Bottle prep ?

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hamy

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Hi, I am getting near to gassing and then bottling my first ever batch of wine. I will be using bottles that have been bought at my local supermarket, drank, soaked in tap water, scraped off labels and rinsed in a mild bleach/water mix.

My question is.....

Apart from the final sterilise rinse what else should I do to ensure it does not cause problems with my new wine?

I did notice on a few bottles that there was small black spots/growths attached to the inside of them that I could not remove so I binned them.

Is there are sure fire way to ensure my bottles are as clean as possible?

I was thinking caustic soda soak? Rinse? bleach? rinse.?

As I say I am a week away from bottling so please any advice would be great.

many thanks

Hamy

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Caustic soda would certainly work but would be very dangerous to work with. You would need to follow up with a citric acid bath afterwords to neutralize it. I would toss any bottles in question. Clean your bottles good with oxy clean or one step and then sanitize just before using with some meta.
 
Hamy...a few people may not agree with me but if your bottles are already as clean as you say they are , I would just give them a good rinse with a pressurized bottle sprayer an call it a day. There is a product called Iodophor which is iodine based that you mix with water and can get sanitized if you really feel the need. It is made specifically for home brewers and winemakers.. Remember that finished wine is anti microbial and pretty much nothing can survive that environment. I used to be obsessive about sanitization at bottling but have found that a good rinse is all that my bottles have ever needed. No problems after 18 years of doing this. Good luck....nothing beats bottling that first batch. Lemme know how it works out for you.
 
Hamy,
Regardiing the black growth (mold) spots. Once our winter neighbors found out that we were into making wine, they saved bottles for us. Lots and lots of bottles. Invariably, those bottles were never rinsed upon depletion, and set aside before arriving at our place. What we did, with all of those bottles, was to place them in a tall bucket of a fairly strong dish soap and bleach, leave them completely covered to soak overnight, THEN use a bottle brush to scrub the inside. Occasionally, it would take a couple of scrubbings before those clumbs would break free. Rinse, turn upside down to drain and dry and set aside until ready to bottle. Then re-rinse and sanitize as above. Early into our hobby, those bottles have value. Later on, when your collection warrents, you can then start to pitch out what you do not want.
 
Don't ignore the presence of those small spots. They could result in your wine becoming spoiled.

I would not recommend bleach, either; it can cause TCA (cork taint) and, again, ruin your wine. Bleach is not as good a cleaner as is it for simply bleaching out color.

You could leave the bottles soaking in Oxyclean for several days, but leaving bottles too long in it can leave a film in the bottle. It can be as hard to remove as the spots.

If I were you, I would fill the spotted bottles with plain water and let them soak for a few days. Then I would get a good bottle brush and work on those spots directly. Heat! Replacing the soaking water with some very warm water just before you clean them can really help.

I have had similar bottles with dark spots that are hard to remove, but I was always able to get them out with a stiff bottle brush and some patience.

End the end, if you can't get the spots off, discard the bottle.
 
I agree with robie.

I would not use bleach - personally - i use warm soapy water, bottle brush, and some elbow grease to clean the bottles - once i have cleaned an rinse - i spray with k-meta and let drip dry - then mox them away.

if the bottles have growth in them - throw them away.

I have heard of folks putting the bottles in the oven to heat clean them - but i have never tried this.
 
Thanks again for the advice. I am being over the top on these (my first) 30 bottles but just want to get it as good as I can with what I bought. Took me a while to get the wife on side as I had to (as you all know) had to invest some £'s on equipment, and that I will have good red wine for under 2 pounds a bottle when it's done! fingers crossed.

Now thrown away any bottles with spots / marks inside and will re sterilise and brush them out with clean water on the day of bottling..... Feb 2nd :h

First attempt at "Gassing" this Wednesday.:re

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Thanks again for the advice. I am being over the top on these (my first) 30 bottles but just want to get it as good as I can with what I bought. Took me a while to get the wife on side as I had to (as you all know) had to invest some £'s on equipment, and that I will have good red wine for under 2 pounds a bottle when it's done! fingers crossed.

Now thrown away any bottles with spots / marks inside and will re sterilise and brush them out with clean water on the day of bottling..... Feb 2nd :h

First attempt at "Gassing" this Wednesday.:re

Cheers

Good deal. Just be sure that the temps are 75* - it will degass better.
 

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