go process and see if that is easier. Could be a pour beer, rinse, add SP, fill and then leave till the morning for the final rinse. Otherwise, I could chuck some bleach in a spray bottle and just spray with that. Hmmm.... it has got me thinking.

 

Otts VB- Kegs sound great, but... alas, I live in an apartment. I don't even have a bath, let alone room for a spare fridge and a keg.

 

Got to get another brew down on ANZAC day. Cheers, Dan

[MarkC]

As soon as we finish a longneck of home brew, I rinse the bottle, then give it another swoosh and let it soak for a few minutes. Each time I’m using about 100ml of water. Generally that’s all that’s needed, but sometimes with a heavier beer that has been in bottle for a year or so (like a stout, Rad Abbot etc) then there will be a yeasty crust on the bottom of the bottle. I just drop in a teaspoon of DiSan, a bit of warm water, swoosh it around and soak for a while. Rinse, then perfect!

[Marvin]

I'll suggest this sort of brush, they're on Ebay for various prices and delivery times.

 

[BlackSands]

My bottles were suffering from a persistent residue that even a sodium percarbonate and TSP soak couldn't touch. I suspect the coating inside the bottle was mostly made up of hop oils.

 

Either way, the only way I've been able to get them properly clean is by using a brush.

 

[joolbag]

Marvin I’ve never seen those brushes in my life. THey look perfect. Thanks. I’ll jump online and order some

[Potatoes]

As soon as we finish a longneck of home brew' date=' I rinse the bottle, then give it another swoosh and let it soak for a few minutes. Each time I’m using about 100ml of water. [/quote']

 

Thanks for that. Yep, that was my standard practice. It doesn't work now. I see a residue on the walls/sides of the bottle. I have tried different brews, different fermenters and different bottles but it still occurs. Napisan/ SP gets rid of it, so I am soaking each bottle with that now.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Potatoes]

I'll suggest this sort of brush' date=' they're on Ebay for various prices and delivery times.

 

[img']https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/K~EAAOSwihpavgbr/s-l225.jpg[/img]

 

I've got a bottle brush but not the kind you showed. When I use my bottle brush, I can see the lines where the bottle brush has cleaned but some of the residue still remains. Especially for the Coopers PET/plastic bottles which have the dimples at the bottom. (why did they put dimples in there?) I cant seem to get bottle brush to effectively clear those parts out when the brush has been used a few times. The brush generally starts to look a bit mashed/disfigured after about 5 bottle cleaning rampages.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Potatoes]

My bottles were suffering from a persistent residue that even a sodium percarbonate and TSP soak couldn't touch. I suspect the coating inside the bottle was mostly made up of hop oils.

 

Either way' date=' the only way I've been able to get them properly clean is by using a brush.

 

[img']cool[/img]

 

Hmm, hop oils.... I have switched from leaf to pellet hops. Another theory!

[Burton Ale]

Also get it in country Vic and soaking in perc will clean it . But if you rinse as soon as you pour then you should be able to wipe it off with your pinkie then rinse again. Gone. fixed.

The crud further down still needs soaking though.

[Graculus]

I'll suggest this sort of brush' date=' they're on Ebay for various prices and delivery times.

 

[img']https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/K~EAAOSwihpavgbr/s-l225.jpg[/img]

 

I think a bloke in work has one of these. He cuts the end off and uses it with a cordless drill.

I think I've seen them in Big W.

 

I tend to soak 40 odd bottles in a large tub with water and a bit of bleach overnight.

Or sometimes for several days when I forget about them.

[ChristinaS1]

Brushes are necessary sometimes, but most bristle bottle brushes would scratch PET bottles, especially if used with a drill. Nice for glass bottles though.

 

If you have PET bottles you have to use something non-abrasive to "scrub." I sometimes use a strip of soft cloth and a wooden chop stick, after first soaking.

 

Cheers,

 

Christina.

[headmaster]

I only notice this really happening with hoppy pales and IPAs'

 

Regardless I have recently graduated to soaking all of my bottles in sodium percarbonate before filling again. I used to just rinse out right after pouring, I stilll do that but do the soak as well, bottles are now always sparkling clean.

 

I keep a 50L esky with perc solution in it outside the laundry, and submerge bottles in this in batches of about 40 at a time, use the solution for a couple of sets of bottles then drain and start again.

[Potatoes]

Its good to hear that this not just my problem, but an issue encountered by others. I thought the water would be better in rural Vic, so its defo not a water based issue.

 

The plastic bottles are a slight pain, but I am sticking with them until I have built up enough flip top glass bottles to replace them. I generally find that a screw top is less work than a the traditional cap. So I keep on using the PET bottles. I will try out the chopstick with a bit of cloth technique and see if that makes cleaning easier. I have also got a spraygun loaded with a bleach water solution, to see if that works on the fly. However, I am totally out of beer, so no opportunity to practice. Having to drink Whisky atm, and its not to my flavour.

 

The brush drill adapter idea might work, but I have no power drill. Probably wont work the same attached to my hand drill....

 

Keep on brewing! Cheers, Dan

[porschemad911]

Mine get rinsed after drinking, then I soak in a tub of sodium perc when I have about 10 built up. However, before I bottle a batch, all the bottles I plan to use for that batch get another sodium perc soak in the laundry trough (since I will be soaking the fermenter later anyway) and are then Starsan-ed. They really come up sparkling clean after that.

 

Same regime for glass and PET.

 

Cheers,

 

John

[Graculus]

Well I was sorting through some bottles ready to sanitise for bottling and I thought a couple of them didn't look the best. I decided to put off bottling for a day or two and give them a soak in water & bleach.

 

Put the bottles in a tub, started filling with water, grabbed the bleach, started pouring the bleach.

Too late I noticed it was LEMON bleach.....

 

Goodness knows how much rinsing it's going to take to get rid of the lemon smell.

[Potatoes]

Well I was sorting through some bottles ready to sanitise for bottling and I thought a couple of them didn't look the best. I decided to put off bottling for a day or two and give them a soak in water & bleach.

 

Put the bottles in a tub' date=' started filling with water, grabbed the bleach, started pouring the bleach.

Too late I noticed it was LEMON bleach.....[img']http://forum.football365.com/images/smilies/picard.gif[/img]

 

Goodness knows how much rinsing it's going to take to get rid of the lemon smell.

 

I feel your pain. Can I ask how many rinses per bottle?

[Potatoes]

As an update, I’ve started a process of cleaning as I go. It seems to be working so thought I would share.

 

I filled a spray bottle with 50/50 bleach and water. I rinse as soon as a bottle is empitied. Then I spray 5-6 squirts of the bleach solution. Swirl, add more water, shake, then rinse three times. It is working at the moment, touch wood..........

 

cheers, dan 

[Tömmy8888]

If you have Big W closebuy they sell bottle brushes for $5. Does the job for me

[Otto Von Blotto]

I love how home brewers can take a simple task like cleaning bottles and turn it into the most complicated, time consuming pain in the arse thing ever...