Time effective bottle cleaning system

[Pezzza]

14 hours ago, Worthog said:

I used those PETs successfully for many cycles prior to finally moving to all glass.

Glass is Good

[Otto Von Blotto]

Stainless steel is better. 

[Popo the Reprobate]

19 hours ago, BlackSands said:

  What I might try do actually is after rinsing the bottles is then immediately top them up with a sodium-perc solution and give them an overnight soak rather than waiting to do it just prior to bottling. Sodium-perc hasn't worked once a film has already formed but perhaps it may help prevent the build up happening if I use it straight away....   

I get the haze on the inside of the bottles that you are talking about. I do an immediate perc soak and find it removes it completely. 

[BlackSands]

3 hours ago, Popo said:

I get the haze on the inside of the bottles that you are talking about. I do an immediate perc soak and find it removes it completely. 

That's good to know.  Might well be the way forward then!

[RDT2]

Hi guys new to the forum,

I use glass bottles which I rinse straight after use and dry upside down.

When I use again I half fill with warm water and scrub with drill and bottle brush then use viniter with star san leave bottles to drain then refill. Had no issues so far about 20batches.

Also looking forward to big stainless steel bottles one day.

 

[porschemad911]

18 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Stainless steel is better. 

Not for giving away to friends and family it isn't.

Bottle washing... I rinse after emptying, then soak in sodium perc in a bucket once I have enough to fill it (around 10). Rinse, air dry on my Fastrack Burke rack, then store.

On bottling day the whole batch that I l will be using gets another sodium perc soak in the laundry trough (I'll later soak the fermenter in this), then rinse and Starsan before filling. 

In my experience they are sparkling clean by the time they are filled. 

Cheers, 

John 

Edited April 30, 2019 by porschemad911

[Otto Von Blotto]

You can still bottle from kegs, without going to the trouble of bottling the whole batch. Anyway, everyone has their preferences. I wouldn't go back to bottling everything now, unless I absolutely had to. Just didn't enjoy it or the cleaning. 

[Hairy]

Bottling for family and friends? They aren’t worth it.

My kegs are the only friends I need!

[Beer Baron]

45 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Bottling for family and friends? They aren’t worth it.

My kegs are the only friends I need!

I agree!!!!

[Otto Von Blotto]

I just invite people over. Nothing quite like pouring a beer from the tap, putting it on the bar for a mate and him asking where the EFTPOS machine is...

[Pezzza]

20 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Stainless steel is better. 

mmm..... and pyrex

[Beers Gone Wild]

My Method:

1. Buy Longneck Carton.
2. Rinse in cold water as I finish each one.
3. Rinse in Super Hot Water.
4. Spray inside with Sanitiser.
5. Put on Bottle Tree.

Bottling Day:

1. Pour a beer from Kegerator.
2. Rinse each Bottle from Tree in Super Hot Water.
3. Spray inside with Sanitiser.
4. Leave sit 5 mins.
5. Rinse in cold.
6. Put on Bottle Tree to drain.
7. Bottle Beer

Works for me, I haven't had an infection yet.

[Pezzza]

2 hours ago, porschemad911 said:

Bottle washing... I rinse after emptying, then soak in sodium perc in a bucket once I have enough to fill it (around 10). Rinse, air dry on my Fastrack Burke rack, then store.

John I thought you were takinggggthepiss when you suggested a Fastrack Burke Rack - I thought via say the link  of Burke's Backyard - that you were just using your yard fence that square top mesh which is perfect bottle size... calling it a Fastrack Burke Rack... thought that was pretty funny... when I was out in the bush a good few years ago that was what was done - the below is a diagram (beer usually a brown largie and not full but draining empty out in the sun and the mesh was slightly different but gives the idea... best I could do to make up a reasonable diagram without having a pic)....

but then I see that the Fastrack Burke Rack is an actual u-beaut rack - might be pretty good to get through a lot of bottles quickly... 

  

[porschemad911]

Haha that could work! My typo was meant to be Fastrack bottle rack... 

[captncruise]

On 28 April 2019 at 6:18 PM, MitchBastard said:

Easiest method I’ve found is just throwing em In the washing machine. 

Do you do this with PET BOTTLES.?

 

[Worthog]

5 minutes ago, captncruise said:

Do you do this with PET BOTTLES.?

 

I probably wouldn't do that.  Overnight in the laundry trough with Sodium Percarbonate should be easy enough?

