Sterilising Bottles

[irishmcbloke]

I'm just about to bottle my first ever beer and have now started thinking about the bottle sterilising process. What a pain in the arse lol I haven't got a bottle tree thingy (have one on order through my HB shop though). I guess the easiest way will be to sterilise them all in the bath and I will be using VWP. I will obviously rinse them well after but my question is, do they have to be dry before I bottle or is it ok to bottle with them a little wet? The reason I ask is because I have no way of draining 40 bottles all at once. I was also thinking of sticking some of the VWP in the dishwasher on the 65 degrees setting as per another post on here. I was wondering if this is ok? Also, I will be using swing top bottles. If I go the dishwasher route, would it be better to take the plastic washers off the swing tops and do them seperately or just leave them on? Oh, so many questions and hopefully just one or two answers!! lol
Thanks IA

OR, alternatively, as I have just had a new baby arrive, I was wondering if Milton tablets may also be ok as they seem to be rinse free??

[Bru4u]

Firstly
Congratulations on yer new Baby,
Once the bottles are rinsed well, do each at least twice to remove all traces of cleaner they are then fine to fill and fill them as soon as you can.
I use a large container with a strong bleach solution when I first get bottles and then rinse, once they are clean they go on a bottle storage shelf. When I go to use them they get a wash in a mild Idophor solution, or what ever your choice is, and then rinsed twice, I then consider them fit for my beer. they are filled with in about 20 mins of rinsing. I since moved to kegs so bottle very little. The best chance you can give a beer is sterilizing what ever it touches post boil. As for the swing tops, remove them when sterilizing and include them in the process, disgarding any dodgy ones and rinse well, I would not be inclined to expose them to heat. If you use a dish washer, ensure the food trap and any filters are spotless. I don't have one, so I have not used one for bottles.
Hope that helps
Bru

[likesbeer]

A dish washer is a good idea as less of a pain in the ar*e however most domestic machines dont have the upright bottle washing thingies therefore a standard domestic one is very unlikely to get the water inside the bottle very well just from the spinney arm thing under the tray. however, if you do have the relevant type for bottles then crank the temp up preferably over 70 as this will kill most known nasties anyway etra belt and braces from the VWP. My SWMBO swears by boiling everything to make it sterile and as she's a scrub nurse I leave sterilising and cleaning to her otherwise I get moaned at for not doing it properly, that includes the bottles
Which go in the bath with thin bleach then boiling water to rins just watch the fingers