Cleaning Bottles - Soaking - How Often?

[jayoun]

I will do an oxyclean/PBW soak initially just to get the labels off, after that I will do a good rinsing after use and maybe a rinse right before I sanitize.  I might add that I always inspect the bottles for obvious gunk before they go into the sanitizing bucket.  Although I don't bottle that often, I can't ever think of a time where I have had a bad bottle due to this practice.

[Pinski]

Many dishwashers have a high heat/sanitize drying cycle as an option.  We rinse the bottles out thoroughly after pouring and then store them in an office paper box with a lid in the garage until a bottling occasion comes up. We run the bottles we need by themselves, NO SOAP in the dishwasher on the sanitize setting. Has worked very well for us. No fuss.

[morticaixavier]

For first time use of a bottle I'll usually soak it in cold bleach water over night, rinse multiple times and spray with some star san. For future use I guess I just rinse them with hot water a few times when empty and store them someplace until I need them again and I'd probably just spray with star san. The oven idea sounds like a good one, I'd be too worried them would crack or bust though. I wonder what the heat threshold is on a glass bottle..

I've done three batches in the oven now and had 1 bottle crack. I suspect it was week anyway. I have had one bottle bomb in all my brewing so far (Knock on wood) and I could clearly see the bubble in the glass that caused it to fail. I didn't look on the one that cracked in the oven but I suspect it was an existing weakness. Given that glass doesn't melt until some thousands of degrees I am not too worried about the effect 375 f is going to have.

[Will's Swill]

Well, to get good sanitation, you probably don't need to keep your bottles in a hot oven for a week anyway. 

No cleaning for me.  Rinse after use, store upside down if I won't need them for a long while, squirt the interior with StarSan just prior to use.  First time bottles get a hot water soak just to get labels off.  Nearly two decades of brewing and no infections; from the bottle anyway.  YMMV.