# CLEANING BOTTLES?



## slopenutz (Nov 10, 2009)

I was given 5 cases of empty bottles but don't know if they were rinsed out when they were used. Would soaking them in OXYCLEAN(WalMart Sun) take care of any mold, etc that might have built up in them? I have heard of using this method to remove labels but will this help clean them as well? 

Would PBW be another possible option?


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## grapeman (Nov 10, 2009)

It should work just fine. If you want to insure they are sterile, use some other form of sanitizer afterwards. I have been cleaning carboys that some of had bird poop in. I soak in clorox to kill all the nsaties and then use oxiclean to get rid of any residue. I triple rinse after all that and then use a cleaning strength k-meta solution. The carboys are spotless when done and I am confident they are strile enough to use. Besides if they aren't totally clean it will add to the character of the wine - ode de bird poop. SOme wines are described as having a barnyard smell- can't be worse than that!


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## rhoffart (Nov 10, 2009)

appleman said:


> I have been cleaning carboys that some of had bird poop in.




should we ask How ... or Why?


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## AlFulchino (Nov 10, 2009)

ditto on the question


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## xanxer82 (Nov 10, 2009)

Tweety Blanc?


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## Waldo (Nov 11, 2009)

Visions of pigeons I see


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## grapeman (Nov 11, 2009)

Alright, since you all asked. I find myself short some carboy space this fall. A friend has some extra carboys - 5 gallons- that someone gave him from a water bottle company. They had been in a warehouse for a number of years in wooden holders. You all should know what happens in old warehouses after a while. The birds get in and, well they roost inside and you know what comes next. Apparently these carboys were below their perch. The first thing I did when I got them home was to take the hose to them and get rid of most of the extraneous organic matter all over the outside of them. They mostly had corks in them so they were fairly clean inside.


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## Brewgrrrl (Nov 11, 2009)

I have (for both beer and wine equipment) always used a mild bleach solution (a tablespoon or two per 5-6 gallons of water). Very cheap and easy to find if you find yourself far away from a wine store but have to clean something ASAP. If you soak anything in that solution, the organic deposits break down and it is sanitized at the same time. You just have to make sure to rinse really, really well in hot water to completely get rid of the bleach.

Fortunately, I have not had to try this out on bird poop. I also don't have friends giving me free carboys though so - that would actually be a good tradeoff...


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## PeterZ (Nov 12, 2009)

Appleman, I hope you saved the guano for fertilizer. Waste not want not!


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## uavwmn (Nov 13, 2009)

Appleman, maybe the saved "stuff" can run your car around town???


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## Brewgrrrl (Nov 22, 2009)

Okay, I just cleaned and de-labeled six cases of really cruddy (but free) old bottles that are now as good as new and I think I've perfected my system. I was really happy with the ease and relative speed, and ALL of the bottles now look brand-new.

First, I fill a large plastic tub with bleach water (in our actual bathtub so that I can't bleach anything else) and let the bottles soak for a while to kill the mold and anything else that's in them. Then I use a large bucket to carry the bottles to the kitchen, where I load them into my dishwasher and start the hottest wash setting I have (while this is going I start soaking more bottles in the bleach solution). Running the hot wash for about 30-45 minutes loosens or even steams off the labels and also loosens any remaining crap (just a figure of speech, Appleman). Hot water also completely neutralizes the bleach. I then use a kitchen knife to scrap off labels that are still stuck, polishing off any remaining glue by using a kitchen scrub pad under running water. This sounds like work but the labels are so soft at this point that it takes about five seconds, and I'd say this method completely cleans 99% of the bottles. For the really stubborn gummy label bits on the last 1%, I use first "goo gone" and then, after rinsing, a brillo pad, and this completely cleans them.

Final step is a good bottle-blasting, which gets rid of any remaining mold or other crap (again, just an expression) on the inside of the bottle. After being bleached, heated and bottle-blasted even the most stubborn mold typically flies right off. Out of six cases yesterday, I had only two bottles that some sort of insect had nested in and the egg cases wouldn't all come off right away (ew! this is not a story that drinkers of my wine need to know). Because I don't have any scrubbing equipment for the inside of the bottle, for the two stubborn bottles I repeated the bleach-soak with a stronger solution, left it overnight and bottle-blasted them away.

So - that's what works for me, but I think there are a lot of effective recycling systems out there and different ones work best for different people. Good luck.


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## Waldo (Nov 22, 2009)

OxyClean in a tub of hot water works every time for me


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## Brewgrrrl (Nov 22, 2009)

How much do you use and do you then bottle-blast to make sure it's all off?


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## Waldo (Nov 22, 2009)

Brewgrrrl said:


> How much do you use and do you then bottle-blast to make sure it's all off?










