Bottle Rinser??

[mdex]

After the fun of sterilising and rinsing bottles yesterday (which I now have to do allover again!) has anyone used one of these?

Content deleted in accordance with forum rules.

Seems a lot easier although a few people have commented they don't last very long?

I'm guessing you still have to rinse with water afterwards?

[MightyMouth]

I find it easier to rinse my bottles well after use then when I am getting ready to use them again use a no rinse sanitiser like Star San, then you don't have to rinse.

[Garth]

I've got one of those mdex, and I bottle a lot of beer, it hasn't given up yet, I use an Iodophor solution in mine, then I have a bottle blaster that fits onto a garden tap for rinsing then, takes very little time, after rinsing they get to drain on my 45 bottle tree.

Blaster

Bottle Tree

Star San is a good sanitiser, I have some for certain jobs, but you have wait till it dries for it to work and that is too much waiting around, I can have them all rinsed in less time.

[MightyMouth]

You don't have to wait for star san to dry for it to work, it just requires 2 minutes contact time.

[mdex]

So using Star San I clean the bottles leave to dry then they are ready?

Where do you get Star San? My LHBS doesn't seem to sell it, neither do Content deleted in accordance with forum rules.

[MightyMouth]

If your bottles are free from organic material and are generally clean you just need to wet the inside surface of the bottle with Star San and leave for 2 minutes then let drain. In actual fact you only need to leave for 30 seconds according to the manufacturer but due to regulatory guidelines they have to say 2 minutes officially.

There is no reason to wait for them to dry, they are ready to use after 30 seconds contact. The residual Star San solution actually becomes a food for the yeast once you add the beer as the PH changes and the Star San loses its sanitising properties. All the ingredients in star san are food grade products which are found in things like soft drinks and toothpaste.

Hop and Grape Stock it.

[mdex]

Sounds good apart from Hop and Grape being out of stock.

Will have to use regular wash and rinse stuff for time being.

[MightyMouth]

I got mine from Beertech.co.uk but they don't seem to have it listed anymore.

As an alternative, apparently you can use a mixture of 5 gallons of water, 30ml of thin household bleach and 30ml of white vinegar as a no rinse sanitiser. You must mix it by adding the 30ml of bleach to the water, mix thoroughly then add the 30ml of vinegar and mix thoroughly, never mix the bleach and vinegar directly and do not deviate from the ratios otherwise you can gas yourself. This information comes from Charlie Talley the founder of Five Star Chemical, the makers of Star San. He detailed it in this Basic Brewing Podcast. He starts talking about it at about 19 minutes into the pod cast and mentions at 22 minutes in that it is a no rinse solution providing that you are at just 80 PPM which is 1 oz or 30ml/5 gallons. He also mentions that the required contact time of this bleach solution is just 30 seconds. Seeing as how cheap thin bleach and White vinegar are this seems like an ideal solution. I think the key here is to use exactly 30ml each of bleach and vinegar/US gallon and ensure that the bleach and the vinegar are fresh. It is an interesting discussion so its worth listening to the whole thing.

[edit1now]

The bottle rinser is a great gadget - I've had mine for about ten years and not managed to break it, though the little washer where you press the bottle down has split and vanished. The Blast rinser is good as well - you need both. I was using strong-ish acidified metabisulphite to sanitise my bottles, but now I'm moving towards Videne. Not choking on the fumes is good

[Garth]

though the little washer where you press the bottle down has split and vanished.

edit1, mine also did that within a year, still works well though

[Marts]

After the fun of sterilising and rinsing bottles yesterday (which I now have to do allover again!) has anyone used one of these?

Content deleted in accordance with forum rules.

Seems a lot easier although a few people have commented they don't last very long?

I'm guessing you still have to rinse with water afterwards?

I had one of these - the ballbearing in it rusted solid after a couple of months.

[edit1now]

The purple Italian ones like mine have a plastic flap valve rather than a ball-bearing - maybe that's why it's lasted ten years.

[beardybrewer]

I've had one of these for over 2 years now. The one I have mounts right on top of my bottle drainer. I use it purely for sanitizing the bottles with iodophor and then them on the (sanitized) tree to dry.

[ADDLED]

I've got one of those mdex, and I bottle a lot of beer, it hasn't given up yet, I use an Iodophor solution in mine, then I have a bottle blaster that fits onto a garden tap for rinsing then, takes very little time, after rinsing they get to drain on my 45 bottle tree.

I might get one of those bottles sterilisers. Garth do you rinse the iodophor? I use Videne at 2.5ml/litre as a no rinse but you've got me thinking... ^^

[Garth]

I might get one of those bottles sterilisers. Garth do you rinse the iodophor? I use Videne at 2.5ml/litre as a no rinse but you've got me thinking... ^^

yes, I did at that point, but I believe you can make a solution up that is no-rinse.

Anyway, that post was two years ago, I use peracetic for everything now, diluted to roughly 1%, loads easier and kills the bugs dead.