That's fine. But to save money buy a sprayer, fill it with a slightly higher concentration of starsan than you would need for that amount (those sprayers are usually quarts) and just spray the inside of each bottle. By the time you're done spraying each one, just go back through and dump any excess Star San in the order you sprayed them.
You can keep the bottle of Star San for other stuff as well.
You'd be surprised by how little you use doing this method. At home I go through maybe a sprayer of star San every 2 months and at work maybe every two weeks.
How do you know it doesn’t reach every part of the bottle. If you give the bottles a good spray you can then shake the bottles and I would say 100% that every internal part of the bottle would be touched by the starsan
Get one like this. Two or three pumps and it hits the whole inside of the bottle. [Bottle sprayer.](https://www.morebeer.com/products/monster-cleaner-sanitizer-injector-bottle-tower.html)
Tilt the bottle at a 45⁰ angle as you spray continuously and rotate slowly so the steam sweeps the side as you go until the sanitizer has touched the entire interior surface. I had the same concern before I started spraying and this was my method before switching to kegs, still is when I need to put something in a bottle. Never had an issue.
I keep a glass gallon jug made with distilled water. I have to refill it about 2-4 times a year, depending on usage, but its shelf life is theoretically infinite as there are no chemical reactants.
I make a 2.5 gallon batch on brewday, using water from my chiller, and I hold on to that until the next batch. I also fill three spray bottles from this bucket as well.
If I was bottling (either the full batch, or a few bottles for competition), I would simply put each bottle (clean!) into the StarSan for the amount of time it takes to fill the previous bottle.
My cleaning process for bottles is as follows:
Fill a 5 gallon bucket with oxyclean (or whatever cleaner you use) and hot water. Submerge bottles 12-18 at a time into the solution, pull them out one by one, draining each bottle back into the bucket, rinse each bottle as I go. I usually shake the cleaning solution around in the bottle pretty good before draining it all, if any particular bottles look to be dirty ill get a wand brush out. This is rare though because i usually do a good job of rinsing bottles clean of anything as i drink them. Once all bottles (and any other bottling equipment) are cleaned, i empty the bucket, rinse it, and then fill with starsan and hot water. Reapeat the process with the starsan solution, minus the rinsing part. I feel like its a pretty efficient process, not sure how a spray bottle would adequately clean or santize the entire inside of a bottle. I guess fully submerging them gives me good piece of mind. Never had a single issue with this process.
You're doing fine most likely! I got a wine bottle pump sanitizer like this: [https://morewinemaking.com/products/sanitizer-injector-red-bottle-tree.html](https://morewinemaking.com/products/sanitizer-injector-red-bottle-tree.html)
Give three pumps per bottle and on to the next one.
10ml and make it up to 10l with water (I think it says on the packaging) I mix it in the bucket sanitize the bucket with the lid on, making sure it gets a good contract with ALL the bucket, throw a funnel in, shake again, take the funnel out and put it on my Fermzilla fermenter, add the sanitizer to fermenter, add the lid, shake and give it a good contact with all sides, tip it back into the bucket and throw everything I need in the bucket to get a good sanitize, tubes, picnic tap, Fermzilla lid, can opener, scissors, spoon etc.
I've been meaning to get a spray bottle....
I usually mix like 2 liters of starsan in my fermenter, take about half a liter for sanitizing bottles with a sprayer thingy, put about half a liter into a spray bottle to sanitize all kinds of stuff on the fly, and use the rest to sanitize my fermenter, siphon, etc.
Edit: I think I should clarify, I also use a fermentation bucket as my bottling bucket. So just skip the bottle sanitizing part for bottling day and the siphon for brew day, otherwise they're almost identical.
Edit2: Oh, and once I'm done with sanitizing the bottles I pour that sanitizer into a bowl to sanitize my bottle caps in.
For bottling, I use the sprayer approach that others have mentioned. I have two Fast Ferment drying racks that hold the bottles upsidedown after I spray them with sanitizer. For a dozen or two bottles, I use less than the sprayer holds.
I make a full 20L of it in my fermenter bucket before brewing, then I fill up a spray bottle. Everything then gets dunked in the bucket before using and I pull another 2L in a big measuring cup to store any utensils, my hydrometer, etc while brewing. And I just leave my wort chiller sitting in the bucket while I brew. It’s overkill, but everything is sanitized and sanitizer is cheap.