I will typically add 4 scoops to about a half tub of hot water, stir it up good then submerge the bottlesand just let them soak brewgrrl. Never had to to do no blasting. I just give each one a good shaking as I empty it then Rinse wellin cold water and they are ready to be sanitized and filled with your fine wine


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## Brewgrrrl (Nov 22, 2009)

Does this remove the labels as well? Up until now, I've avoided using any chemicals other than bleach because of I'm familiar with how to neutralize the bleach with hot water and I wasn't sure if anything else would leave residue. My bleach/hot water/bottle blast method works well, but it is somewhat time consuming and if OxyClean gets rid of labels then I'll give it a try.


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## Runningwolf (Nov 22, 2009)

I also use OxyClean. The labels are my main concern. I do them in a laundry sink. I fill all of the bottles up with hot water then I fill the sink up with hot water and 3-4 large scoops of oxyclean. I let them soak about 30-45 minutes then scrape the labels off with a razor blade scraper. This works pretty good for most of the labels. I use Avery labels on my bottles and those labels will be nearly floating off when you go back and check on them. I use one step for cleaning the inside of the bottles and put them on the draining tree until I am ready to use them. Just before I am ready to bottle I give them a rinse in k meta.


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## Waldo (Nov 22, 2009)

Brewgrrrl said:


> Does this remove the labels as well? Up until now, I've avoided using any chemicals other than bleach because of I'm familiar with how to neutralize the bleach with hot water and I wasn't sure if anything else would leave residue. My bleach/hot water/bottle blast method works well, but it is somewhat time consuming and if OxyClean gets rid of labels then I'll give it a try.












It willtake the majority of them right off brewgirrl


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## Brewgrrrl (Nov 22, 2009)

Thanks. I'll give it a try sometime and see how it compares.


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## hannabarn (Nov 23, 2009)

I use Waldo's method and I find it is the easiest I've tried. Sometimes I leave them soak for 24 hrs or more and then it is really easy to remove labels.


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## Brewgrrrl (Nov 23, 2009)

Yes, I will have to try it sometime. I like my method because I can do it without having to soak for a long time - bleach kills the mold right away and then steaming off the labels in the dishwasher takes about a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. There are a few I have to scrape, but even those just fall away. But I can see the OxyClean would probably save water/energy and I'm curious about how it compares in the ease of removing labels.





I love all of the good ideas here!


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## gaudet (Nov 23, 2009)

Just be careful to use unscented oxyclean or sun (generic). And also be aware if you forget about those bottles soaking for too long you will be let with a residue on and inside your bottles. Not exactly how long is too long. Just know that I've had to throw out bottles cause of it.


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## admiral (Nov 23, 2009)

gaudet said:


> Just be careful to use unscented oxyclean or sun (generic). And also be aware if you forget about those bottles soaking for too long you will be let with a residue on and inside your bottles. Not exactly how long is too long. Just know that I've had to throw out bottles cause of it.



Me too! Procrastination, in this part of wine making, is not a virtue.


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## xanxer82 (Nov 23, 2009)

For my first bottling, me Kat and her brother had a big tub of bottles soaking in KMeta (after scrubbing them in a tub of no rinse easy clean first.
It took us a while to clean them but it went quicker with 3 people working on it.


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## Waldo (Nov 23, 2009)

gaudet said:


> Just be careful to use unscented oxyclean or sun (generic). And also be aware if you forget about those bottles soaking for too long you will be let with a residue on and inside your bottles. Not exactly how long is too long. Just know that I've had to throw out bottles cause of it.






I have never experienced that gaudet and I have had them soaking for as long as a couple of weeks or longer in the 60 gallon trash cans


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## Runningwolf (Nov 23, 2009)

I fill my bottles up with hot water and keep them standing up in the laundry sink. This is to prevent any of the oxyclean from entering the inside of the bottle (just a preference). I can do two cases at a time in the sink. I fill the sink with hot water to just about two inches above the label. I have also gotten the film on the outside of the bottle so I make sure I rinse them real good.


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## gaudet (Nov 23, 2009)

Waldo said:


> gaudet said:
> 
> 
> > Just be careful to use unscented oxyclean or sun (generic). And also be aware if you forget about those bottles soaking for too long you will be let with a residue on and inside your bottles. Not exactly how long is too long. Just know that I've had to throw out bottles cause of it.
> ...



Maybe its different water Waldo. I know we got lots of minerals in the Mississippi water here. I know there was a white film accumulated on and inside my bottles that I just decided not to worry about since I have a bunch of them. 

Wolfe, personal preference noted, but the OxyClean/Sun Cleaner works great for dissolving dirt and organic debris inside the bottles. Just rinse it well and there should be no problems. Like I said earlier there is scented and unscented varieties of Sun Cleaner and OxyClean. Make sure you get the unscented.


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