Cleaning bottles

I like using traditional glass bottles to condition my beer. Particularly, clear ones. I like that you can always see what you are getting in a clear bottle! Plus, of course, they are easier to fill!

Assuming that you want to reuse your bottles, the only real drawback with bottles is the cleaning. Whichever way you look at it, cleaning bottles isn’t an exciting task and when you have got to clean and sanitise a hundred or so, it is a real pain!

One thing that has bugged me has been how to get the clear bottles really clean. And I mean really clean! After a few uses, they sometimes build up a sort of haze on the inside of the glass. The bottle is still clean and safe to use (don’t forget, they are sanitised before they are filled). But the haze doesn’t add much to the appearance. Hot soapy water and a bottle brush helps but it doesn’t always produce perfect results.

Then I came across this bottle/barrel cleaner. A heaped teaspoon in a kitchen sink full of hot water seems to do the drink. I let the bottles soak for 5-10 minutes then used a bottle brush and another swill. Perfect. Everytime. Back to new. It looks like it is an oxygen based cleaner – similar to sodium percarbonate.

Now, I haven’t tried this yet, but apparently it is really good at removing old labels too. Another bottling issue bites the dust!