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Sanitizing bottles in dishwasher

Mahobbie

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Give me some feedback on sanitizing bottles in dishwasher. I've done this for awhile but I'm wondering if the detergent is hurting my finished head profile. Should I just run at high temp and no detergent and throw some Easy Clean in there? (bottle are always rinsed out good after useage, no solids). How do you others do it?
 
.02 cents....I never bothered. Bought a 5 gal bucket at Home Depot, filled with water, reommended amount of StarSan and sanitize with that.  I can santize everything including two brews worth of bottles (100+) in about 30 minutes. 

Mark
 
I just run it through the sanitizing cycle without detergent. Has worked like a charm since I have been doing that.
 
I also just run them through the sanitizing cycle without detergent.  I was warned (somewhere) about making sure you don't use a rinse agent either.  Some dishwashers have automatic dispensers.
 
Back in my old bottling days, the best use I had for my dishwasher was to bottle over it. Open the door, support it with a pot, bottle away over the open lid and close the door to clean up the inevitable mess.
 
5 gallon bucket with Star San-no rinse, no hassle, no time at all............
 
Mahobbie said:
Give me some feedback on sanitizing bottles in dishwasher. I've done this for awhile but I'm wondering if the detergent is hurting my finished head profile. Should I just run at high temp and no detergent and throw some Easy Clean in there? (bottle are always rinsed out good after useage, no solids). How do you others do it?

You do not want detergent.  clean the bottles with something like PBW or actual PBW.  Run on the sanitize cycle.  If you do not have a sanitize cycle, then sanitize with something like 5Star starsan or iodaphor. 

residual detergents will definitely affect head, bottle conditioning and flavor.

 
I inspect All bottles first, then wash them in the DW on sanitize cycle with star san.  Has worked well for 8 years...NEVER had a problem. 
 
I usually soak bottles in OxiClean in two 5 gallon buckets to clean and remove labels and any gunk. 99% of labels fall off within 2 hours.  Then rinse inside of bottles under faucet and then put them in dishwater for a cycle to rinse all the OxiClean off.  Then the bottles go on my bottle tree to dry. Then on bottling day, they soak in the two buckets again, this time with Star-San for about 2-3 minutes.
 
joeinma said:
I usually soak bottles in OxiClean in two 5 gallon buckets to clean and remove labels and any gunk. 99% of labels fall off within 2 hours.  Then rinse inside of bottles under faucet and then put them in dishwater for a cycle to rinse all the OxiClean off.  Then the bottles go on my bottle tree to dry. Then on bottling day, they soak in the two buckets again, this time with Star-San for about 2-3 minutes.

I use 1 cup of Amonia/5 gallons to soak my bottles to get the labels off, works great equally well and less expensive than Oxi and leaves no residue like Oxi.
 
Hey I got a great video here on Sanitizing/sterilizing bottles: http://youtu.be/uoEvAruBayw
 
I agree with much of what has been said here but, the one thing no one bothered to mention is.... rinse the bottle real good when you are done drinking it. Don't let it set around and crust up. Fill your glass, rinse it out and, put it inside of a bottle case. That way when it comes time to use it again, it is already clean. throw it in the dishwasher without any soap or, dunk it in sanitizer. You will have nothing to worry about. As for new (used) bottles, do the same thing. If they are old (used) bottles....PBW.
 
I started using the dishwasher to sanitize bottles way back before rinse agents were being used. I just didn't use detergent. Worked great. After a multi year hiatus from brewing, and the purchase of a modern dishwasher, I noticed poor head retention. I chalked it up to being out of practice. I finally read John Palmers take on using the dishwasher and learned that rinse agents are designed to put a film on glass so water sheets off and eliminates spots. My problem was mostly solved when I went back to hand sanitizing in a bucket. The final key to the puzzle was when I quit putting my pint glasses in the dishwasher.
 
I never went to the bother of using a dishwasher to sanitize bottles. It works I guess but my concern is how well will the inside of the bottle get sanitized when, in my opinion, so little water is likely to get into the small neck opening anyway, and certainty not with enough force to reach the bottom of the bottle. .

As a previous poster said, rinse your bottle immediately after you pour a beer, stand it up-side-down to drain and put it in a case of beer empties. When you need to use them again, just sanitize the inside and around the neck with a pump bottle washer, the kind you fill with sanitizer and push the up-side-down bottle on the device to pump a strong stream of no rinse sanitizer up inside the bottle. Put on a bottle rack to drain, then fill. No problem, and easy. I only use Grolsch self closing 16 oz bottles so only need 40 for a 5 gal batch.
 
Water does not need to get in the bottle.  Sanitizing is done by heat.  When you add up the cost of running the dishwasher it is cheaper to keg :) :) :)
 
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