9
For cleaning, I rinse bottles with hot water immediately after pouring them out into my glass. They don't need any sort of washing with soap at that point. I keep them off to the side until I have a whole bunch ready for de-labeling, which is an overnight soak in a sink full of PBW. Most labels just slide right off the next day. A quick rinse and the bottles ...
8
According to this page, which was linked to recently on Basic Brewing Radio's facebook page, you can make no-rinse sanitizer with:
bleach diluted to 80 ppm
an equivalent amount of white vinegar to adjust the pH (mixed in after the bleach has been mixed into the water -- do not mix full-strength bleach and vinegar directly)
This info is apparently backed up ...
6
Commercial breweries use two main types of labels: Glue labels, and Sticker-type labels.
Glue labels are easy to remove by soaking in percarbonate based cleansers (OxyClean, Easy Clean, B-Brite, One Step, PBW, and others). You can also use water plus Ammonia, or just plain hot water. Some scraping may be required for complete removal. Glue labels are most ...
6
Getting the Labels Off
I'm only adding a little bit here. I only use OxyClean, like many others, but what I do is put the bottles standing up in a cooler, then fill them with hot tap water. Dump a bit of oxyclean in the cooler, and fill it with hot water.
It holds the temp for quite a long while, after a couple of hours the labels are floating off, or they ...
6
While I have seen small glass bottles akin to flasks in shape and size at my local homebrew store, I cannot seem to find anything similar online. With more digging, I'm certain they could be found, but I'm at least positive that there are bottles smaller than 12 oz. that could be used.
So long as your priming sugar is evenly mixed in the solution before ...
6
How to Brew by John Palmer recommends soaking equipment for 20 minutes, and says that rinsing isn't absolutely necessary for the recommended concentration. The concentration he mentions is 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon of water (4 ml per liter).
I avoid bleach. I'm too worried about it introducing off flavors if it's not completely gone, and would ...
6
The only consideration that comes into bottle choice really is serving size and glass strength due to carbonation levels. (Some highly carbonated styles see thicker glass for safety reasons.)
Then there is bottles that will accept corks. Across all the different styles I've encountered in corked bottles I can't say its specific to any style. Again you see ...
5
It's very much temperature dependent. In an episode of brewstrong, Charlie Bamforth mentions that the rate of oxidization is proportional to temperature, and increases 3 fold for each temperature increase of 10°C/18°F.
So, if your beer is stored at 4°C (39°F), it will oxidize 9 times slower than if it's stored at 24°C (75°F). Loosely speaking, if it takes ...
5
IMHO PET bottles will keep beer very well for up to 6 months. Beer can be kept longer than that but I have noticed that "fizzy drinks" PET bottles can lose pressure after a year or so. Apparently the PET used is very slightly gas permeable. There are bottles on the market with an O2 barrier inserted in the bottle walls, eg - Coopers brown plastic bottles. ...
4
I was very excited to see what the community had to offer for this problem as I am in need of a cardboard box replacement as well. Unfortunately, it appears that www.cwcrate.com is out of business. Therefore, I continued to search for a solution. I found the following sets of plans to make wooden crates:
set 1 -- enclosed box: these look really nice, but ...
4
I print on Avery 5408 labels, which fit on bottle caps nicely.
I do label design in Photoshop Elements 2.0 (which is the "lite" Photoshop from like 2002, but later versions probably work also).
To make circular text that goes around the perimeter of the label in Photoshop Elements:
make a square blank canvas, about 1000x1000;
put a line of text -- I ...
4
I'm a bit late to the conversation, but I also recently started brewing my own Ginger Beer using a Ginger Bug and bottling in the Grolsch-Style swing top bottles. I've had very good success with this method, and got curious as to the pressure capabilities of the swing-top style vs. a crimped top, as I would like to continue experimenting with commercial ...
4
If you don't have bottling gear (bottles, capper, caps, bottle tree etc)
Your alternatives need to hold about 15 psi, and be easy to sanitize.
2 liter soda bottles work nice, just need to keep the beer out of the light.
Sometimes you can find flip top bottles (grolsch style) at .99 cent stores. Brown bottles are a rare find cheap so again no light. LHBS ...
4
If the beer is overcarbonated, I'd just degas it. Lift the cap of each bottle, let the CO2 escape until the foam reaches the cap, let go; repeat as many times as necessary, waiting for the foam to fall back between each degassing. It can take a couple dozen sessions over several days to reach the desirable/safe carbonation level.
