Bottles in the dishwasher

[marshbrewer]

I've seen a few posts on here mentioning that people put their glass bottles through the dishwasher to clean them before sanitizing. Two questions ~ a) do you recommend using a dishwasher tab or not? b) Which way up do you put them in the dish washer? Upside down seems the obvious one, but how on earth does the water get in through the bottle neck. Its almost an embarrassing question to ask, but I can't understand how it works, and if they were the right way up, they wouldn't drain between dishwasher cycles.

 

[AdeDunn]

I wouldn't, as very little liquid will actually get up inside the bottle, it's too small a hole for it to hit. The same thing happens if you put thing in too close together, they come out dirty. If you were, you'd place them neck down so the hole is facing the direction the water comes from.

 

[Linalmeemow]

I wouldn't, as very little liquid will actually get up inside the bottle, it's too small a hole for it to hit. The same thing happens if you put thing in too close together, they come out dirty. If you were, you'd place them neck down so the hole is facing the direction the water comes from.

I've heard mention of the rinse aid residue ruining head retention, though I've no idea if this is a myth or not.

 

[Saisonator]

I've had them come out sparkling clean but others with dried residue inside.
Personally I don't trust it as I believe the water jets would struggle to make their way into a good percentage of the narrow bottle necks.

 

[MmmBeer]

I have used my dishwasher for this purpose a number of times. The point jjsh raised about whether the water jets are capable of getting right into every bottle is valid, 'how can you tell?' In my experience though, they have always come out sparkly clean and hot, and as an added bonus, the dishwasher also removes many of the old labels. I read about this concept in James Morton's book and use it because it allows me to get on with something more useful on bottling days. I always rinse out bottles out with cold water after emptying and Starsan them before filling after removing them from the dishwasher. The downside is that I can only fit about 20 - 25 full size bottles in my dishwasher per load, as the top rack is too shallow.

 

[Honk]

I put them in clean with no tablets on hot cycle and use that for the sanitising.
Probably not ideal, but dead easy and not got an infection yet.