Bottle drying

[Rice_Guy]

Bob, The assumption on my part is the same. ,,, from glass formulation? from a silicate treatment (like paperboard)? from dirt? no idea what it is


Sometimes I try extra cleaning, as rinsing with alcohol if I rinse with water afterward it is still there.

 

[Kev6]

When I have a stubborn bottle, I'll lay it down in a cool oven and set the temp to 170° (lowest my oven goes). When it reaches temp I shut it off and let it sit till cool. Usually does the trick. I live in Florida and mildew control is a constant struggle. Clean boxed bottles are stored in the garage til needed then One-step dipped and kmeta before bottling. Just remember to take it out before the wife preheat the oven for dinner

 

[Greg Corey]

For strictly drying after rinsing out used a used bottle, I use hot hot water when I rinse. That usually promotes a faster drying time with less time to condense. But when all else fails, I rinse with Starsan (mixed only with Distilled water), even if just for storage because it seems to really drain well and not leave any moisture inside.

 

[wineview]

Personally I don’t get the fascination of getting your bottles 100% dry. Flip them on a tree or in a bucket for a day or two and store. You will probably sanitize before putting wine in them anyway.

 

[winemaker81]

Personally I don’t get the fascination of getting your bottles 100% dry. Flip them on a tree or in a bucket for a day or two and store. You will probably sanitize before putting wine in them anyway.

Dry bottles won't grow mold or other nasties. If you have something growing in the bottle, sanitizing will not fix it, you'll need to clean the bottle again before use.

That said, leaving bottles on the tree for a few days has worked well for me. I've had very few bottles that I had to send back to the cleaning line.

 

[wineview]

Dry bottles won't grow mold or other nasties. If you have something growing in the bottle, sanitizing will not fix it, you'll need to clean the bottle again before use.

That said, leaving bottles on the tree for a few days has worked well for me. I've had very few bottles that I had to send back to the cleaning line.

Agreed. I don’t store until they are completely dry from a PBW bath (sometimes up to seven days) and rinsed thoroughly. Never saw a spec of mold. I suppose I was commenting on all the time people put into trying to dry quickly with ovens and such.

 

[Kev6]

Agreed. I don’t store until they are completely dry from a PBW bath (sometimes up to seven days) and rinsed thoroughly. Never saw a spec of mold. I suppose I was commenting on all the time people put into trying to dry quickly with ovens and such.

I suppose it has to do with space available. I don't have a dedicated wine production area. We have a open kitchen dining living area. My wife would quickly tire of a bottle tree sitting on the countertop. Happy spouse Happy house.

 

[wineview]

I suppose it has to do with space available. I don't have a dedicated wine production area. We have an open kitchen dining living area. My wife would quickly tire of a bottle tree sitting on the countertop. Happy spouse Happy house.

You make a good point.

 

[winemaker81]

I suppose it has to do with space available. I don't have a dedicated wine production area. We have a open kitchen dining living area. My wife would quickly tire of a bottle tree sitting on the countertop. Happy spouse Happy house.

That's a key point. I have a large dedicated area for winemaking, including an 8' counter with a deep double sink. OTOH, when working wines at my son's house, we have his kitchen table and a small counter, and have to juggle things.

 

[back2it]

Looking at this it may be related to location/weather. Some have problems but others not. I like the idea of benign neglect, that’s a bit like proactive procrastination (I'm good at that).

I do find that waiting works but there are too many bottles, but not enough space. I think I may air purge, and a fan or pump as mentioned above would suit me but need something silent and portable as I am also winemaking in a shared space. Kids have gone but for some reason my wife seems intent on sticking around

One of these days she is going to read some of my posts and I will be in REAL trouble (not the normal day-to-day kind).

 

[bstnh1]

I rinse mine well right after use with hot water. I remove the label with a glass scraper and scrub the glue area with a stainless steel scrubby w/soap. I rinse it again and then I prop them up, upside down in the kitchen sink for about 20 minutes or so then take them out, shake them downward and stand them on the counter to dry. They usually dry in an hour to overnight. If they have a bit of condensation on the sides, I let them stand until it evaporates. I store then right side up in a wine box with a clean sheet of printer paper covering the bottle tops. Before use, I wash them briefly with One-Step (sometimes a day or two or three before use) and rinse them with K-Meta just before bottling. Have never had an issue of any kind in 12 years.

 

[Raptor99]

These can be stacked while they are drying

 

[Garagista]

These can be stacked while they are drying View attachment 118429

Nice. FWIW, I had no idea how much I would use the Fastracks. One of the best “splurg” purchases I have made. I use it for almost anything involving a bottle. Especially helpful during bottling when you sanitize bottles and let them drip while you get all the filler equipment set up.

 

[distancerunner]

We use a bottling tree. Sometimes the bottles drain and are dry in a few hours or the next morning. Sometimes they're not. When they're not dry in a couple of days the water tends to bead up on the shoulder of the bottle. What I think is going on is that when the atmosphere is humid and a lot of water has collected in the tray it creates a "micro" microclimate within the space of the bottle tree. The bottles near the bottom of the tree seem to be more susceptible to water beading. It appears there is less of a problem when we shorten the tree.

The next few times we rinse I'll use a towel to dry the tray. Then we'll see.

This isn't science. It's merely observation.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

MY cat knocked over my bottle tree. Went to fastracks. Like them much better!! I put a drain cloth under them to keep the liquid down while bottling

 

[back2it]

I scrounged around my junk box and found an old but workable aquarium air pump.

I have never had any pets, fish included, but I was bemoaning my situation to my neighbour (he is my wine guinea pig) and mentioned that I would probably build something to purge the air out of the bottle, he promptly went to his garage and returned with a very small and old air pump.

Works a treat, problem solved

 

[Garagista]

I have never had any pets, fish included, but I was bemoaning my situation to my neighbour (he is my wine guinea pig) and mentioned that I would probably build something to purge the air out of the bottle, he promptly went to his garage and returned with a very small and old air pump.

Works a treat, problem solved

Having experienced all your problems of drying bottles I scrounged around my junk box and found an old but workable aquarium air pump. Using a FastRack bottle rack I connect tubing from the air pump up into the inverted bottle mounted on the FastRack. Depending on atmospheric relative humidity the bottle will dry on the inside in a few hours or over-nite. My air pump has two ports so I can dry two bottles simultaneously.

I had a stubborn bottle that wanted to be misty. After 3 days of trying fans and other weird incantations, I took my cheap a$$ aquarium pump (I have one for SO2 titration) and stuck it in the aquarium tube. Five minutes later, it was dry. @mikewatkins727 thank you.

 

[Rojoguio]

Well I put 24 bottles at a time in my crab boiling pot and boil them between uses for a hour then let them sit till cool enough to handle with a chemical glove. I have been draining the water and going straight to Star-san rinse before placing on a bottle tree to drain. I use the bottles the next day bottling wine. Should I be doing something else?

 

[Garagista]

Well I put 24 bottles at a time in my crab boiling pot and boil them between uses for a hour then let them sit till cool enough to handle with a chemical glove. I have been draining the water and going straight to Star-san rinse before placing on a bottle tree to drain. I use the bottles the next day bottling wine. Should I be doing something else?

Doesn’t that make your wine taste like crabs?

 

[Rojoguio]

Good one, no that pot is too small for when we boil crabs. Only boils bottles these days. I will boil 8-10 cases of bottles to clean out, remove the labels, etc. Those boiled bottles will get boiled again right before using. I clean bottles in the summer then store them in the shop after drying on a tree.