Sanitizing Bottles

[Andy]

What is everyone doing to Sanitize their bottles? I've been using the "Heat Dry" cycle of my Dishwasher. Since my Dubbel that I brewed last fall had 5 of the remianing 8 bottles tasting "infected" (I tested/dumped my remaining bottles after last meeting when it was obvious one of the bottles I brought was infected), I've decided this isn't good enough and have cleaned with Star San too now. But I'm interested in what has worked for others too, and if there's any practical advice as so I can avoid sanitization issues in the future.

Thanks
Andy

[Drtanglebones]

Biggest thing is cleaning first. Make sure you are using a bottle brush and letting them soak a few minutes in PBW or onestep. If using starsan right after this--I would rinse first. PBW should be rinsed anyway.

If all the solid crap is off them sanitizing is much more effective. I use starsan and immerse for a couple minutes letting drip a bit on my bottle tree before bottling.

[Malt Licker]

I usually have them sitting around until I get about a case-worth. Then I soak them in B-Brite overnight, rinse in Star-San, and put on my bottle tree.

When I used to bottle my whole batch, I'd run them through the dishwasher on the "anti-bacterial", "high-temp scrub", and "heat dry" settings (not sure what they all do, but they sounded good, and since they made the buttons for them, what the heck). But now that I only bottle 3-4 at a time, I just grab them off the tree, rinse them out, and soak them in Star-San for a few minutes. Then I wrap plastic wrap (also soaked in Star-San) with a rubber band over the top and stick them in the freezer prior to filling them.

[Dave M.]

Similar to the other guys...I used to let bottles soak in bleach water and then use jet washer to rinse. I'd then put in dishwasher to sanitize. I discovered that I was having head retention problems in bottled beer that I was not seeing in mini-keg beer. So now I soak/clean in PBW, rinse with jet washer, then soak in Star San, let dry on bottle tree and fill. Much better results this way.

[Sixpack]

I guess I take the easy route, but have not had any issues. when I am done drinking a bottle, I make sure to rinse it well and get it dried out. Then it gets put away in a clean environment until I need to use it to bottle again. Then I just basically soak/rinse with starsan, let drip dry in the sink and bottle. Sometimes still some foam in there but that's not a problem.

[Drtanglebones]

I've done that and been mostly lucky. But...When I've soaked those rinsed and dried bottles in PBW--one in 20-30 will release nasty brown gunk into the wash basin. Not sure why, but I'm not willing to risk sending one of those bottles to a contest!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I guess I take the easy route, but have not had any issues. when I am done drinking a bottle, I make sure to rinse it well and get it dried out. Then it gets put away in a clean environment until I need to use it to bottle again. Then I just basically soak/rinse with starsan, let drip dry in the sink and bottle. Sometimes still some foam in there but that's not a problem.

I concur with sixpack, and about half the time I use starsan, when I'm feeling cheap,
I use Bleach-vinegar-water solution as a sanitizer.

I dump the used star-san solution (after I double delute it) on my hop plants as fertilizer.

regarding the foam left in the bottle, I understand that will actually be a nutrient for the yeast
to help in bottle conditioning.

the four above hints were from a podcast interview with a chemist at starsan.

Kramer

[RedDog]

Wow I might be working to hard.

After I drink I rinse my bottle and throw it in the dishwasher
and when the diswasher is full I run with light soap.

Empty the bottles into a xerox box until bottling time.

The day before I bottle I load the dishwasher with
2 - 32oz bottles
12 -22 oz bottles
28 - 12 oz bottles

and just do a full dishwash
with no soap.

Red dog

[Drtanglebones]

Yeah, I would skip the first dishwasher run. Not only are you getting soap (which kills head on beer,) but also potentially oils and flavorful bits of food into your bottles. Just make sure to dip bottles in iodophor or starsan before bottling. The washer gets rid of chunks (cleaning,) but does not sanitize (killing bacteria.) Even most new-fangled washers with "sanitize" or "Antibacterial" function probably don't get hot enough to really do the trick.

I've had a lot of chemistry and "sterile" vs "unsterile" in my career. And of course none of this will completely sterilize anything. For that you need an autoclave or wicked chemicals you don't want in beer!

[translucent]

why don't you just use a walk-in autoclave?
don't shut the door behind you

[Drtanglebones]

I think the folks at work would get mad at me if I used the autoclave there...