If the beer is not cooled ...
4
If the bottles are very contaminated say with sediment sticking and or even if they have been open for a while and have fungal growth inside. You still don’t need to throw away, do the following:
Once emptied, wash the bottles with soap and a good bottle brush. Rinse well.
Now boil water, add a teaspoon of bleach to the bottle and add the boiling water. ...
3
A lot of good points, so instead of repeating, I'll simply add the most ingenious modification to my bottling brush I could have made:
3
I have designed a label for myself in Inkscape and bought some Wheatpaste that I use to glue it on the bottle. Works quite nice, but is quite easy to remove again.
I discovered that sometimes the label comes partly off while drying, but if you just remove it then, resoak it in the past and apply it again, it normally sticks.
3
Stainless Steel Scrubbers
These make quick work of a labels and adhesives.
Soaking the bottles does make it a lot easier, but these scrubbers work even without soaking.
Warm water with a little detergent (oxyclean) or even Dish soap if your doing a beer clean wash later.
Painted labels. Soak in starsan then use scrubber.
What makes these work so well, ...
3
You're doing something wrong.
I've broken exactly one 22 oz bottle in 10 years of homebrewing, probably due to overcarbonation, not opening mechanical stress.
(Also, if I broke glass anywhere near liquid, I would toss it all categorically. I can not fathom how you think opening a 12oz bottle of beer that splinters "everywhere" does not get "in the brew". ...
3
This Wired article may help shed some light on wavelengths and bottle colour.
http://www.wired.com/2013/03/physics-and-green-beer-bottles/
Amendment 1
Light in wavelengths of 350 nm to 520 nm (upper UV to mid-visible light) is known to cause skunky beer.
Green bottles allow green light (520 nm to 550 nm) to pass through, whereas brown bottles (ranging ...
3
As Pepi noted in the comments it would take a serious infection to be noticeable in 24 hours (Just think how long it takes yeast to get going and that is supplied into fermentable at a huge number of cells.
First and foremost I recommend moving to an acid based no-rise sanitiser. Starsan is the common brand but other unbranded and just as good alternatives ...
3
I get to do more bottle cleaning than I'd prefer these days, here are my favorite cleaners:
Percarbonate (oxyclean) + trisodium phosphate (mix at 2:1 ratio, 100g per 20L water). Dissolves label glue and 99% of dried on residues, after a day of soaking.
Undiluted (household strength) bleach. Removes all organics in a few minutes.
If your deposit is a ...
3
I fill each empty with a 20/80 bleach/water solution and allow to soak for a few hours (usually overnight). Come bottling day, I rinse each bottle with cold water before sanitising. Works like a charm.
3
I have the same bottle rinser as well as those bottles. The neck is indeed too large and you will not be able to directly position the bottle over the rinser as you would a 12 oz glass bottle.
However, you will still be able to use these two items together, it is just a bit less convenient. You will need to angle the neck slightly so that the lip of the ...
3
Stopping cordials fermenting naturally is always a bit difficult without some chemical inhibitors, vigorous pasteurisation or freezing. Wild yeast and bacteria can be difficult to eliminate but some methods produce better results that others.
As noted, pasteurisation is a good "catch all" method if carried out VIGOROUSLY. I don't mean boiling vigorously I ...
2
My process involves soaking the bottles in a bucket of Napisan or similar for a day or so, then using a butter knife, whittle off the soggy labels.
For any remaining glue, grab a Magic Eraser and give them a scrub. The micro abrasion of the Magic Eraser works a treat.
This method allows me to de-label up to 100 bottles in under an hour.
2
Good thread, I'll give my two cents. +++++ 1 for BeerClings. Easy, affordable, and most important reusable. I got tired of trying to do them myself and found these to work the best of all the ones I tried online. They will definitely last the longest. I think they have the best design studio as well, tons of clip art and templates to work with.
2
I use Avery mailing labels. I have a background in graphic design so I like to make a professional looking label. I do the design in photoshop and print them out 10 to a sheet. They come off easy after soaking in warm soapy water for 30 seconds.
I know lots of people use masking tape and such. To me nothing says "drink at your own risk" like a masking ...
2
we just corked a screw top wine bottle with no problem what so ever. we also uncorked the bottle with no issues at all. We will definitely be corking larger amounts of screw tops in the future! Thanks to everyone for the great advice on this topic as well, happy winemaking!
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