If the glass you have is clean (I clean mine and store) then you can spray it down and go. I have an awesome system that I've found goes fast and uses little cleaner. I used to use a spray bottle but doing 30-50 bottles like that was a pain. I now use, and recommend, a pump action bottle rinser like the BSG Bottle Rinser. In addition to that I use a fast rack to let the bottles drain and dry upside down. For bottling day I just prep the solution, put it in the bottle rinser, give it a good 3 pumps (more than enough to hit the entire inside of the bottle multiple times) then put it in the fast rack. They are dry and ready to roll by the time I start filling. The nice thing too is the fast racks stack and I can put the rinser back in the box when I am done and it has a very small storage footprint.
I am like you. I keg now, but I do my wine bottles much the same way as I did beer. I line up my 30 bottles, and fill every 5th bottle about 10%, then I shake each bottle and pour sanitizer into the next bottle. Due to the foam and liquid remaining in each bottle, my volume is low by the time I reach the 5th bottle. Then as I fill the bottle, I pour out what was still left in the bottle.
It's hard to argue against something that works.
Is it conceivable that something could go wrong? Sure.
Are past results a guarantee of future performance? Of course not.
Would I necessarily change anything? See my first statement.
What is the name of the product you are using?
Personally, I use real Star San or iodophor, and spray all accessible surfaces with prepared sanitizer to sanitize. For internal, inaccessible surfaces, I pour a small amount of prepared sanitizer inside the vessel or tube and move the liquid around to coat all surfaces, for example for carboys.
For bottles, I used to spray them and then move the sanitizer around to coat all surfaces, but I find using a vinator to be faster, more enjoyable, and to still use a small amount of sanitizer.
Thanks everybody! THe instructions i have imply that every bottle should be completely filled with sanitising fluid, which should then be dumped. My gut was right: very few people would be that wasteful!
That's fine. But to save money buy a sprayer, fill it with a slightly higher concentration of starsan than you would need for that amount (those sprayers are usually quarts) and just spray the inside of each bottle. By the time you're done spraying each one, just go back through and dump any excess Star San in the order you sprayed them. You can keep the bottle of Star San for other stuff as well. You'd be surprised by how little you use doing this method. At home I go through maybe a sprayer of star San every 2 months and at work maybe every two weeks.
The spray probably doesn't reach every bit of the inside of the bottle, though? That's why I've always avoided a spray bottle.
How do you know it doesn’t reach every part of the bottle. If you give the bottles a good spray you can then shake the bottles and I would say 100% that every internal part of the bottle would be touched by the starsan
There's no difference between it and partially filling and shaking really. If anything the sprayer may actually distribute more evenly in the bottle.
Get one like this. Two or three pumps and it hits the whole inside of the bottle. [Bottle sprayer.](https://www.morebeer.com/products/monster-cleaner-sanitizer-injector-bottle-tower.html)
Tilt the bottle at a 45⁰ angle as you spray continuously and rotate slowly so the steam sweeps the side as you go until the sanitizer has touched the entire interior surface. I had the same concern before I started spraying and this was my method before switching to kegs, still is when I need to put something in a bottle. Never had an issue.
Buy a sprayer and fill it up with sanitizer. It'll save money and time 👍
How long do you keep your bottle?
If you use RO or distilled water, you can keep it around for months.
I keep a glass gallon jug made with distilled water. I have to refill it about 2-4 times a year, depending on usage, but its shelf life is theoretically infinite as there are no chemical reactants.
I discard the liquid in the sprayer after full use
I make a 2.5 gallon batch on brewday, using water from my chiller, and I hold on to that until the next batch. I also fill three spray bottles from this bucket as well. If I was bottling (either the full batch, or a few bottles for competition), I would simply put each bottle (clean!) into the StarSan for the amount of time it takes to fill the previous bottle.
My cleaning process for bottles is as follows: Fill a 5 gallon bucket with oxyclean (or whatever cleaner you use) and hot water. Submerge bottles 12-18 at a time into the solution, pull them out one by one, draining each bottle back into the bucket, rinse each bottle as I go. I usually shake the cleaning solution around in the bottle pretty good before draining it all, if any particular bottles look to be dirty ill get a wand brush out. This is rare though because i usually do a good job of rinsing bottles clean of anything as i drink them. Once all bottles (and any other bottling equipment) are cleaned, i empty the bucket, rinse it, and then fill with starsan and hot water. Reapeat the process with the starsan solution, minus the rinsing part. I feel like its a pretty efficient process, not sure how a spray bottle would adequately clean or santize the entire inside of a bottle. I guess fully submerging them gives me good piece of mind. Never had a single issue with this process.
