Cleaning Bottles

[goldseal]

Sorry if this has been covered in another thread but ...

Who can give me a tried-and-trusted method of cleaning and storing wine bottles (i.e. from drinking the contents, cleaning, storing, preparing to re-fill)?

Ta

[rjb222]

Sorry if this has been covered in another thread but ...

Who can give me a tried-and-trusted method of cleaning and storing wine bottles (i.e. from drinking the contents, cleaning, storing, preparing to re-fill)?

Ta

Here is what I do. When I first get my bottles I soak them for a couple of days In a TSP solution.
This will take off most labels easily and loosen any dried goodies inside. I then brush them inside and out with bristle brush and a bottle brush. Give them a good scrub. I then check them in a strong light if they are clean I rinse them with very well about three times the last rinse being hot water. I then store them neck down in a box until bottling day when I rinse them with water first and sanitize them with a 10% metabusulphite solution.Then you are ready to bottle after twenty min exposure to the 10% metabulsulphite solution. When storing after use I rinse out well and store them neck down in there box until next use.

[fatbloke]

Sorry if this has been covered in another thread but ...

Who can give me a tried-and-trusted method of cleaning and storing wine bottles (i.e. from drinking the contents, cleaning, storing, preparing to re-fill)?

Ta

Pretty much as rjb222 says, but to localise to UK available stuff, if the bottles just been emptied/drunk, then rinse it out with water - then you should only need to use a proprietary type cleaning/sanitising solution - your local HBS will have something.

If it's bottles you've "inherited" that haven't been washed/rinsed out, then I usually soak them in a water/bleach/washing up liquid mix (in a bucket, so they're submerged completely). Then after a day or two, you can rinse with warm water - I use the weight of the rinsing water and give them a good shake over the sink - that usually removes any debris/dried on wine - if not then after seeing how well the label comes off, I'll fill them with a bleach/water mix for a couple of days - that usually moves any dried on grime that might be left over.

Labels can be a bit of a PITA because it depends on what type of paper is used, what the glue type is, etc etc. I try the soaking method, then if they don't just peel, I scrape with a blunt knife. Any residual glue is then removed with "brake cleaner" (one that contains trichlorethane usually does the trick brilliantly - or there is a product called "preptone" that comes from the "car spiving" world - it's for removing glue etc from car paint work).

Once that is done then it's just a case of rinsing off/out and leaving to drain - vertically if you have some way of holding the bottles up right.

If, by chance, the bottle has anything like dried "water marks" (white stains that seem to follow where liquid might have sat and evaporated), then I first make up a citric acid mix (a 100 gramme pot with a couple of pints of water) and soak in that for a day or two, followed by some agitation with a bottle brush, if they're still there, then I add some "Viakill" (from the supermarket) and give it a day or two.

So far that's worked well for me.

As for keeping the bottles afterwards ? upside down in a box, or maybe a bit of "clingfilm" and an elastic band (but that does tend to cause condensation inside the bottles), so once they're clean and dry I just keep them on a shelf open and rinse and sanitise when I'm about to fill them again.

regards

JtFB

[goldseal]

Thanks both.

So, before storing it is OK just to rinse with water, or a sterilising solution (sorry, SANITISING solution)?

Sorry to ask basic questions - I just want to make sure I'm adopting 'best practice' early on

It's not a million miles away from what I'm doing at the moment, luckily.

[rjb222]

If you put the contents in them and took the contents out a good rinse will work. Just make sure to rinse very well before storage and right after emptying as well.

[Ivan66]

Cleaning Bottles

Hi Goldseal,

I'm new to this hobby too, I havn't even made my first batch yet but I have been cleaning some bottles in preperation.

You will find, as mentioned, that some lables just peel off after a soak, some fall off. However, I found some that would not shift even after an overnight soak and a scrub with the scoura didn't even work, the glue was so hard to get off I thought I was going to have to put them in a nuclear reactor to shift it. Then I found some of those metal scourers under the sink, the ones that look like wire wool/matal swarf. And bingo, it worked a treat, really easy and no harsh chemicals and it didn't scratch the bottle.

