Bottle clean - any tips?

[Bert]

Hi guys,

I am preparing to bottle my first brew, and have collected around 40 660ml dirty glass bottles. Can anyone give me any tips to clean them properly? Also, I was thinking once I have cleaned/sterilised them I should seal them up ready for bottling - any ideas what I could use for this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[jonnyt]

Use cheap Oxy to clean then, once sanitised you can put tin foil over the openings

[chastuck]

If you have any residue stuck in the bottom of the bottles a good way to clean them is to droop a length of old brass lavatory chain in the bottle and swirl it round and round, but keep hold of one end to pull it out.

[Bert]

Thanks for that guys! They will both come in really handy. What is oxy though? Cheers

[oldbloke]

http://www.oxiclean.com/
or any similar product. The way this new(well, not so new now) generation of products clean stuff is pretty effective on badly gunged up bottles

[Blackaddler]

To keep bottles clean once sanitized, I re-use the crown caps that I've previously removed.

If you ease the caps off carefully, and don't bend them, they'll just pop back on nicely.

Sanitize them first, but don't soak them too long, as some caps can start to rust!

[oldbloke]

To keep bottles clean once sanitized, I re-use the crown caps that I've previously removed.

If you ease the caps off carefully, and don't bend them, they'll just pop back on nicely.

Sanitize them first, but don't soak them too long, as some caps can start to rust!

I bought a load of those plastic reseal caps when I first started brewing, they're good for sealing clean sanitised botles. They're no good for much else.

[Bert]

Thanks for the advice, I had a look for that oxy stuff in the shop today but didn't buy it because I wasn't sure. Is it called oxy stain remover in a small tub? It was next to products like vanish e.t.c

Cheers

[crafty john]

A handful of rice in the bottle and some cleaner will remove stubborn deposits, just keep swirling it around

[sweatysock]

Once you have them clean, maintain by cleaning well immediately after use. When you are ready to use again a quick spray with star San and you are ready to bottle. Star San is no rinse so really easy to use.

[Newt Dundee]

I echo the use of the plastic reseal caps once you've cleaned them thoroughly, and once they've been used during storage (after rinsing/ washing) to keep the creepy crawlies out.

I've only just done my first bottling using Starsan. It may seem expensive, but well worth the investment when you work out the quantities you require to mix the solution.

The other tip I would give is to get a bottle tree/ drainer and the bottle rinser. You may want to wait a little to see how you take to brewing as these will set you back about £30 for the pair and another 9 or ten quid for the Starsan, the caps rack in at about £5 per hundred, but all of them are a really worth while investment.

I'm just in the middle of tea, but I'll throw some links up later for you.

Newt

Right, some quick links for you to give you an idea, but I'm not saying you need to go to these people or they're the only place to get them:

Bottle Drainer & Rinser:
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/cgi ... PR=-1&TB=A

Plastic Caps:
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/cgi ... 90#a100690

Starsan:
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/cgi ... 1_21960003

The Star San looks mega expensive, but for the 8oz bottle you get 236ml. Per bottle clean of an average 40 bottles using a rinser, you use 1.6ml. The bottle I have is going to last an age!

Another trick I found when cleaning the bottles out was to use rice in the bottle to help dislodge the stubborn bits (just read that CJ already said that, sorry). However, that got a little wasteful so I switched to using some of the kids Hama beads. They're little plastic creative beads, not particularly expensive and reuseable. They wont damage the glass, easily cleaned and sterilised and they make a nice noise when you shake the bottle... hey, I was running out of things to say!

Anyway, I help that along with the other guys suggestions helps.

[Jocky]

I keep a trigger spray bottle of starsan solution next to my sink. When I've done drinking a bottle of beer I rinse it out thoroughly with hot water and leave it to drain.

When the bottle is dry I'll give it several squirts of starsan from the trigger bottle, seal with a plastic cap, give it a shake, and then put it with the rest of my ready sterilised bottles.

Before bottling I just give it another shake, take the plastic cap off and invert it to get rid of most of the starsan solution and any other gunk it's picked up.

[barry44]

Jocky,

i second your method, i do the same with my PET bottles