Cleaning glass stubbies?

[Oldbloke]

What do you blokes use.

I always rinse stubbies same day.

Mrs is getting annoyed with me using the dish washer. (Her idea too )

But sometimes they need more than just a couple of good rinses. Tried soaking in white King (chlorine) and soaking in nappy soaker for a few hours. Neither will remove the "skum" or Yeast i sometimes get stuck to the inside of stubbies, unless I scrub them. 

 

What works just soaking, without brushing?

Edited August 6, 2022 by oldbloke

[RDT2]

13 minutes ago, oldbloke said:

What do you blokes use.

I always rinse stubbies same day.

Mrs is getting annoyed with me using the dish washer. (Her idea too )

But sometimes they need more than just a couple of good rinses. Tried soaking in white King (chlorine) and soaking in nappy soaker for a few hours. Neither will remove the "skum" or Yeast i sometimes get stuck to the inside of stubbies, unless I scrub them. 

 

What works just soaking, without brushing?

I used to rinse out after drinking and then when bottling I would half fill with water use drill with brush to knock any crap out, rinse again with water then sanitise with starsan with the bottle spray thingy never had a bad bottle. No soaking overnight unless they were a new bottle or some didn’t clean it after drinking.

[Oldbloke]

@RDT2 Yep, been there, done that. I prefer to soak them.

[Classic Brewing Co]

53 minutes ago, oldbloke said:

@RDT2 Yep, been there, done that. I prefer to soak them.

I have always placed them in the sink with a few tablespoons of Bi-Carbonate of Soda a good shake up & use the bottle brush if necessary, then a good rinse & you are good to go.

I don't need to soak them as I always clean wash my bottles out thoroughly after emptying. I use Stellar San for sanitising.

The only time I have ever soaked any is when I have been given some Longnecks/Grolsch etc as they normally aren't cleaned properly.

[Oldbloke]

54 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I have always placed them in the sink with a few tablespoons of Bi-Carbonate of Soda a good shake up & use the bottle brush if necessary, then a good rinse & you are good to go.

I don't need to soak them as I always clean wash my bottles out thoroughly after emptying. I use Stellar San for sanitising.

The only time I have ever soaked any is when I have been given some Longnecks/Grolsch etc as they normally aren't cleaned properly.

@Classic Brewing Co Do you need to brush many?

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, oldbloke said:

What do you blokes use.

I always rinse stubbies same day.

Mrs is getting annoyed with me using the dish washer. (Her idea too )

But sometimes they need more than just a couple of good rinses. Tried soaking in white King (chlorine) and soaking in nappy soaker for a few hours. Neither will remove the "skum" or Yeast i sometimes get stuck to the inside of stubbies, unless I scrub them. 

 

What works just soaking, without brushing?

My process is similar to yours.  However, when you say "rinse stubbies same day", do you mean a few hours after emptying them?  I rinse them as soon as I empty them.  I find that half a teaspoon of Oxysan wash with hot water in a stubby is enough to clean them.  I leave them on the kitchen sink over night, then rinse out and air dry in the morning.  However, I have not done a close inspection for a while 

[Classic Brewing Co]

38 minutes ago, oldbloke said:

@Classic Brewing Co Do you need to brush many?

No, hardly ever due to the vigorous cleaning they get after emptying, occasionally there is a build up but the bi-carb is pretty good & getting rid of it.

I also store the already washed bottles in the cartons so there is little chance of anything contaminating them.

You can see the already clean bottles in the sink getting a final rinse, then in to the big 50l tub of sanitiser & then on the bottle tree. The tub came from K-Mart - $8.00 & if you keep the lid on you can keep using the same sanitiser for quite a while, once it starts to lose the foam, chuck it & start again.

I have just bottled a Stout & this is the process I described, 30 bottles of loveyness   Straight into the cartons again until it's time to drink them.

 

 

[Oldbloke]

Stout, mmmm.

Yep give them a good rinse within 2-3 hours.

To clarify, it's the Yeast or scum on the sides, (inside) not bottom of stubbies.

[Shamus O'Sean]

26 minutes ago, oldbloke said:

Stout, mmmm.

Yep give them a good rinse within 2-3 hours.

To clarify, it's the Yeast or scum on the sides, (inside) not bottom of stubbies.

