Glasses in the dishwasher

[alb]

I’ve always been told that beer glasses should be washed by hand, dried by hand, and placed gently upside down on the beer glass shelf. I was told that the dishwasher was verboten due to the adverse effects of the detergent clinging to the glass and causing a film and ruining the head retention. I believed this advice, and generally adhered to it. It was my experience that the advice was correct.

I am now rejecting this advice entirely, with a single caveat. Today, on the recommendation of a Pinterest article, I did a normal, greasy load of dishes and included a couple of beer glasses. BUT I added a cup of white vinegar. Just dumped it in the bottom of the dishwasher. And wonder of wonders, everything came out not just clean, but sparkling and shiny! Not just the stainless steel and plastic (which look new!) but the beer glasses as well. I promptly poured a glass of my Citrillo Blonde ale and that glass is clean. Some of you know I like my beer clear. Really clear. Well, there was not a single bubble clinging to the side of the glass, I could see clear over to the neighbors’ houses on the next street, and the head retention is just fine. Beautiful lacing intact.

Will it eventually etch the glass? I don’t know. Maybe. If it does I’ll replace it. Small price to pay for being able to stick it in the dishwasher from now on.

I’d be interested to hear what the Borg’s experience has been, if you’ve tried it.

[braukasper]

We are going to have to try that. we have been washing the beer glasses in the dishwasher for years no problem.

[BlackDuck]

Very nice find. We have hard water here and our glasses have built up a film. I'm going to give this a try and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.

[Beer-lord]

I remember old members of the family talking about this many years back and forgot about it.
You shouldn't use liquid soap from what I've read.

[Brewbirds]

I thought it was when you put the rinse agent in that did it that got the bad rep for beer glasses.

Alb if you don't like hand washing your beer glasses for the lacing you get from your beers I might just come over there and wash them for you.

What ever works just keep sending those pics our way.

I personally am a wash them once I use them type. Little warm water and Gen 7 on a paper towel swish, rinse, air dry and ready bingy bangy.

[RickBeer]

Dishwasher and rinse agent here. . Beer's fine.

[philm00x]

Same as Rick- dishwasher and rinse agent. Glasses are clean, beer is fine.

[John Sand]

I've always used the dishwasher, no trouble. Only recently my wife ran the jet clean cycle and cracked a couple of thin ones. Now I hand wash those.

[alb]

I’ve used the dishwasher and rinse agent before and the glasses were clean, as far as I could tell. But there’s definitely a difference now. YMMV.

[Inkleg]

Now I see this, after starting the dishwasher 30 minutes ago.
Definitely going to try it next time.

[FedoraDave]

I hand-wash partly because we don't run the dishwasher every day, but I drink beer every day. Also, partly because of the danger of damage. Also, partly because of the head-retention thing. Also, partly because some of my beer glasses have logos on them, such as the Sam Adams Perfect Pint, and the Heinekin kölsch glass, and a number of my shaker glasses, and I don't want them getting worn off.

Besides, I'm the only beer drinker in the house, so it's not as if there are a lot of beer glasses to wash on any given day.

[jimjohson]

I hand wash for some of the same reasons as the Hat. Also I only keg half the batch so on any given night there'll be bottles to wash. Adding a glass is not exactly going to over work me.

[Chuck N]

After my complaining that our dishwasher wasn't doing a very good job SWMBO replaced it. Now I am the dishwasher! But as soon as I hear one complaint the job goes back to her!

[FedoraDave]

I hand wash for some of the same reasons as the Hat. Also I only keg half the batch so on any given night there'll be bottles to wash. Adding a glass is not exactly going to over work me.

You can sit down and rest a little if you need to, JJ.

[RickBeer]

We switched to sturdy pint glasses from longer fragile glasses that didn't fit in the dishwasher exactly for the reason they would fit in the dishwasher as we upped our consumption.