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Different Bottle Sanitizing....
Don't know if this has been suggested before, the idea popped into my mind, and I used it for yesterday's batch.
Bottles MUST be disinfected by one means or another. Virtually every method using a disinfectant requires rinsing with water after bleach, bisulfite, etc. are used to disinfect the bottle. What if the water used for rinsing contains bacteria or mold spores? No guarantee against it.
So, what disinfectant material could be used and not rinsed afterward?
Alcohol! Great disinfectant, it's present in the finished beer anyway, so what's a few drops extra left in the bottle going to do? I used 190 Proof Grain Alcohol, generally sold as "Everclear". Put about 3 ounces in the first bottle, shook it with finger over top, poured into next bottle, and so on. 3 oz. did all 50 bottles; you lose a few drops left in each bottle when you pour it out, but it goes a long way. (Everclear ain't cheap!).
Is there anything wrong you can see in this method? It sure beats stinky chlorine bleach!!
I use Star San. Its a no rinse sanitizer and you can use it multiple times before it looses its effectiveness. A 32oz bottle cost around $15 and will last me at least a year.
imp wrote:
Virtually every method using a disinfectant requires rinsing with water after bleach, bisulfite, etc. are used to disinfect the bottle. What if the water used for rinsing contains bacteria or mold spores? No guarantee against it.
Vitrually every homebrewer I know uses StarSan, a no rinse sanitizer.
I only point it out to suggest a new place to get your research from if you had never heard of StarSan.
I don't know where you get your info, but its not a great source.
How about steam, run your bottles through the dishwasher with no soap in it, The bottles come out dry and sanitized. I haven't had an infected bottle yet.
I've been putting my bottles in the dishwasher on an extra hot pots & pans cycle, with a teaspoon of Star San or B-Brite. Take them out still hot & cover with a clean cloth.
Squeaky clean & stanitized.
imp wrote:
Put about 3 ounces in the first bottle, shook it with finger over top
I would try to avoid putting my finger on top of the bottle.
firewater wrote:
How about steam, run your bottles through the dishwasher with no soap in it, The bottles come out dry and sanitized. I haven't had an infected bottle yet.
Not yet but that may catch up to you eventually.
A home dishwasher is not nearly as hot as an industrial one when it comes to the steam/sanitation cycle.
I would predict that your bottles have just been really clean hence fairly sanitary, but eventually you just may find that you get a clunker bottle or two in the long run.
Maybe not though, just my opinions... albeit unsolicited.
I use star san for my equipment, but for my bottles, I use one step cleaner. I use a bottle jet cleaner to blast the inside of the bottle, then I fill my sink up with water, and use one step to sanitize all the water in the sink. I then fill all my bottles about 1/4th ful of the solution, and let it sit for about a hour, dump them out, and fill.
brewchez wrote:
....Vitrually every homebrewer I know uses StarSan, a no rinse sanitizer.
I only point it out to suggest a new place to get your research from if you had never heard of StarSan.
I don't know where you get your info, but its not a great source.
You are right, I never heard of Star San, prolly because 'Um from an old school of thought where beer has been successfully brewed for hundreds of years with few modern contrivances. No disrespect intended, however, as I am here to learn wherever possible.
Regarding my "source" of information, I have none, at least not yet. Having a technical background sort of drives me to experiment and think out possible alternative means to achieve desired results.
I will not remark pro or con on the dishwasher idea, except to say it also sounds innovative!
Regarding placing a finger over the mouth of a bottle and sloshing grain alcohol around in it, I suspect that finger tip will be adequately bacteria-free pretty quickly as soon as alcohol touches it. I do not know about mold spores, however, but THINK alky affects most of them similarly.
I do appreciate the answers, as some other forums pretty much label me nuts!
Not bagging on the idea, you understand, but are you sure a quick shake is enough time to get any sanitization effect? And doing each bottle for a five gallon batch for even a minute each would make me nuts.
Definately try Star San, at the very least it'll cut your time down. And if you bottle the same day you brew, you can use your fermenter for a bottle sanitizer bucket and use the Star San twice (it's getting old when you notice that it's cloudy.)
Jen wrote:
, but are you sure a quick shake is enough time to get any sanitization effect?
Welllll, a quick swab on the crook of your elbow is enough to allow stabbing a needle therein, so,
I figure a few shakes, then pour it into next bottle in line, it really is less chore for 50 bottles than having to go back and rinse them all. I feel rinsing, at least with our tap water, may re-introduce undesirable organisms, nothing I would worry about in drinking the water, mind you, but who knows what affects beer derogatorily??
BTW, I should think "reading" and poring over grainy, illegible security tapes for hours would prolly drive me to drinkin'!
I think that quick swipe is more to wipe off any resident and not leave new bacteria than sanitizing.. and your bod can fight bacteria... helpless beer can't. It must be protected!!!
LOL and you are talking to a person who once crawled on elbows and knees through a gravel lot to find every piece of a bullet fragment (found them too!) so the surveillance footage is tedious but not too horrible. 
If I remember right back when I learned how to stab a person with needles, you are supposed to let the alcohol dry before venipuncture to get the full antiseptic result, and no blowing or fanning to speed it along. However no one ever does becuase it is a pain in the ass to sit and wait for a pt.'s arm to dry. FYI next time you need blood drawn. I kinda like the grain alcohol idea, you can put on a little firebreathing show at the end!
Ethanol, the stuff we drink to get drunk, and isopropyl, the stuff we use to clean wounds, are two different things. Niether one is designed to sanitize my bottles. I'll stick with star-san, which is.
FWIW, at this point, isopropyl alcohol (common rubbing alcohol), is believed to be slightly more effective as an antibacterial than ethanol, or grain alcohol. Personally, I think the difference is a moot point.
Blowing on the crook of your arm, or anywhere else, contributes fresh bacteria to the area; thus drying the alky that way is frowned upon, no doctor here.
Since most all alcohols are antibacterial, cleansing of stuff, including beer bottles, would be warranted, but only ethanol does not produce serious gastric consequences, or worse.
If you have not seen the presentation, an hour-long documentary on Aspartame, or "Equal" non-nutritive sweetner, try to catch it. What an eye-opener. Bit off topic, sorry, but who knows, someone might try fermenting the stuff to get lower calorie beer!
The human body removes Aspartame from the system by metabolizing it to METHANOL, which is good ol' WOOD ALCOHOL, great stuff to do suicide with.
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