Rinsing bottles first?

[Woodsrover]

I bottle exclusively in glass bottles and have always filled them with hot water and rinsed them out before bottling. Necessary? Not sure why I started doing that but always have....

[maple flats]

I've never rinsed them. As long as the carton was sealed and nothing could get it, I just bottle. Never had any issues except on some bottles with a larger diameter cap similar to a salad dressing bottle. Some of those the cap didn't seal well so I quit using those bottles. I tend to like the caps that have a flexible silicone? seal, like the typical etched 250ml bottles and the 250-500 ml leaf. Any bottles with that type of cap have always sealed well. Also no indication there was any cleanliness issue inside.

[buckeye gold]

An food safety officer with the dept. of Ag once told me you are more likely to introduce bacteria or molds through rinsing. If the glass is new and box unopened I bottle right out of the box. Have for 10 years and never had a bottle go bad.

[therealtreehugger]

I do not rinse, but I have put the glass bottles in the oven at a low temp (170 deg F = as low as it will go) to help "sterilize" anything that is in there, and so that the syrup, when filled, doesn't cool too quick to be an effective germ killer. Now having said that, I did notice that after 6-8 months, there was a tiny bit of what I believe is niter in the bottom, so maybe I am doing too good of a job of heating the bottles. But I do not rinse them.

[bill m]

We also do not rinse them. We have a microwave in the Sugarhouse and we put the bottles in for about 30 seconds to warm them up.

[Gord]

What about bottles from past years? My family and friends save their bottles and give them back to me to refill. I have always boiled the bottles and used new caps.

[DrTimPerkins]

An food safety officer with the dept. of Ag once told me you are more likely to introduce bacteria or molds through rinsing.

Yes, rinsing is not recommended, although briefly inverting the container to ensure nothing happens to be inside is a good idea.

What about bottles from past years?

Reusing containers is not allowed by regulation in many jurisdictions.

[maple flats]

To legally re-use a container for retail sales, you must have an approved bottle washer such as what milk dealers clean their glass bottles before re-filling.

[Gord]

Thanks,
I have no intentions of selling syrup. I barely make enough for my family to get through the year. I most likely go a little overkill on sanitizing and cleaning equipment, compared to some of the stuff I see on these youtube videos; makes me cringe. I definitely thought boiling returned bottles from my own family was ok though. Thanks for clearing that up. Just have a hard time throwing away nice bottles I guess. Or maybe just being brought up hearing "There's nothing wrong with that! We'll clean it and re use it!".

[berkshires]

Thanks,
I have no intentions of selling syrup. I barely make enough for my family to get through the year. I most likely go a little overkill on sanitizing and cleaning equipment, compared to some of the stuff I see on these youtube videos; makes me cringe. I definitely thought boiling returned bottles from my own family was ok though. Thanks for clearing that up. Just have a hard time throwing away nice bottles I guess. Or maybe just being brought up hearing "There's nothing wrong with that! We'll clean it and re use it!".

I too don't sell my syrup, and I also reuse glass bottles. I rinse them well, then before bottling I warm them in the oven. I'm definitely not worried about nasty stuff growing in them.

I'm on the fence about whether or not to reuse plastic jugs once (wouldn't do more than once). I've never done it before, but I'm considering it. Not being able to see if there's any haze on them, and not being able to bake them, is what gives me pause. If I do it I'll fill each with boiling water and let them sit right before using.

Gabe