Sanitizing EZ cap bottles

[snowman48360]

What is the best way to sanitize EZ cap bottles? (Grolsch) I have new rubber seals.

[alan_marks]

First clean them, with a brush inside, to get the nasties off the glass sides. Yes, I don't care what you say, there will be nasties. I use a generic oxyclean to do this in the sink, 1 scoop of powder for each gallon warm water (My kitchen sink holds 2 gallons). The active ingredients in this are sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate. This turns to hydrogen peroxide and washing soda in water. Just let them drain into the sink after a good scrub. Just before bottling, I make up a 5 gallon bucket of star-san following the instructions on the bottle. Dunk the bottles into the bucket bottom first and let em fill up with sanitizer, (if you have had enough to drink you may zone out watching the bubbles), you should be able to get a dozen or so in the bucket at a crack. After a minute or so, empty the bottles back into the bucket and line them soldiers up for duty! No need to lather or rince, but repeat as necessary.

Hope this helps,
Alan

[snowman48360]

Thanks, my question was worded poorly. My confusion was about the rubber seals.
I found somewhere that I should take them off and soak in star san until bottling.
I assume use gloves soaked in star san to put them on bottle before bottling.

Thanks again.

[Henning1966]

I leave them on and sanitize while on the stopper never had any infected bottles doing this

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

Thanks, my question was worded poorly. My confusion was about the rubber seals.

I assume use gloves soaked in star san to put them on bottle before bottling.

Thanks again.

Why gloves??? If you are sticking your hands in the star-san to get the grommets out, that should be fine.....do you wear gloves when using crown caps??? I don't....never had in infected bottle in over 15 years!!!

[pfooti]

In general, you should use gloves when dealing with sanitizer stuff. One is: gloves have fewer pores and things to harbor those nasty bacteria and thus are easier to sanitize with the star san solution (plus, gloves typically don't get used to wipe your ass). Two is: that sanitizer stuff is pretty nasty, and prolonged exposure can at least dry out your skin. Starsan dries out my hands something fierce, I get all cracks and oozy. Gloves are great.

On the EZ cap front, what I do is: I'll remove the gaskets and clean them occasionally (not every time, I must admit). I'll also dip the whole cap/basket assembly in star san prior to bottling. I used to remove the assembly and soak, but I have gotten a bit lazy there. Plus star san's leave-on power is pretty nice, so if you really dunk the lid and let it sit for 60+ seconds, you should kill off most of the nasties (It's a sanitizer, not a sterilizer).

I also tend to soak crown caps in star san as well. In general, I doubt that bacteria on the lid (which doesn't even really contact the liquid in the bottle, which at this point has a low pH and high ethanol level so is hostile to bacteria anyway), but it just seems like a "better safe than sorry" kind of thing.

[LordUlrich]

what i do is pour a little (perhaps 1/4 cup) of starsan into the bottle using the spout on my bottling bucket, swirl it around and dump it back into the bucket making sure it gets all over the gasket. I let each bottle set for at least 30 seconds and fill. I haven't had a problem yet, but i only bottle with EZ caps when i want to take something with me that i have in a keg (perhaps 4 bottles a month or so).

[Quin]

I keep 5 gallons of star san around all the time. As long as the pH is below 3.5 it is still active.

I'll sink the bottles in the 5 gallon bucket of star san and let them soak for at least a minute. You can soak small parts in a smaller tub. It would be better ti separate the gasket from the cap, theoretically.