I have a bunch of bottles I need to clean. Was thinking maybe I could
give them a good rinsing, then bake them at 350ºF for an hour or so
(maybe after my wife cooks some pizza). Anyone ever use this method?


Or maybe 451º would burn the lables off, then a quick air blast to get
rid of the ashes.
Stu

Like wine bottles?

They are not made of tempered glass. Heating them that high is
unadvisable
StuPedaso wrote:
> I have a bunch of bottles I need to clean. Was thinking maybe I could
> give them a good rinsing, then bake them at 350ºF for an hour or so
> (maybe after my wife cooks some pizza). Anyone ever use this method?
>
>
> Or maybe 451º would burn the lables off, then a quick air blast to get
> rid of the ashes.
> Stu

Like wine bottles?

They are not made of tempered glass. Heating them that high is
unadvisable
StuPedaso wrote:
> I have a bunch of bottles I need to clean. Was thinking maybe I could
> give them a good rinsing, then bake them at 350ºF for an hour or so
> (maybe after my wife cooks some pizza). Anyone ever use this method?
>
>
> Or maybe 451º would burn the lables off, then a quick air blast to get
> rid of the ashes.
> Stu

I've heated wine and cola bottles to a very high temp before, and
never had one crack or break. Was heating them to around 1400ºC, so
hot they become like taffy, and stretch of their own weight.

Anyway, the place I used to work, has a big 4'x4'x4' oven, and I
thought baking 150 to 200 used bottles at once would be a real time
saver.


On 20 May 2006 07:43:04 -0700, "Droopy" > wrote:

>Like wine bottles?
>
>They are not made of tempered glass. Heating them that high is
>unadvisable

>StuPedaso wrote:
>> I have a bunch of bottles I need to clean. Was thinking maybe I could
>> give them a good rinsing, then bake them at 350ºF for an hour or so
>> (maybe after my wife cooks some pizza). Anyone ever use this method?
>>
>>
>> Or maybe 451º would burn the lables off, then a quick air blast to get
>> rid of the ashes.
>> Stu

As stated above. Those bottles are not heat tempered and not designed to be
heated that way. They probably will not explode as suggested above, but
they may break. No big problem. But they may also develop hair line
fractures that fail at an inappropriate time. If there are any air bubbles
in the glass, as there frequently will be in these bottles, the air in them
will try to expand under the heat you are talking about and generate
tremendous pressure. They will be small bubbles so I do not think the will
explode but that pressure can certainly cause fractures. Do it at your own
risk. You may set a bottle on the counter in front of a guest and have it
shatter when it taps the counter.

Ray

"StuPedaso" <StillAwake@2am> wrote in message
...
> I've heated wine and cola bottles to a very high temp before, and
> never had one crack or break. Was heating them to around 1400ºC, so
> hot they become like taffy, and stretch of their own weight.
>
> Anyway, the place I used to work, has a big 4'x4'x4' oven, and I
> thought baking 150 to 200 used bottles at once would be a real time
> saver.
>
>
> On 20 May 2006 07:43:04 -0700, "Droopy" > wrote:
>
>>Like wine bottles?
>>
>>They are not made of tempered glass. Heating them that high is
>>unadvisable
>
>>StuPedaso wrote:
>>> I have a bunch of bottles I need to clean. Was thinking maybe I could
>>> give them a good rinsing, then bake them at 350ºF for an hour or so
>>> (maybe after my wife cooks some pizza). Anyone ever use this method?
>>>
>>>
>>> Or maybe 451º would burn the lables off, then a quick air blast to get
>>> rid of the ashes.
>>> Stu
>

In your case, you've gone well beyond the glass temperature- at that
point a good cooling is all that's needed to keep the bottle intact.
When you go only partially up you induce additional stress within the
bottle that can lead to catastrophic failure. The key is the heating
and cooling cycles- but I'm not a materials engineer... only had enough
courses in college to be dangerous.

oh please, glass at that temp needs annealing, no question about it.

--

"StuPedaso" <StillAwake@2am> wrote in message
...
> I've heated wine and cola bottles to a very high temp before, and
> never had one crack or break. Was heating them to around 1400ºC, so
> hot they become like taffy, and stretch of their own weight.
>
> Anyway, the place I used to work, has a big 4'x4'x4' oven, and I
> thought baking 150 to 200 used bottles at once would be a real time
> saver.
>
>
> On 20 May 2006 07:43:04 -0700, "Droopy" > wrote:
>
> >Like wine bottles?
> >
> >They are not made of tempered glass. Heating them that high is
> >unadvisable
>
> >StuPedaso wrote:
> >> I have a bunch of bottles I need to clean. Was thinking maybe I could
> >> give them a good rinsing, then bake them at 350ºF for an hour or so
> >> (maybe after my wife cooks some pizza). Anyone ever use this method?
> >>
> >>
> >> Or maybe 451º would burn the lables off, then a quick air blast to get
> >> rid of the ashes.
> >> Stu
>

You could.

