Bottling - sterilising plastic bottles

[timothio]

Hi all,

Rather new to this brewing lark, but I'm seriously addicted already!! God help me and my poor liver...

Got my first brew going on Sunday before last, took a reading Sunday just gone, 1016 I think, took a reading today, 1010 or thereabouts... Couldnt resist tasting it and Christ on a bike, it tasted of beer! Will take another reading tomorrow or the day after and see how its getting on.

But thats by the by really. I just wanted to check on a couple of things about bottling. I read a post on here t'other day about using buying bottled water to make your next brew, and using the empty bottles to bottle your previous brew (damned if I can find the post now though!). Seemed to make sense to me so I went out and bought a shed load of Asda value bottled water at some stupidly cheap price. Oh, and had to pop to Wilkos for an extra FV and my next kit too (started this brewing thing to save money, I'm sure I will in the long run but at the moment its all spend, spend, spend!!). What I really wanted to know is if I take this approach, do I need to sterilise the bottles between emptying and re-filling? My thinking is that if I empty a newly bought unopened bottle of water into my new brew, and then re-fill in straight away with my brewed brew, there will be no need for sterilising, as the original bottle of water would have been sterilised in the factory (surely?), and theres not really enough time for the bottle to become infected with nasties...

Am I right? As this is my first brew, and suprisingly (amazingly) everything seems to be working OK so far, I dont want to balls it up good n proper at this stage...

Gracias to you all... (and much love to and many thanks for the forum!)

Tim.

[Jerry Cornelius]

What you say does make sense. I've only ever used glass bottles and I admit it takes an age to sterilise them when I bottle. I expect someone will say that they've done it and it's been okay, personally i would just sterilise anyway - better safe than sorry, however I guess if someone knows better, go along with them, it's your beer

[boingy]

...started this brewing thing to save money, I'm sure I will in the long run but at the moment its all spend, spend, spend!!...

Welcome to yet another hobby where we all spend money then persuade ourselves that it is good value!

As for your question, you might get away with not sanitising the bottles but why risk it? Sanitiser is cheap and it really does not take that long, especially if you are using 2 litre bottles.

[timothio]

Thanks Jerry and Boingy...

So far the advice seems to be "dont risk it!!". Think I'll take you both up on that! As you said Jerry, better safe than sorry...

So for my next question, I ask whats the best way to sanitise/sterilise 2 litre plastic bottles? Obviously anything involving boiling water is out of the question... I guess the steriliser that came with my cheapo kit would do the job (sodium metasilicote), but how much per 2 ltr bottle filled with warm water? Or is there a better way?

Tim.

[Ady1975]

hello and welcome, I too am new and decided I would risk the method of bottling which you speak of on my scond brew.
The lager I made and bottled using this method is currently conditioning but I will let you know if anything goes wrong.
It makes absolutely no sense to me to sterilise a brand new bottle that has only had water in it in the first place, no matter how cheap or quick the process may or may not be. I would however recommend being a sterilising god in all other areas of brewing/testing/transferring etc. up to the point of it seeming like you have a compulsive disorder!!!
I will post here if i have any problems with this bottling method.
cheers

[Scotty]

I add about a quarter of a teaspoon of steriliser (I use Ritchies Cleaner and Steriliser) and add about a quarter of cool-ish water to each bottle and give them a good shake. I then repeat the shaking every 5-10mins or so for about 30mins. I then rinse each bottle about 5 times to make sure all traces of steriliser have gone. It sounds a lot but if you have someone to help you, it takes no time at all.

It has been said that bottled water doesn't have to meet the strict criteria that tap water has to, so it could be carrying bacterias that may not be harmful to consume but could kill the yeast.

[Ady1975]

I just thought I'd reply back, As I said I would.
I have been drinking my lager for past week, I used the 'empty the bottle of water, put brew straight in' method and can report that there have been no problems whatsoever. excellent results and avoided sterilising process.
I would like to do it with my next brew but I don't want to keep throwing plastic bottles, that I have just used away.
I know they go in the recycling but it still seems wasteful, this appears to be the only drawback to this bottling method.
i'll probably still do it tho...

[brysie]

well i can see where youre coming from here but you have to ask yourself

`how will i feel if i spoil my pride and joy by being a lazy arse?`

personally id be gutted if i had to sling 40 pints just cos i didnt take half an hour to sanitise my bottles.

[Ady1975]

what can say, i like to flirt with danger!

call it 'extreme brewing' if you like!

[timothio]

Must say, I wussed out and sterilised mine... It was a pain in the arse, I wont deny it, but really didnt want to fcuk up my first brew.

Sorry to let down the side!

[brysie]

ady, you gotta get out more son

[brewers droop]

i used new plastic bottles without sterilising with no problems, i know what you mean about taking risks but drinking lager ive made myself is a risk in its self so what the hell

[mickhew]

I use a syringe (we use for the kids medicine), squirt 10mls cheap supermarket thin unscented bleach, into each bottle (total 11, so doesn't take that long) fill with cold water, leave for 30 mins, empty and rinse. I've found this the cheapest, easiest way. After emptying (i.e, drinking the 2ltrs of beer) I wash the bottles out with Fairy and hot water, so when I need to fill them I just use the bleach/water. No problems so far.

[rollin danny]

Hello everyone.It was me who posted about not needing to sterilize your bottles and tops when you put new brew on and bottle previous brew.I always use Lidl spring water 20p for 2ltr you can use other water but make sure they are pet bottles or they wont stand the pressure.I always brew like this it keeps the kettle boiling and I never run out of beer. I have never had a bad brew using this method.I always sterilize everything else of course.Ive got a king keg but havn,t used it for about a year.Got to go now and bottle my coopers traditional ale and start a coopers brewmaster irish stout

[brysie]

drinking lager ive made myself is a risk in its self so what the hell

ha ha ha thats the spirit this country was built on my son.