# soaking my bottles



## lieu (Apr 7, 2011)

Hello all,
I have some bottles that I have aquired over the past month or so. I have removed the lables by soaking them in hot water with a little dish deterg. then scraping. Should I soak in a plastic tube with C-Brite for a while. If so what is a while? I also have K-meta so I could soak in that also but I have alot more Cbrite that I do K meta. This is for storage as I plan on using the K Meta before I bottle for the first time. Thanks for the help and great site.


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## robie (Apr 7, 2011)

If you have a bottle brush, which comes with most wine equipment kits, just wash each bottle with the CBrite and bottle brush, then rinse right away. It is best not to soak the bottle in any soap too long, as you can get a hard to remove film.

If you are not going to fill the bottle right away, just store so liquid will drain out, so bottle can dry. Kmeta is not neccessary until you actually start bottling.

When you are ready to bottle, rinse each bottle with kmeta solution, drain well, then fill.


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## Wade E (Apr 7, 2011)

Above post is perfect!!!!!!!!


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## grapeman (Apr 7, 2011)

Personally I use B-brite cleaner for wine. The C-Brite is chlorine based and mixing chlorine and real corks can lead to TCA or Cork Taint. It shouldn't be a real problem in most cases, but I find either B-Brite or Oxyclean (no chlorine formula) to let me sleep at night better.


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## Runningwolf (Apr 7, 2011)

I agree k-meta is for sanitizing not cleaning. I clean with oxy-clean. I but it in a box I think thatis 13 pounds at Home depot or Sams Club.


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## joeswine (Apr 8, 2011)

any residual problems with using oxy clean


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## Runningwolf (Apr 8, 2011)

There could be if you left it in the bottles to long. I rinse with the double bottle washer with real hot water.


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## ibglowin (Apr 8, 2011)

Oxy-Clean for me as well!


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## robie (Apr 8, 2011)

appleman said:


> Personally I use B-brite cleaner for wine. The C-Brite is chlorine based and mixing chlorine and real corks can lead to TCA or Cork Taint. It shouldn't be a real problem in most cases, but I find either B-Brite or Oxyclean (no chlorine formula) to let me sleep at night better.



Yep, yesterday, a while after I made the above post, I got to thinking; wait a minute, did he mean B-Brite? At that point I realized I didn't even know what C-Brite was! 

Thanks for clarifying that for me. 

For wine making, I'd stay clear of chlorine based cleansers, myself.


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## mpt1123 (May 23, 2011)

Hello:
Is that some sort of inline soap injector you have connected to the faucet? I assume you can clean in one pass, then remove the hose from the bucket, and then rise on the second pass. Nice setup. Care to share where you purchased it?
Thanks,
Mike


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## Rocky (May 23, 2011)

You will get a way to do this from each person on the forum and all of them work. I soak the bottles in very hot water and a generic "Oxyclean," that I buy at Walmart at about half the price of the brand name. Same chemical formula, no advertising cost. After about an hour, I peal, scrape,brillo and rinse the bottles.

I find the Australian labels particularly hard to remove. I find if I fill the bottle with very hot water, it eases the adhesive and the label comes off easier. I also use a kitchen (chef's) knife to scrape and Brillo pads to clean up the residue. Then I rinse very well in the hottest water I can muster.








Someone on the forum has the best idea, and I don't remember who it was. He pays neighbor girls $5 per case to remove the labels!



Makes life easy for himself and fights the unemployment problem at the same time.


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## robie (May 23, 2011)

MikeT said:


> Hello:
> 
> Is that some sort of inline soap injector you have connected to the faucet? I assume you can clean in one pass, then remove the hose from the bucket, and then rise on the second pass. Nice setup. Care to share where you purchased it?
> 
> ...



See this site's items 4818 and 4795, both under equipment/cleaning.


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