I would experiment. Minute flaws in the surfaces of these blown glass
bottles may very well lead to a rapid and catastrophic flaw detection.

(In short, your bottles will explode)

You can buy an 18 gallon tub from Target for 3.99, buy some electrosol
dish washer detergent (powder) for 2.99, fill said tub 3/4 with hot
water and add your bottles. Soak for 1 hour or so (put the lid on so
it stays warm) and your labels and debris will all come off- with the
bonus they'll dry streak free!

If you're really worried after that cleaning, stuff them in the
dishwasher for a pot/pan cycle with a high temp dry. That'll do the
ticket.

And finally, if this doesn't dissuade.you from putting your bottles in
the oven, make sure that you go thru a very gentle warm up and a very
very long cool down- you might cycle the oven back on to heat it back
up so it receives 2 cycles. Even tho glass is an amorphous substance
you can still get preferential expansion.

I've been heat sterilizing all my bottles for wine & beer for the past 3+
years, and have never had one break in the oven. I've also only once had
one break without being dropped (the bottom mysteriously came off a bottle
of Nebbiolo/Cab Sauv blend the day after I bottled once). I would estimate
I have processed well over a thousand bottles this way.

The key is to bring the temperature up and down slowly, because as previous
posters have said the glass in these bottles is not tempered, and thus is
vulnerable to heat shock. Rapid temperature changes will shatter wine
bottles. I place bottles in my cold oven with the mouths covered by foil,
then heat to 200F. I step up the temperature in 50 degree increments, with
at least a 15 minute hold at each temperature once the oven has hit the
target. Ultimate target I go for is 350F, which I hold at for at least 1
hour. Then I turn off the oven and let it cool down with the oven door
CLOSED.

The foil protects the bottle indefinately until I am ready to fill it; I've
prepped bottles months in advanced this way.

I would not recommend burning off the labels in the oven, that would require
very high heat, and I'm not sure what what fumes may come out of the label
adhesive or inks. I soak off the labels and clean out any grundge before
the sterilization, because clean and sterile are two different things.

From a thermal engineer who likes to ferment things.


> wrote in message
ups.com...
> You could.
>
> I would experiment. Minute flaws in the surfaces of these blown glass
> bottles may very well lead to a rapid and catastrophic flaw detection.
>
> (In short, your bottles will explode)
>
> You can buy an 18 gallon tub from Target for 3.99, buy some electrosol
> dish washer detergent (powder) for 2.99, fill said tub 3/4 with hot
> water and add your bottles. Soak for 1 hour or so (put the lid on so
> it stays warm) and your labels and debris will all come off- with the
> bonus they'll dry streak free!
>
> If you're really worried after that cleaning, stuff them in the
> dishwasher for a pot/pan cycle with a high temp dry. That'll do the
> ticket.
>
> And finally, if this doesn't dissuade.you from putting your bottles in
> the oven, make sure that you go thru a very gentle warm up and a very
> very long cool down- you might cycle the oven back on to heat it back
> up so it receives 2 cycles. Even tho glass is an amorphous substance
> you can still get preferential expansion.
>

Stu,
Your wife would kill you if your burnt off the labels because you would
probably have a few blown up bottles and a house full of smoke.

Bottles need sanitized, not sterilized. A good washing is all that is
necessary.

Joe

Joe Sallustio wrote:
> Stu,
> Your wife would kill you if your burnt off the labels because you would
> probably have a few blown up bottles and a house full of smoke.
>
> Bottles need sanitized, not sterilized. A good washing is all that is
> necessary.
>
> Joe

...And if you _must_ sterilize, a 10% solution of bleach will do the
trick. You could also use idophor (iodine) solution.

I wonder.....if you _had_ to heat sterilize, there's always one of
those tall "canning" pots you could boil the bottles in. `twould take
care of debri inside, and lables out side...Hmmmnn.........

Jim L.

I use 10% bleach on bottles that have mold in them, works great. I put
less than an ounce in and just shake it up and let it sit for a few
minutes. It's good on grungy airlocks too...

Joe

I use bleach too, don't know what it does, but am comfortable with it.

--

"Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I use 10% bleach on bottles that have mold in them, works great. I put
> less than an ounce in and just shake it up and let it sit for a few
> minutes. It's good on grungy airlocks too...
>
> Joe
>