Brew UK Forum | General Brewing Discussions
Sterilising Bottles
Brew days are generally fun and organised and go quite well. Bottling days are a right pain in a*se. I am debating getting a barrel, although I'm not sure how long beer keeps in them at reasonably high temps (i.e. 24 degrees or more in summer), and I think I'd worry about contamination at the tap. But I digress.
There must be an easier way to sterilise bottles than washing 40 of them, rinsing 40 of them, filling 40 with steraliser, rinsing them in batches and filling them. It takes an age, its bad for me back and, more importantly, its not fun.
I was think more along the lines of a handheld steam cleaner, or oven. Are these easier? what are the pros and cons if you have tried them?
Cheers
Responses
Posted 10 months ago by Member
You're right it is the least bit of fun in brewing.
You could;
Use 1 litre bottles (halving the effort).
Get a "little bottler", makes filling a doddle.
Acquire a baby bottle steriliser, Avent was the make we used for our kids, not sure if it would take 1 litre bottles but probably the 500ml ones.
I stick all my bottles in a spare FV with the sanitising solution for 30 mins but even then the rinsing is a chore.
Barrels work fine, my only gripe is the couple of pints at the bottom which are lost ..... and probably cos my beer fridge is about 8 inches too short to allow a glass to get at the tap easily to fill a pint in one go.
Conditioning; Diabolo, TTL
Planning; SNPA
Drinking; Headcracker, Pinot Grigio, WTA
Posted 10 months ago by Member
If you have a dishwasher you can run the bottles through that (without the cleaning stuff) and then do all your bottling over the dishwasher which collects any spills...I just stick mine in the bath filled with hot water and then use the plastic washer to rinse them and put them on the bottle tree to dry.
Posted 10 months ago by Member
I have a little bottler and its still a chore.
Don't think I'd use a dishwasher because a) I don't have one and b) I don't think they'd clean the inside suitably.
I am thinking along the lines of oven-sterilising and plugging with foil the previous night, so that by bottling day I have 40 room temperature sterile bottles ready to go on the day. Would this work?
Posted 10 months ago by Moderator
That sounds fine to me, but would take around the same time I suppose. I just rinse throughly after drinking a bottle, leave upside down till dry then when the day comes slap some starsan in a bottle shake it around and then pour into the next - do this for 10 bottles and then discard the starsan, then do the same again.
When I fill them I use a bottling stick, which I find easier than the little bottler because im not bending and lifting bottles to the stick. Instead I line up my bottles and just push the bottling stik in one then when its full move to the next one.
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 10 months ago by Member
But then you have to muck about with shaking and rinsing 40 bottles. I am quite up for letting the oven do the work, and also having less to do on the day.
Do you reckon I could plug the bottles before sticking them in oven?
Posted 10 months ago by Moderator
I suppose so, as its not like steam (wet) sterilisation your just getting the objects hot to the point where it kills nasties, so in that case it does not need to be open as it will get as hot inside anyway.
Anyone else have an opinion?
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 10 months ago by Member
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html
See the oven bit. Not sure how well wrapped the plug would need to be, but it sounds like it could be what I'm looking for.
Posted 10 months ago by Member
I'm with Nath on this one.
I have just recently bought some Starsan after reccomendations on this site and also acquired a bottlewasher that was reccomended from users off here. Put a 1/4 oz of starsan into the bottlewasher bowl and you are ready to go. Give 2 or 3 squirts job done then i leave to drain off on bottle tree. With starsan you do not need to rinse the bottles so this makes a tedious task an easy one.
Fermenting-Nowt
Conditioning-Proper Job Comp Beer,Kenridge White Merlot
Drinking-Raspberry/Lime cider,Grenache Blush Rose,Coopers modified lager
SG Chardonnay Wine
Posted 10 months ago by Moderator
In the oven at 140°C for half an hour is good enough for jam jars I'm reliably informed but I guess they still have to be cleaned beforehand.
Fermenting: Summer pale ale
Maturing/Conditioning: Marynka pseudo-lager
Drinking: Wheat beer, ESB, Vienna lager & shop bought stuff
Posted 10 months ago by Member
I always rinse the bottle out as soon as I've poured a beer. Then store with all my other rinsed bottles.
When it comes to bottling day I know they are 'clean' so I line them up in the garage, fill a 2 litre jug with a kettle of almost boiling water and a teaspoon of sodium metabisulphate. An inch poured into each bottle, using a funnel if you have the shakes, is plenty.
After a few minutes of gassing, I shake them empty all over the garage floor.
I then leave them to stand for about half an hour, to give off any residual gasses, and proceed to bottle from my secondary fermenter that is fitted with a tap.
As long as you sink a bottle or three of your last batch while your at it, when you get a good routine going, it can become quite a meditive experience I find.
Posted 10 months ago by Member
What about barrels? How long can 40 pints keep for if you cannot refrigerate it? I have a brew fridge but I'd have to stop brewing until I'd drunk the last batch if I put it in there.
Recently its been hitting 27+ degrees in my flat (its a suntrap) and the bottles in storage under the stairs have been fine once there chilled. They've been lying about for ages. I'd worry that a large barrel would spoil in these conditions. Also, I still don't understand how nasties don't get in via the tap.
This is all good stuff though, how did people brew before the internet
Posted 10 months ago by Moderator
Sodium Metabisulphite is one of the old standby sterilisers, but compared with many new things it's a bit slow. To speed things up, add Citric Acid powder to the Sodium Metabisulphite about 35/65% and you'll find the gas given off (SO2) increases by about 500%. DON'T sniff it!
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Posted 10 months ago by Member
Just wondering how you're going to fit 40 bottles in the oven? I have a massive six hob catering oven and I don't think I could get 40 bottles in without adding shelves... I have thought about it!
I also have 2 massive catering sinks which makes soaking bottles in sterilising soln easier! I can't imagine what a faff bottling would be in a domestic kitchen!! (and love a job that allows me to have a brew in work).
Fermenting: all grain proper job
Conditioning:marston's pedigree all grain clone, ttl all grain minus pack 2
Drinking: Twibute extrAct, proper job extract, Hop Back Summer Lightning clone
Posted 10 months ago by Member
(oh, and I agree with Monk - a bottle or three does make it less of a chore - I find some good tunes helps too)
Fermenting: all grain proper job
Conditioning:marston's pedigree all grain clone, ttl all grain minus pack 2
Drinking: Twibute extrAct, proper job extract, Hop Back Summer Lightning clone
Posted 10 months ago by Member
Done - managed 29 bottles capped with foil in the oven the night before so only had to sterilise and rinse again 11 bottles on the day. It still took a while, but was far easier. Once I started bottling, I had it done in 35 minutes!!! Got a proper production line on the go.
I also listened to tunes and sank a few, rude not to when brewing in some form or other as you say.
Definitely will try this technique again.
Posted 10 months ago by Member
My setup. This is a non rinse steriliser using videne (£6.00 from your local chemist)
Although non-rinse I do give 'em a quick rinse after a couple of minutes..
Hope this helps
JH
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