Maybe you need to increase the dosage of nappy soaker.  I did get scum build up when I just soaked with warm water.

[Oldbloke]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Maybe you need to increase the dosage of nappy soaker.  I did get scum build up when I just soaked with warm water.

Currently about 1/2 cap to about 6 litres.

 

Instructions are 1/2 cap to 7 litres.

 

I'll try bicarb next I think. Unless someone has a definite solution.

Edited August 6, 2022 by oldbloke

[Aussiekraut]

5 hours ago, oldbloke said:

What do you blokes use.

I always rinse stubbies same day.

Mrs is getting annoyed with me using the dish washer. (Her idea too )

But sometimes they need more than just a couple of good rinses. Tried soaking in white King (chlorine) and soaking in nappy soaker for a few hours. Neither will remove the "skum" or Yeast i sometimes get stuck to the inside of stubbies, unless I scrub them. 

 

What works just soaking, without brushing?

I used to just rinse the bottles right after I poured them, then on bottling day, soak them in sodium percarbonate for 2 hours, using an 80l tub, rinse them in fresh water, put them on the bottle tree for half hour to drip dry and sanitise with stellar san. Never had any issues with dirty bottles.

[Oldbloke]

I might even try a dish washer tab in a bucket of water.

[Oldbloke]

To be clear, I'm trying to clean glass stubbies without scrubbing.  Just soaking for 3 or 4 hours.

I want to remove the fine film of yeast or scum from the inside. 

 

So far:  I've tried soaking glass stubbies in the following in 10 litres of cold water for 3 - 4 hours.

 

DiSan. The Aldi version of nappysan 2/3 of a cap.  - No good

Dish washing liquid, a very big squirt.  - No good

BiCarb of Soda. Two heaped Table spoons.  - No good

1 "Finnish" dish washing tab. (dissolved in 1 litre of hot water first)  - No good

 

Any more suggestions?  Or is it out with the brush or back to the dish washer when the boss isn't looking.

[Brauhaus Fritz]

Did you try to fill your bottles with a scoop  of sodium percolate and then fill with water? It seems to work for me

[DavidM]

Some of my bottles were showing a bit of scum build up, tried a soak, still the same, so I rinse at night as I empty (normal), then each morning I wash in soap with the bottle brush, drain then sanitise and drain. Once I've cycled through the 300 odd bottles, back to normal till the build up reappears.

I'm thinking scrubbing is the only way.

Bit each day it's not too hard.

[Graculus]

I've always put them in a plastic tub.

Filled with water.

Carefully poured in bleach.

When I say carefully I mean just poured it in until I thought there was enough. Glug, glug, glug.

Spotless bottles in a few hours.

I'm sure the Coopers bloke, (PB2 was it) said that was the way to clean them.

That's when there's a bit of a scum building up around the neck of the bottle, or if it's bottles freshly liberated from the neighbours bin on recycling night.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Graculus

[RDT2]

Drill and brush doesn’t get much easier IMO better than stuffing around with cleaning chemicals/soaking etc other than a rinse with starsan!

[Oldbloke]

1 hour ago, Graculus said:

I've always put them in a plastic tub.

Filled with water.

Carefully poured in bleach.

When I say carefully I mean just poured it in until I thought there was enough. Glug, glug, glug.

Spotless bottles in a few hours.

I'm sure the Coopers bloke, (PB2 was it) said that was the way to clean them.

That's when there's a bit of a scum building up around the neck of the bottle, or if it's bottles freshly liberated from the neighbours bin on recycling night.

Yea, I failed to mention I tried White King.

[Tone boy]

35 minutes ago, oldbloke said:

Yea, I failed to mention I tried White King.

I use 10ml of non scented bleach per bottle and soak overnight. That seems to remove that ring for me.  Not sure why white king isn’t working for you - maybe try a higher dose, or longer soak…

[Classic Brewing Co]

7 hours ago, oldbloke said:

BiCarb of Soda. Two heaped Table spoons.

Works every time for me, I don't soak bottles, they are always clean as I go to work on them as soon as they are emptied & I use the brush when I hold them up to the light & decide they need it. 

[Oldbloke]

13 hours ago, Graculus said:

I've always put them in a plastic tub.

