Sanitized Bottles

Make grain beers with the absolute minimum of equipment. Discuss here.
Post Reply
Ulsterman

Sanitized Bottles

Post by Ulsterman » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:24 pm

I read somewhere recently where someone was cleaning and sanitizing bottles in advance of the bottling day and keeping them capped and then uncapping them to fill with beer and re-capping. The assumption being that the capped empty bottled remained sanitised until re-opened for immediate filling without the need for further sanitizing. This seems like a workable way of doing it to distress the bottling day, although I would still be inclined to spray the bottle top with sanitizer prior to opening. Anyone do it this way?

stevej383

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by stevej383 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:42 pm

Ulsterman wrote:I read somewhere recently where someone was cleaning and sanitizing bottles in advance of the bottling day and keeping them capped and then uncapping them to fill with beer and re-capping. The assumption being that the capped empty bottled remained sanitised until re-opened for immediate filling without the need for further sanitizing. This seems like a workable way of doing it to distress the bottling day, although I would still be inclined to spray the bottle top with sanitizer prior to opening. Anyone do it this way?
Kegging is the future :lol: :lol:

McMullan

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by McMullan » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:44 pm

I think if the bottles were covered to shield them from airborne particles, you should be fine. I don't bottle much these days, but the best thing I ever got for bottling was a bottle tree with a push pump on top for sanitising bottles.

User avatar
Jocky
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2738
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:50 pm
Location: Epsom, Surrey, UK

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by Jocky » Tue Apr 26, 2016 9:19 pm

Lots of people do this, although many, including me, squirt starsan into the bottle before capping with plastic push caps.

I also clean my bottles before doing this. After I've had a beer I rinse the bottle out well, and then whenive got a few I do a soak in PBW and a quick scrub with a bottle brush, then rinse, starsan and cap.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

Fil
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5229
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: Cowley, Oxford

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by Fil » Tue Apr 26, 2016 11:13 pm

old habits die hard, and all my cold side kit gets a clean and sanitation both in and out of storage.. it might be redundant but its (touch wood) kept things running smoothly..
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

User avatar
Kev888
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7701
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2010 6:22 pm
Location: Derbyshire, UK

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by Kev888 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:53 am

If the bottles and air they contained were completely sterile then it would work. However, you'd need to be confident in your process; should there be anything clinging to survival in there then allowing it time to find its feet wouldn't be ideal. Some little nasties seem able to grow on little more than moisture condensing from the air.
Kev

Ulsterman

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by Ulsterman » Wed Apr 27, 2016 10:48 am

Thanks for the replies. I think the risk of spoiling is too high so this idea is out.

bubblehead

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by bubblehead » Mon May 02, 2016 2:39 pm

Ulsterman wrote:I read somewhere recently where someone was cleaning and sanitizing bottles in advance of the bottling day and keeping them capped and then uncapping them to fill with beer and re-capping. The assumption being that the capped empty bottled remained sanitised until re-opened for immediate filling without the need for further sanitizing. This seems like a workable way of doing it to distress the bottling day, although I would still be inclined to spray the bottle top with sanitizer prior to opening. Anyone do it this way?
A late reply but.

I use these :

https://www.balliihoo.co.uk/#beer-wine- ... -p-59.html
They can be re-used many times, in fact I don't foresee me ever needing to buy any more.
I bought 100 of them and when bottles become empty I clean them, spray 3 or 4 good blasts of Star San in them and click one of the caps on.
At bottling time, I shake the bottle, pop of the cap and turn upside down to drain....then fill. I store the caps in a plastic container of Star San.
Never a problem.

I hope this helps.

User avatar
Redimpz
Hollow Legs
Posts: 431
Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 10:56 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Sanitized Bottles

Post by Redimpz » Mon Oct 10, 2016 9:25 am

I would imagine that any risk of the bottles becoming infected is possibly down to storage conditions and the length of storage time. Should not hurt if it's only a few days, wouldn't bother myself unless I was really stuck for time, I can usually sanitise the bottles while the beer is transferring into the bottling bucket.

Post Reply