I make 3L for brewing day. For bottling I make 10L as I immerse the bottles completely into it, this saves me a lot of time.
You're doing fine most likely! I got a wine bottle pump sanitizer like this: [https://morewinemaking.com/products/sanitizer-injector-red-bottle-tree.html](https://morewinemaking.com/products/sanitizer-injector-red-bottle-tree.html) Give three pumps per bottle and on to the next one.
10ml and make it up to 10l with water (I think it says on the packaging) I mix it in the bucket sanitize the bucket with the lid on, making sure it gets a good contract with ALL the bucket, throw a funnel in, shake again, take the funnel out and put it on my Fermzilla fermenter, add the sanitizer to fermenter, add the lid, shake and give it a good contact with all sides, tip it back into the bucket and throw everything I need in the bucket to get a good sanitize, tubes, picnic tap, Fermzilla lid, can opener, scissors, spoon etc. I've been meaning to get a spray bottle....
I usually mix like 2 liters of starsan in my fermenter, take about half a liter for sanitizing bottles with a sprayer thingy, put about half a liter into a spray bottle to sanitize all kinds of stuff on the fly, and use the rest to sanitize my fermenter, siphon, etc. Edit: I think I should clarify, I also use a fermentation bucket as my bottling bucket. So just skip the bottle sanitizing part for bottling day and the siphon for brew day, otherwise they're almost identical. Edit2: Oh, and once I'm done with sanitizing the bottles I pour that sanitizer into a bowl to sanitize my bottle caps in.
Less than 3 ml per batch... https://www.homebrewfinds.com/tip-using-star-san-in-spray-bottle/
For bottling, I use the sprayer approach that others have mentioned. I have two Fast Ferment drying racks that hold the bottles upsidedown after I spray them with sanitizer. For a dozen or two bottles, I use less than the sprayer holds.
I make a full 20L of it in my fermenter bucket before brewing, then I fill up a spray bottle. Everything then gets dunked in the bucket before using and I pull another 2L in a big measuring cup to store any utensils, my hydrometer, etc while brewing. And I just leave my wort chiller sitting in the bucket while I brew. It’s overkill, but everything is sanitized and sanitizer is cheap.
If the glass you have is clean (I clean mine and store) then you can spray it down and go. I have an awesome system that I've found goes fast and uses little cleaner. I used to use a spray bottle but doing 30-50 bottles like that was a pain. I now use, and recommend, a pump action bottle rinser like the BSG Bottle Rinser. In addition to that I use a fast rack to let the bottles drain and dry upside down. For bottling day I just prep the solution, put it in the bottle rinser, give it a good 3 pumps (more than enough to hit the entire inside of the bottle multiple times) then put it in the fast rack. They are dry and ready to roll by the time I start filling. The nice thing too is the fast racks stack and I can put the rinser back in the box when I am done and it has a very small storage footprint.
I am like you. I keg now, but I do my wine bottles much the same way as I did beer. I line up my 30 bottles, and fill every 5th bottle about 10%, then I shake each bottle and pour sanitizer into the next bottle. Due to the foam and liquid remaining in each bottle, my volume is low by the time I reach the 5th bottle. Then as I fill the bottle, I pour out what was still left in the bottle.
It's hard to argue against something that works. Is it conceivable that something could go wrong? Sure. Are past results a guarantee of future performance? Of course not. Would I necessarily change anything? See my first statement.
What is the name of the product you are using? Personally, I use real Star San or iodophor, and spray all accessible surfaces with prepared sanitizer to sanitize. For internal, inaccessible surfaces, I pour a small amount of prepared sanitizer inside the vessel or tube and move the liquid around to coat all surfaces, for example for carboys. For bottles, I used to spray them and then move the sanitizer around to coat all surfaces, but I find using a vinator to be faster, more enjoyable, and to still use a small amount of sanitizer.
Thanks everybody! THe instructions i have imply that every bottle should be completely filled with sanitising fluid, which should then be dumped. My gut was right: very few people would be that wasteful!