Starsan only?

[ringsingding]

Hi fellow brewers

I am a newbie (just on my 4th kit) and have managed to get a shedload (bout 200) 500ml German beer bottles both fiptop and crowncap. I do not want a keg of beer in the house as swmbo would not go for that...but bottles can condition nicely on the loft I have now scrubbed all the crud away and sterilised the bottles for 24 hours each when I got them just to give them a good clean with a vwp style chemical powder. They are now rinsed, spotless and stacked in (now) nice clean crates waiting to be filled

Come bottling day for each beer kit, my sterilising masterplan to save time is to only use a bottle rinser and bottle with the starsan by rinsing in starsan, putting the bottles on the tree then filling each one with lovely syphoned and primed beer from the 2nd FV. Hope this technique saves time and money in the long run...??? I have worked it out to be 8p per run of 40 glass 500ml beer bottles for the starsan and much less time than using VWP, a kettle and 5 rinses per bottle under the cold water tap for 40 bottles...

Can anyone see any flaws in this plan or offer any improvements please?

Yours in Beer
ringsingding

[flytact]

If you've cleaned and sterilized each bottle, why not close the cap to store and when it's time to bottle just pop open the cap and fill? If you feel you need to sanitize again then fill your bottling bucket with about 4L of starsan solution and dunk and empty your bottles. There will be enough solution left on the bottle to complete the sanitizing as they dry on your tree. Then slosh the the remaining solution around in your bucket and you've taken care of that one as well.

[ringsingding]

Hey flytact

That is a cool idea - presterilise the bottles, cap em/(seal them for the fliptops) all and then pop them open, fill and reseal on bottling day with primed brew via my 2nd FV with a tap and littlebottler... brilliant, I think???

This will save loads of time come bottling day as so far after bottling I have also cleaned, sterilised and reused the FV to start the next brew and in total with 40 crowncap 500ml german beer bottles it has taken ages... this pre-sterilisation concept brings a couple of new questions -

1 How long do you brewers reckon an empty sealed fliptop and crowncapped bottle will stay sterilised for?
2 Do you reckon presterilising and sealing maybe 120 empty bottles (good enough for 3 kit beer brews) in one go will be a good investment of time come the 3 future bottling days?

As a newbie I am looking to sort out my system by trying somthing different every time to hone a simple and efficient technique.

Yours in Beer
ringsingding

[edit1now]

If you're going to be heavily into bottles then you need an Avvinatore or two to go with your bottle tree. About £13 each if you look around. I'm now running a dual Blast and dual Avvinatore rinser system (don't perch the rinser on top of the wobbly bottle tree). I just bottled two batches the other day, and I sanitised 86 bottles in 40 minutes. The bottles were officially clean (after soaking in washing soda solution and rinsing) so they had two squirts of mains water to shift the cobwebs, then I dunked the bottle necks in the Videne solution in the rinser, three squirts on the rinser, dunked the neck again and onto the bottle tree. One in each hand... Much quicker than dunk and empty, and the squirting does reach inside comprehensively. My bottle tree only holds 77 bottles

[ringsingding]

hihi

I have just got one and the tree just waiting to get the starsan to go with it for a high speed bottle sanitising system. yeah ha

I am reckoning/hoping that one starsan blast and a neck dunk on my (now) super clean bottles will do the job. Quick dip of the tree initially to sanitise it and why hey job done

I gave also looked online at the blast both single and double... your 30 seconds a bottle is my type of goal...are they worth it?

What do you think of the presterilisation concept for bottles? then you can simply open, fill, seal done?

Why is everyone not doing it this way? - value for money, efficient and cuts out the tedious bit of waiting and then 5 rinses per bottle...what a waste of water it was...

Yours in Beer
ringsingding

[Shoit]

I wonder whether there is a risk of a small amount of any bacteria growing over time? I would love to know whether you can pre-clean bottles in this way. Anyone else help with this thread?

Kev

[garwatts]

I wonder whether there is a risk of a small amount of any bacteria growing over time? I would love to know whether you can pre-clean bottles in this way. Anyone else help with this thread?

Kev

I always wash and clean my bottles immediately after use, then cap with the used crown cap to keep out dust and crawlies etc. Then when ready to bottle again I do the same as 'edit1now' except I use premixed steriliser/sanitiser as supplied by my local micro (he does 25L at a time)

[WishboneBrewery]

I always rinse and dry my bottles straight after using their contents or bottles which I've been given I give a serious soak and clean 'n dry.
Then I've been using Starsan for my last couple of bottling sessions and been doing a couple of control batches.
Batch 1 = Starsan + 1 quick rinse
Batch 2 = Starsan + Drip Dry
Batch 3 = Starsan left Wet

I've had full carbonation and no off-tastes in the beer so far

[ringsingding]

Batch 1 = Starsan + 1 quick rinse
Batch 2 = Starsan + Drip Dry
Batch 3 = Starsan left Wet

Hi

I have tried your batch 3 option and bottled 40 bottles of Muntons Pilzner straight onto the Starsan foam using a vinator and bottle tree, seemed odd at the time, but lets see

Have you any results of your experiement yet pdtnc?

Yours in Beer
ringsingding

[WishboneBrewery]

every bottles I've 'tested' has been fine, no off-tastes and fully carbonated
I'm continuing to rinse half and drip dry half just in case, all looks good thus far

[ringsingding]

Hi

I seem to have a tight 'testing' schedule as you do
My new brew is very young but no off-tastes at all on a straight Starsan bottle.

A great technique I would say, and for only a few pennies...

Got a tip today to stick wine yeast in the FV as well as the beer yeast in the kit to give a top and bottom fermenting yeast and a weetabix too.... not tried yet but will do this weekend

Yours in Beer
ringsingding

[WishboneBrewery]

I think I'll be keeping Weetabix for milk and the wine yeast for Wine personally