darwin stubby

[guzzle]

hey fellas,
i wish to bottle some brew into a couple of old darwins, but there is a small amount of mould in the bottom of the bottles.
i have tried boiling water, white vinegar, boiling water with vinegar, bi-carb soda, but nothing wants to move the mould completely. any suggestions?

[Bum]

Bottle brush?

[gregb]

Pink Stain Remover (available from your local HBS) and a bottle brush.

[guzzle]

maybe i need a new brush then, cos the one i have won't do the darwin, cheers guys

[Lachy]

For really stubborn gunk, I find that a good soak in hot water with el-cheapo automatic dishwasher powder (cheap = more corrosive) added works wonders. I'm yet to find anything that can survive that.

[brewbeast]

bleach.....and leave it overnight
dissolves practically all organic matter

[svyturys]

+1 on the bleach.
Will need to air afterwards but the gunk does lift off with bleach.
I inherited a stubby myself, now awaiting a suitable brew to fill it.

Cheers

[gregb]

One other thing, check the Darwin will fit under your bench capper.

[warra48]

Also check out PBW and Starsan on CraftBrewer's site. It will give you all your cleaning and sanitising needs, at a long term economical price.
http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/default.asp?CID=104

[guzzle]

yeah, the capper is fine, greg

[Anna]

Bottle brush?

Which reminds me: The big long bottle brush I got with my kit no longer fits into the longnecks. For a while I was sort of twirling the bottom brush around and managing to get it in that way but now there is no way I can force it in. I've only used it for about 6 batches. Does anyone else have this problem? Any solutions?

Anna

[Bum]

The rule in my house is to wash the bottle before you drink the beer. That way you don't get any stuck on bits that require the brush.

[Anna]

Well, that is definitely my rule now, but I was given five dozen longnecks by a friend and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the rule in his house! Quite apart from the fact that the brush is now too stuffed to insert through the neck, the brush supplied by the HBS doesn't seem to be designed very well - there is a two inch gap between the main brush and the little brush on the end, so there always a bit missed on the sides of the bottles. Luckily now I've washed nearly all the bottles, so it will just mean making sure BH rinses them properly asap. I was just wondering if anyone had experienced a similar problem. Does anyone know of any better sort of brush?

Just re-read your blog. Did you mean "after" you drink the beer or "before". Or are you pulling my leg again Bum?

[warra48]

Anna,

I use 3 different bottle brushes, to achieve different results with each.

On one of them I've used scissors to trim all the side bits to leave only the bottom bit, which I've bent sideways to scrub hard to reach places.
Another has the big brush bit left on the bottom, and it's used for the bottoms of the bottle.
Another is just the really brushy type, without the bit on the bottom with the gap.
Have a good look through the brushes at your HB shop, they're not all the same.
I'm sure you can find one or two to suit your purposes.

[Bum]

Did you mean "after" you drink the beer or "before". Or are you pulling my leg again Bum?

Always wash right after the pour. I won't even put the bottle down on the bench in between. If I don't do it right away it won't get done 'til tomorrow and then it's ten times as hard. Besides - "a hard earned thirst" and all that.

[guzzle]

while on the subject, has anyone had success bottling darwins?, do they differ from longies?

[Bum]

I've never done it myself but there's no reason it wouldn't work. You can bottle in stubbies, in longnecks, in pint bottles - I know of a bloke who bottles (used to?) in 2lt PETs.

Just make sure you work out your priming rate correctly and you'll be fine.

[gregb]

In the pre-keg days I had much success with bottling into Darwins. Not much difference to stubbies or tallies etc.

[Anna]

Did you mean "after" you drink the beer or "before". Or are you pulling my leg again Bum?

Always wash right after the pour. I won't even put the bottle down on the bench in between. If I don't do it right away it won't get done 'til tomorrow and then it's ten times as hard. Besides - "a hard earned thirst" and all that.

Hi Bum - you did actually say "before" in your previous blog, but now I get it - you meant before you drink the next beer, huh?
Oops - I'm being pedantic again!

[Anna]

Warra48 - thanks for the advice. I'll have a look in the HBS.