Sanitising Bottles

[MrEnthusiasm]

I'm finding that cleaning, sanitising and rinsing bottles is becoming very time consuming. Is it OK to use a dishwasher at 65 deg and then stick the bottles on a bottle stand facing downwards. I plan to do this shortly before bottling if it's OK

[mysterio]

I tried this recently and I found the bottles went off within a couple of weeks. I couldn't recommend it in good conscience, although I see Palmer suggests it's possible. I think it would depend on the dishwasher. 65C doesn't sound hot enough to pasteurise.

[MrEnthusiasm]

Has anybody tried sanitising the bottles and using the dishwasher on a full cycle to rinse them?

[6470zzy]

Unfortunately the dishwasher simply just doesn't get the water up inside the bottle effectively, it does a bang up job on the exterior of the bottles but on the insides it just doesn't cut it. Believe me I hate washing the bottles as much as the next guy which is just one more reason to consider getting into kegging your beer. Cleaning one keg vs 40-50 bottles....................its a clear choice for me.

Cheers

[mysterio]

Oh, I did it on the full cycle, and I was putting in clean bottles on the first place. I certainly wouldn't use the dishwasher for cleaning bottles. Best to do this immediately after you use them

[boingy]

I'm told that these are the dog's for cleaning bottles:

http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/de ... BOT2156057

[Big G]

I'm told that these are the dog's for cleaning bottles:

I have one of these and can highly recomend it, I do however give a little scrub with a bottle brush just for piece of mind!!

[pokerswazi]

i've got one of the press down type of rinsers that fits on the bottle tree. works a treat for me. i fill it with sterilizer and use it for that stage and then rinse it, fill with clean water and then rinse all my bottles. easy as. still not as easy as a keg but with the right sterilizer it cut my bottling time by 2 thirds. i have kegs and still like to bottle a lot. i can't keep the keg cool over summer so my summer stock is all bottled.
now for the mad christmas brew stock...

[sargie]

i've got one of the press down type of rinsers that fits on the bottle tree. works a treat for me. i fill it with sterilizer and use it for that stage and then rinse it, fill with clean water and then rinse all my bottles. easy as. still not as easy as a keg but with the right sterilizer it cut my bottling time by 2 thirds. i have kegs and still like to bottle a lot. i can't keep the keg cool over summer so my summer stock is all bottled.
now for the mad christmas brew stock...

Can you recomend a reputable seller of the bottle tree bottle rinser/stereliser im having trouble finding it.

[pokerswazi]

Indeed i can. I've pm'd you...

[grumpysod]

H&G do them
http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/ca ... GEN2147353

[Weejock]

I tried this recently and I found the bottles went off within a couple of weeks. I couldn't recommend it in good conscience, although I see Palmer suggests it's possible. I think it would depend on the dishwasher. 65C doesn't sound hot enough to pasteurise.

Domestic dishwashers clean well enough for normal food hygene, however for sanitizing brewing or baby feeding equipment etc. they will introduce harmful bacteria. Hospitals and care homes use "sterilizing" dishwashers that wash at 95c, not true sterilization but good enough for baby/ICU/brewing.

Don't do it!

[haz66]

I was bottling a brew a few weeks back and i had more than i thought so didn`t sterilize enough bottles,
so it was either throw it away or bottle 2ltrs into unsterilized bottles, so grabbed 4 bottles straight out of the shed,
filled em with beer, thought i`d open one a few nights back and see what had happened to it, nothing, it was totally drinkable
and fine, so i opened the other 3 and all were fine, think i was lucky though, i expected things crawling out of the bottles
just glad now that i didn`t tip it straight down the loo.

[terrysunderland]

I am new to this. My current process is to give each bottle a good rinse as soon as I empty it. They get put into plastic crates (about 20 bottles per crate)

When it is time to bottle again....I fill the bath (we live in a bungalow) with cold water and put all the bottles in for another rinse.

Empty the bath and drain the bottles. Fill a 25 litre bin with sterilising solution and get all the bottles washed and filled with solution.

After a while, they are emptied and each given a good rinse under the bath tap. I also fill them in the bath.

If nothing else, it is a little or no mess process!

Cheers and Beers,

Terry

[Swiller]

I have always used my dishwasher to clean my bottles with no problems at all, I do rinse them as soon as they are empty and I put some steriliser the machine (probably makes no difference) it's just an ordinary 3 year old Hotpoint item. Works for me.