homebrewandbeer.com

Just started brewing again after a seven year lay-off. I used to play around with sodium metabisulphide or bleach to sterilize bottles but would prefer to use as few chemicals as possible. Just thought about using heat to sterilize. As I type this I have 30 bottles in the oven at 150 degrees. Will leave them there for approx one hour. Anyone else use this or a similar method ?.

that's not a bad idea... might use that one day to kill two birds with one stone after rinsing - dry them, and keep them sanitary at the same time.

Might be a PITA to get them out, and where do you put them to cool, and do you really want to wait for ages while they do cool?

I don't bother personally I rinse the bottle 3 times immediately after pouring the beer into a glass. I put it in the dish rack to drain and then I put them all in the carton, right before I bottle I fill each with about 250ml of boiling water give them a good shake and empty. Never caused any problems that I am aware of.

yeh mate do it... that how the old ladies who make jam keep the jars sterile.... I do it at work (oven glassware, not make jam), but we use higher temps...

Personally, i agree with using less chemicals than necessary, but if you rinse the bottles out after you pour your beer (i rinse 3 times), all it should take when it comes to bottling, is a rinse out with sterile( boiled/boiling) water. If the bottles are visually clean, i reckon the chances of contamination are almost nil...

Kev... you're too quick for me today....

James L wrote:Kev... you're too quick for me today....

Thats gotta be a first Must have been the mash and 3 batches of bottles I did last night!

Kevnlis wrote:

James L wrote:Kev... you're too quick for me today....

Thats gotta be a first Must have been the mash and 3 batches of bottles I did last night!

Hell's bells, that must have been fun, bottling 3 batches....
I don't mind bottling, but one at a time is enough for me.

warra48 wrote:

Kevnlis wrote:

James L wrote:Kev... you're too quick for me today....

Thats gotta be a first Must have been the mash and 3 batches of bottles I did last night!

Hell's bells, that must have been fun, bottling 3 batches....
I don't mind bottling, but one at a time is enough for me.

I did a quick toucan as well (gotta keep the fermentors full!), started about 4PM and finished about 10:30 PM

Kevnlis wrote:
I don't bother personally I rinse the bottle 3 times immediately after pouring the beer into a glass. I put it in the dish rack to drain and then I put them all in the carton,

Stop right there. I haven't 'sterilised', added boiling water, or any other such thing for around 40 - 50 brews. I have never had an infection problem so if you are after cutting down on your chemicals and want to do the environment a favour, rinse two or three time s(put the water in a bucket for the garden) and leave to dry. Then place in a box until next time you need them.

^^ i've considered doing the same thing... my logic has also been that if there is any kind of infection, it's really unlikely it'd be more than a few bottles anyway.

I say for the price of a bit of steraliser and a little time, Better to be safe than sorry, im not taking the risk of spoiling a whole brew or more just for the sake of not doing this

James L wrote:yeh mate do it... that how the old ladies who make jam keep the jars sterile.... I do it at work (oven glassware, not make jam), but we use higher temps...

Personally, i agree with using less chemicals than necessary, but if you rinse the bottles out after you pour your beer (i rinse 3 times), all it should take when it comes to bottling, is a rinse out with sterile( boiled/boiling) water. If the bottles are visually clean, i reckon the chances of contamination are almost nil...

I couldn`t agree more with that! I`ve been bottling for 17 years { } and have been using the exact method above for the last 3 years with no problems at all, and don`t expect any in the future. Previous to that, I`d rinse bottles with sod. metabisulph then rinse with water. NOT ANY MORE.

I know quite a few local brewers, we all do the same "rinse three times" method and none of us sanitise. As far as I know none of us have ever had an infection!

Speaking of infections, I`ve had one infected brew {9/2/92} since 1990, and that was because I took someones advice and skimmed the krausen when it went troppo. Should have left it alone.

James L wrote:yeh mate do it... that how the old ladies who make jam keep the jars sterile.... I do it at work (oven glassware, not make jam), but we use higher temps...

Yep, I reckon it's a sure fire way to sanitise.

My method at the moment is to rinse after drinking, leave out to dry, then fill the bottle with about 50ml boiling water, swish it around, tip it out and bottle. It has not wronged me yet.

Kevnlis wrote:Might be a PITA to get them out, and where do you put them to cool, and do you really want to wait for ages while they do cool?

I don't bother personally I rinse the bottle 3 times immediately after pouring the beer into a glass. I put it in the dish rack to drain and then I put them all in the carton, right before I bottle I fill each with about 250ml of boiling water give them a good shake and empty. Never caused any problems that I am aware of.

you do what a friend of my dad does never used sterilizer and never had a problem and produce the best beer i've ever had

I soak mine in idophor (no rinse) together with a fermenter. The fermenter needs to be done anyway since I bulk prime.