efficient ways to clean bottles

[geoffclifton]

The first scrub and label removal is the pain. I've got two big blue drums. New bottles (thanks friends & neighbours) get dumped into one drum filled with water and a cup of bleach and left to soak for a week or so. The second drum is filled plus a dash of detergent and in that I have a submersible fountain pump with a lenth of 1/2 inch copper pipe the top of which is filed into four V's (VVVV). I bottle brush in the bleach barrel, sit the bottle on the pump then rinse with the hose gun and onto the tree. It is at least an hours work to fill the tree then I store them upside down.

Pre bottling is a lot easier. I do this in the laundry sink with the tree on the machine. Fill one bottle with warm water and a teaspoon of sod met. Using a funnel I pour to the next bottle, rinse with hot water and onto the tree. !5 minutes for a tree full.

I've done six brews over the past month and bottled two. Four others ready to bottle. All very different in performance and taste with the most promising looking like being the Coopers stout on 1Kg sugar and 1/2 can dark crystal malt. I hadn't tasted a stout in yonks but HB has got me looking for flavours.

Cheers, Geoff.

[rwh]

I rinse 3 times after pouring. On the brew day, I add a little idophor to each bottle and shake. After a few mins I tip the idophor out into a big pot for reuse. Then I rinse each bottle with a little water, tip into a bucket. This bucket is then emptied into a watering can for the potato patch!

[jase]

water restrictions should be a concern 4 all of us,but I live & brew on tank water so I go about it like this.After drinking I rinse bottles with a little hot tap water,shake to the bejesus,then store in a cupboard,then on bottling day I use a large pot that holds 10 longies & fill each bottle up to the top. I put water up to about 1/4 way up the bottles then cover & boil. I then use rubber gloves to swirl each bottle into a small jug then pour that water into another bottle & boil another 10 & so on. I allways bottle 2 brews at a time to make the most of the boil & then use the hot water to wash out my fermenters,then the water goes onto the garden when cool. not as time consuming as it sounds,once you have your system down,no chemicals involved, and not one Infection yet in 20 brews(my fatherin-law has used a similar method for 18 years brewing & never had a problem) Also a lot to be said for the the quality of brew you get from country tank water.

[Danzar]

In my view it's very simple.

Rinse out after drinking - at the end of the night. Hang on bottle tree.

Then I use morgans no rinse sanitiser via the little pointy thing on top of the bottle tree.

Too easy and only takes me 10 - 15 mins on bottling day to prep bottles.

Bingo!

I do almost exactly the same, very easy and no hassles.

I rinse each bottle as I pour it empty. Then it sits in the sink drainer upside down for a bit, and at end of night or next morning, gets taken out to bottle tree. And I use Iodophor to sanitise.

Yup - same here exactly. It's quick and easy plus you save on water.