Hope this helps.

[fatbloke]

Hi Goldseal,

I'm new to this hobby too, I havn't even made my first batch yet but I have been cleaning some bottles in preperation.

You will find, as mentioned, that some lables just peel off after a soak, some fall off. However, I found some that would not shift even after an overnight soak and a scrub with the scoura didn't even work, the glue was so hard to get off I thought I was going to have to put them in a nuclear reactor to shift it. Then I found some of those metal scourers under the sink, the ones that look like wire wool/matal swarf. And bingo, it worked a treat, really easy and no harsh chemicals and it didn't scratch the bottle.

Hope this helps.

Problem with that is that kitchen scourers tend to clog up.

Glass is pretty damn inert to most of the kind of chemicals you can obtain for home use - hence if you get hold of the right solvent to remove the glue (if needed of course), the glass surface shouldn't suffer any damage and they just need a soap/water rinse to get rid of any of the solvent residue.

The upside of that kind of hassle is that it does make you think about what you want to stick new labels on with.

Some say that flour/water paste is fine - it certainly comes off easily. It can attract mould though, if you find that your storage area is even slightly damp - not always a bad thing if you want to give the labels that "old" look.

I use "Stephens Golden Gum" (from a stationary shop). It seems to hold the label on fine and comes off with hot water/soap (well it did last time I tried it ). Just remember to spread it very thinly. Self adhesive labels can be a PITA as the glue can go hard/brittle and be a pain to remove - but it's up to you of course.

regards

JtFB

[Her Lushness]

I find that using one of those paint scraper things - the ones with the stanley knife blade in them - is good for getting off stubborn labels, I then use the metal scoury thing to get off any lingering glue or gunk... also "sticky Stuff Remover" (from Lakeland, or Ebay) is good for REALLY stubborn residual glue.

[goldseal]

I have a device for getting labels off. It's called a Wife

Tesco Glue Stick works to stick the new ones on. Problem is, the glue barely has time to set before the bottle is empty again

[fatbloke]

-----%<-----
also "sticky Stuff Remover" (from Lakeland, or Ebay) is good for REALLY stubborn residual glue.

I've also heard that this is good stuff, but I've never tried it (maybe we should have taken a trip up to Kendal last week - the "Lakeland" head office/shop is excellent).

The brake cleaner I've used comes from any of the local motor factors, the cellulose thinners that also seems to work quite well came from Halfords and the "Preptone" I mentioned earlier comes from the bloke who sells the "Autosmart" range of "spivving" materials.

The only downside of these is that they're all "real sniffers delight" solvents and need to be used in a well ventilated area - away from any open flames

regards

JtFB

[benarnold]

The brake cleaner I've used comes from any of the local motor factors

My wines have a great enough chance of tasting like break cleaner without helping them along!

[goldseal]

Preptone is probably acetone-based. Great at removing gunge, but quite nasty stuff.

I have used Sticky Stuff Remover for other jobs and it does what it says.

[fatbloke]

Preptone is probably acetone-based. Great at removing gunge, but quite nasty stuff.
-----%<-----

Hum? not sure. I didn't get the tell-tale smell of "pear drops" last time I used it - unlike the cellulose thinners. Now that did smell like pure acetone.

Problem often is that you never know what the glue is with "inherited" wine bottles. Of the 2 dozen I cleaned up about a fortnight ago, half of them had obviously used an "animal" type glue that came off perfectly, some had a synthetic type glue that was a bit of a nuisance and the rest where a complete PITA!

There was no clue as they came from various places/super markets/countries etc etc. It was just a "suck it and see" jobby i.e. which ones would clean up easily and which ones not.

Ah well, I suppose it's just part of the fun

regards

JtFB

[Her Lushness]

Well, for all you glue/solvent sniffing bottle washers out there, I'd advise you not to get the Sticky Stuff Remover as it smells quite pleasant!

Joking apart, the brake fluid idea is probably cheaper, so when I run out I'll give it a try.

[Mamgiowl]

I've said it elsewhere but spray furniture polish works on the most stubborn of glues.

And you get nice shiny bottles too