Filled with water.

Carefully poured in bleach.

When I say carefully I mean just poured it in until I thought there was enough. Glug, glug, glug.

Spotless bottles in a few hours.

I'm sure the Coopers bloke, (PB2 was it) said that was the way to clean them.

That's when there's a bit of a scum building up around the neck of the bottle, or if it's bottles freshly liberated from the neighbours bin on recycling night.

@Graculus would you mind providing a bit more detail.

Bleach name?

Amount of bleach?

Amount of water?

Can u reuse the mix?

Cold water?

 

Everyone keeps saying use a brush. But they miss some areas in the bottles. And a soak is much easier.

[DavidM]

3 minutes ago, oldbloke said:

Everyone keeps saying use a brush. But they miss some areas in the bottles. And a soak is much easier.

Agree, soak is much easier, if it is working.

I had a normal sized bottle brush, Useless

picked up a larger one from a LHBS, tight fit but works a treat.

[Graculus]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:39 AM, oldbloke said:

@Graculus would you mind providing a bit more detail.

Bleach name?

Amount of bleach?

Amount of water?

Can u reuse the mix?

Cold water?

 

Everyone keeps saying use a brush. But they miss some areas in the bottles. And a soak is much easier.

Sorry, that thing called work got in the way of replying.

I use this plastic tub. Obviously by the way it looks I haven't used it in a while.

I put around 40 bottles in. Fill each one with some cold water so they don't float.

Then start filling the tub with cold water. I do this outside. Mostly I use the water from my rain water tanks.

Sorry it's a bit vague, but I then add bleach. I've no idea how much. Just glug, glug, glug.

Just enough so I can smell the bleach. Then I leave them overnight. I don't reuse the bleach solution.

Then use the bottle rinser filled with warm water and leave them to dry on the bottle tree.

I've used the Coles bleach. I mistakenly bought the lemon scented one. But haven't had a problem.

I do have some White Knight bleach in the garage, so I may have used that, but I only recall using the Coles stuff.

As I said previously I'm sue the Coopers bloke who was on  here swore by this method. It always seems to work for me.

The labels just slide off too.

I bought a bottle brush a couple of years ago. Never used it. I've never had a need to.

 

Why don't you experiment with just four or five bottles in a plastic bucket.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Graculus

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, Graculus said:

Sorry, that thing called work got in the way of replying.

I use this plastic tub. Obviously by the way it looks I haven't used it in a while.

I put around 40 bottles in. Fill each one with some cold water so they don't float.

Then start filling the tub with cold water. I do this outside. Mostly I use the water from my rain water tanks.

Sorry it's a bit vague, but I then add bleach. I've no idea how much. Just glug, glug, glug.

Just enough so I can smell the bleach. Then I leave them overnight. I don't reuse the bleach solution.

Then use the bottle rinser filled with warm water and leave them to dry on the bottle tree.

I've used the Coles bleach. I mistakenly bought the lemon scented one. But haven't had a problem.

I do have some White Knight bleach in the garage, so I may have used that, but I only recall using the Coles stuff.

As I said previously I'm sue the Coopers bloke who was on  here swore by this method. It always seems to work for me.

The labels just slide off too.

I bought a bottle brush a couple of years ago. Never used it. I've never had a need to.

 

Why don't you experiment with just four or five bottles in a plastic bucket.

 

 

What I don't get is why are the bottle so dirty ? 

[Oldbloke]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:51 AM, oldbloke said:

What do you blokes use.

I always rinse stubbies same day.

Mrs is getting annoyed with me using the dish washer. (Her idea too )

But sometimes they need more than just a couple of good rinses. Tried soaking in white King (chlorine) and soaking in nappy soaker for a few hours. Neither will remove the "skum" or Yeast i sometimes get stuck to the inside of stubbies, unless I scrub them. 

 

What works just soaking, without brushing?

I always rinse within a couple of hours.

Yesterday rinsed in hot water straight after emptying. 

A fine film of Yeast inside if you hold them up to a light. These stubbies have probably been filled 3 or 4 times now.

 

Been testing with 5 or 6 stubbies in a bucket, even over night no good. (ratio to water a few posts above)

 

I might try another bleach.

Edited August 14, 2022 by oldbloke