Scott & Deb's Place

Bottles

Now that many of you have happy carboy’s of bubbling intoxicants the question arises of what to do with it. Drinking it is an option, but most of us can’t drink a gallon of mead in one sitting. The rest of us are forced to bottle our brew so that we can enjoy it in future years (or weeks.) This article will not deal with the bottling process itself but rather with the acquisition, cleaning, and care for our bottles.

Bottles for brewing come in two basic sorts. Beer bottles hold small amounts and are sealed with metal caps. Wine bottles hold larger quantities and are sealed with corks and possibly wax. I like to bottle a batch in both types of bottles. This gives me the option of opening only enough for the occasion and minimizing any possible waste.

Bottles of both sorts can be found at bars, beer distributors, or recycled from your own stock. A free source I found is the local recycling center. The recycling center has bottles in all shapes and sizes and even separates the bottle by color. Make sure to bring work gloves and possibly a rake as some people like to smash the bottles and broken glass is a serious concern. The rake is used to pull bottles out so that you don’t fall into the glass while trying to reach that pretty blue bottle in the middle of the pile. When picking up beer bottles make sure they aren’t twist offs. Most cappers don’t work on twist off bottles. Molsen is one of the few brands that still uses capable bottles. They’re easy to find in a pile since they’re also one of the few beer bottles made from green glass.

Once you get the bottles you have to clean them. Bottles that you’ve emptied yourself are the easiest to clean. As soon as you empty your bottles, or your guests leave, rinse them out with warm water. This will keep mold from growing in the bottles. Cleaning them later will be much easier if you rinsed them soon after use.

Bottles that you scavenge are more difficult to clean. Bottles that have been left with alcohol in them tend to grow a nasty mold that is very difficult to scrub out. Some people also like to use bottles as ash trays. Rinse these out before cleaning. The easiest way to clean bottle I’ve found is to soak them in bleach water. This has the added benefit of also removing most of the labels. Fill your bathtub with hot water and add one cup of bleach as it fills. You will need to put your hands in the water so don’t make it hot enough to burn.

Place the bottle into the water holding the neck up so that they fill with water. Repeat this for each bottle until you run out of bottles or space in the tub. All bottles should be completely submerged. Let the bottles soak for several hours. Overnight or all day is fine also. Remove the bottles from the water, dumping the water out into the tub. Remove what you can of the label and throw it in the trash. Examine the bottle. If it looks clean put it in a stack to be rinsed. Otherwise, put it in a stack to be scrubbed or resoaked. When all the bottles are removed drain the tub and wash it out. (You don’t really want to be a blond, do you?)

The bottles that look clean now need rinsed. A dishwasher rinse cycle is great for this. (Don’t use soap.) If you’re not so lucky you’ll have to rinse the bottles by hand in the sink. The bottles that still have gunk in them can be handled in several ways. First, you can get a bottle brush and scrub them by hand. Second, you can put them in another bleach bath. Third, you can put them back in the closet since you got enough clean ones to bottle your brew anyway. Once you’ve rinsed the clean bottles your ready to bottle.