Cheers

[captncruise]

I used to use dish washer when I used glass stubbies. I switched to PET bottles and used Milton for sanitising.. This worked fine but recently after brewing with added hops I was sometimes getting what I believe was the "band aid taste" My wife claimed I wasn't cleaning and rinsing properly. Many years ago I had a unit made from PVC that used PBW . Was very happy with this so I plan to make a unit that is powered with a bilge pump. It will handle 12 bottles at a time and fits inside a green plastic basket. Similar to those on YouTube .

[Worthog]

32 minutes ago, captncruise said:

 .....and used Milton for sanitising.. This worked fine but recently after brewing with added hops I was sometimes getting what I believe was the "band aid taste" My wife claimed I wasn't cleaning and rinsing properly.....

This has been a regular theme on here. There are better and more modern ways to clean and sanitised. Lots of discussion here on this forum.

Cheers

 

[Worthog]

I'm going to attempt to specify the cleaning process for bottles (and FVs), from the majority of views from the brains trusts on here;

1. Rinse your empties immediately
2. Initiate some kind of Sodium Percarbonate soak overnight.
3. (If persistent hop haze has accumulated inside bottle, use 1 capful of non-scented bleach and cold water. Stand overnight, then rinse with hot water and allow to dry. (this is a periodical process)
4. Prior to bottling, wash bottles in Sodium Percarbonate, if necessary.
5. Sanitise with a Phosphoric Acid spray or rinse. (Starsan, Stellasan, etc)

Note: No machinery, brushes, elbow grease necessary.

Cheers

[Mikes15]

There was a post here not to long ago about how much water we use to make beer, to me rinsing then filing each bottle with water to soak after every beer & then poss washing again before using is to much (im on roof tanks) so I just hot water rinse air dry & store then rinse through Sodium Percarbonate, stand 10mins then drain, as per the instructions on the pack.

If my bottles smell or have haze I will stand them in bleached water over night, man that stuff knows how to clean a bottle!

I take it the Sodium Percarbonate + Starsan is a Acid / alkaline thing?

Surely using a brush is a REALLY bad idea, if it can cause scratches in a FV that can harbor bugs then how not in a bottle???

[Worthog]

13 minutes ago, Mikes15 said:

There was a post here not to long ago about how much water we use to make beer, to me rinsing then filing each bottle with water to soak after every beer & then poss washing again before using is to much (im on roof tanks) so I just hot water rinse air dry & store...

Regarding water, I don't see too much wastage unless you are running an inefficient wort cooling system. I get over that by biab and no-chill cube process.

My equipment washing uses a bit of water, but I have 14,000L of rainwater tanks for offset.

I am very a aware of water usage, living in a drought prone country area. Good point @Mikes15.

Cheers

Edited May 1, 2019 by Worthog

[YeastyBoy]

2 minutes ago, Worthog said:

I am very a aware of water usage, living in a drought prone country area. Good point @Mikes15.

Excellent point. On your wave length.

Ditto, all water is harvested here and dams and tanks are at survival mode at the moment waiting for late Autumn rains to start??

Drawn down at 50k litres of drinking storage water this summer so wastage is not an option.

Even the snakes have moved district this year due to my dry dams, bonus!!

Off to Agfest this week to buy another 10k storage tank for winter rains, rain water makes very good home brew beer though.

Cheers

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Sodium percarbonate should be rinsed in things like bottles and kegs because it leaves behind oxygen. At that stage of the process, the less of that there is, the better.

The two chemicals used isn't to do with acid/alkaline but more that percarbonate cleans off the crap and the acid based sanitiser kills any remaining bugs. 

Regarding water use, when I was bottling I would tip the rinse water into a bucket and pour it on the lawn or garden when it filled up. The water with percarbonate was discarded down the sink though, because after trying it once on the lawn it made that patch go yellow. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 hours ago, Mikes15 said:

Surely using a brush is a REALLY bad idea, if it can cause scratches in a FV that can harbor bugs then how not in a bottle???

Hi Mike

I use a brush with silicon tip.  It does not scratch PET.  Photo courtesy of @MUZZY

[Detroit D]

 

My technique seems to be right on the edge of not enough

As soon as I pour a glass bottle I rinse 4 times with cold water, check the bottom of bottle to make sure its clean, pour in some more water and scrub the neck of bottle as I get a line of hop sediment. Stand and then next day tip out last bit of water then store.

Bottling day pour in some pink neo stuff swirl around, tip out and triple rinse.

Never had a problem so far and have done heaps of brews though I am thinking of doing a soak in sodium percarbonate to compare if it improves my brew.

As I have been reading this thread I have been checking for a haze inside bottles over the last few days, I don't seem to notice anything.