Good Bottle Brush? Update: Success

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Brewbirds
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Re: Good Bottle Brush?

Post by Brewbirds »

Getting bottles clean that have retained a residue after rinsing them out has more to do with your water than your bottle brush.

I can't speak to the jet washers because I have never tried one but I have tried numerous types of cleansers and done quite a bit of research on the subject as I have had trouble getting bottles cleaned to my satisfaction in the past.

If you have hard water the oxygen based cleaners aren't as effective and can leave a soda ash residue behind.

In general all cleaning products for the most part are trying to accomplish the same thing but with a different recipe; they use a combination of builders, buffers, sequestrants, oxidizers and surfactants to adjust PH and water hardess which allows a bonding of ions to break down "dirt". (i.e. protiens, carbons, calcium scale etc.)

Once the right solution is found a quick swish of the bottle brush should be for getting everything into solution so it will be carried away in the rinse.

If you have hard water you may want to try an alkaline based cleaning product with a 20 +/- minute soak in hot water (130F) then a swish with the bottle brush and a thorough rinsing regimen.

A bottle tree is one of the best investments glass bottle users can make IMHO because any bottle has one or more vapor spots inside while the others have dried uniformly then that bottle should be rewashed or discarded.

Hope this helps. :cheers:
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John Sand
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Re: Good Bottle Brush?

Post by John Sand »

Thanks BB. It does contribute to the body of knowledge on the subject. But we don't have hard water.
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John Sand
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Re: Good Bottle Brush?

Post by John Sand »

Solved. I tried boiling water and dish soap, windex, an hour soak with hot PBW mix. Windex did nothing, the other two had mixed results. Then I did a 36 hour PBW soak, 3/4oz-gallon strength. Cleaned them all.
Making beer and stew for the Zombie Apocalypse.
Never mind, there it is.
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