cleaning/sanitizing bottles

[PolishWineP]

We rinse them when right away when emptied and then let them collect on the counter in a most unceremonious manner.

When one of us can no longer stand it, I soak them in B-Brite, run a brush through them, rinse with cool water, inspect, drain and box until needed.
When we're going to bottle, we rinse them again, sanitize, inspect, drain, bottle. There are some bottles that just won't come clean. If the sanitizer in the bottle drains in a odd manner, I pitch the bottle to the recyce bin. It's just not worth the chance of something bad.

 

[OldWino1]

i wash after emptiing and delableing. let dry.before i bottle i wash again with dawn and a brush . Then use jet flush with pure hot water. The have a stacking party in he drain borrard its fun gettin 30 bottles in there updide down to drain and dry. Takes 2 days for them to dry. You can always tell when I am getting ready to bottle upside down bottles in drain board is a dead giveaway. I have had no issues with bad wine years later. I also use high grade corks algamated 1.75's and I dont soak them put them in dry.
Just did riesling/.

 

[Sub Vet]

I picked up 2 cases of empty bottles in the recycle bin at a local winery and soaked them in hot h20 to remove the labels.I used goo gone to remove the glue that adhered to the bottles.Then I rinsed them ,sanitized them with na meta and rinsed again.They have been drying on the bottle tree for a day,but some are still damp inside.I want to store these bottles until I'm ready to use them in about 4 weeks.If I store them with moister inside,will mold grow?Did I properly clean the bottles? Edited by: Sub Vet

 

[grapeman]

Turn them right side up and they will dry. Cover with something (not platic- I put in a winebox and close it)to keep dust out and rinse again with meta just before bottling. Rinsing is not necessary after rinsing with meta before bottling.

 

[Sub Vet]

Hi Appleman,Thanks for your reply.I followed your instructions on drying the bottles,however,nearly all of them still have moister clinging to the side.I'm afraid that mold will develope if I stored them away in my garage.Was my procedure ok in cleaning the recycled bottles?Shall I just leave the bottles open to the air until all are dried? Thanks

 

[grapeman]

Unless you live in a swamp, they should dry ok soon. As long as you sulfite again before bottling they should be fine.

 

[laneygirl]

I have used ammonia in water as a way to remove labels from beer bottles for homebrewing beer. I'll then load my cleaned bathtub with bleach water and let them soak to clean them. Sometimes it seems like the ammonia water leaves a residue, though and so especially for wine bottles think I'll start just rinsing them and also soaking in H20 for label removal.