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bottling Flipping when hot filling
- Thread starter Damn!
- Start date
salsalady
Business Member
Y'all are on point. For hobby saucers, the sauce should be 190-200. Fill it hot, Flip It....5 minutes.... from then it's up to you what to do with the bottles. If I'm not going to label right away, I just leave the bottles in the boxes upside down until I'm ready to label and shrink wrap. Next day, next week...whenever.... I'f the bottles need to get delivered, then after the 5 minutes Inversion time, dump 'em out of the box and label away.
My Process Authority letters have different margins, but when working with hobby sauces, I'm adding in that margin of safety. Shoot for 190-200F sauce temp at bottling (that will allow for some temperature loss to the bottle, but there again, having the bottles warm [don't need to be baking hot] will help keep the temp of the sauce up.) and invert for 5 minutes.
PS- do y'all know the trick of unloading the whole box of bottles at once?
My Process Authority letters have different margins, but when working with hobby sauces, I'm adding in that margin of safety. Shoot for 190-200F sauce temp at bottling (that will allow for some temperature loss to the bottle, but there again, having the bottles warm [don't need to be baking hot] will help keep the temp of the sauce up.) and invert for 5 minutes.
PS- do y'all know the trick of unloading the whole box of bottles at once?
salsalady
Business Member
chiltepin said:
About the best you can do for that is to fill all the way up to the neck ring. You can't go all the way to the top as there needs to be head space for the vacuum to be created. Up to and even over the neck ring, but not above the threads. If the sauce is below the neck ring, it looks full when hot but as you say, when it cools it shrinks down to the shoulders.
For the box trick...(I'm trying to think of a description for how to hold your hands and this is the best I can think of this early in the morning without coffee yet...
)With the box on the table in front of you, reach for it with your hands like you are going to strangle a person. With your hands around opposite corners, fold the flaps down and hold with your thumbs on 2 sides and your fingers on two sides. Squeeze the box diagonally and while hold the box squeezed, flip it over. Works with empty and full bottles. Hopefully that makes sense~~~
SL left out a little detail.....
Make sure you open the box from the bottom, so that you're looking at the bottoms of the bottles.
Then you can do the squeeze-flippy thing.
Just want to make sure you don't go dumping bottles out upside down all over your work space *bang* *crash*
Make sure you open the box from the bottom, so that you're looking at the bottoms of the bottles.
Then you can do the squeeze-flippy thing.
Just want to make sure you don't go dumping bottles out upside down all over your work space *bang* *crash*
Thanks for the replies! I made some test and as long as the bottle is filled at the right temperature and flip when hot, it make no difference if it cooled upside down or upright.
I also get the empty bottles I get come upside down in the box and think its good because it help not getting dust in the bottle.
I also get the empty bottles I get come upside down in the box and think its good because it help not getting dust in the bottle.
In our scenario - According to the FDA, as long as our bottles are above the hot fill temperature in accordance with our scheduled process (181F); we only need to invert them for 3 minutes.
We usually invert our bottles for roughly 10 minutes though to let them cool down a bit. We don't usually wait longer though because by that time it's like 1AM and we're dead tired. By the time we shrink wrap, add labels and stamp it's even later for a week night.
We usually invert our bottles for roughly 10 minutes though to let them cool down a bit. We don't usually wait longer though because by that time it's like 1AM and we're dead tired. By the time we shrink wrap, add labels and stamp it's even later for a week night.
tctenten said:
This is what I do as well.
Hey guys. I'm also going to be making a batch of 60 bottles of hot sauce and have a question about flipping when hot filling.
What type of caps are you guys using? Plastic (which type) or metallic? I bought plastic ones because the store didn't have any other and they're made from PVC. This makes me a bit wary about the temperature after flipping since it's not as resistant to heat like PP is. Not sure if PVC is good enough for temps around 100 °C (212 °F)?
What type of caps are you guys using? Plastic (which type) or metallic? I bought plastic ones because the store didn't have any other and they're made from PVC. This makes me a bit wary about the temperature after flipping since it's not as resistant to heat like PP is. Not sure if PVC is good enough for temps around 100 °C (212 °F)?
salsalady
Business Member
to THP, Pegart!without knowing the manufacturer or specifics, I'd tend to assume that caps sold with hot sauce bottles are of the proper material to handle the heat. You could probably contact the mfg for specs, but if you bought them at a store, you may not be able to get the mfg name.
Most people get a black "plastic" (sorry I don't know the specific type of plastic) cap with a foam or plastic coated paper liner. They all work with 100C/212F sauces. By the time the sauce is dipped up and poured into the bottle, usually with a funnel, it will loose a couple degrees temp, but will still be well in the safe zone.
You can get metal lids for some bottles, they have a rubber ring on the inside and can be boiling water bathed, or pressure canned.
Once the sauce is cooked and ready to bottle, I like to put it in a double boiler set up. This keeps the sauce hot, but reduces the risk of scorching while bottling. As long as you have a kettle that is slightly larger than your sauce cooking pot, you can have the water kettle hot and ready to go, as soon as the sauce is done, plop it into the water kettle and Off You Go!
Have Fun and post pics if you can. We luuuv pics!
salsalady
Pegart said:Hey guys. I'm also going to be making a batch of 60 bottles of hot sauce and have a question about flipping when hot filling.
What type of caps are you guys using? Plastic (which type) or metallic? I bought plastic ones because the store didn't have any other and they're made from PVC. This makes me a bit wary about the temperature after flipping since it's not as resistant to heat like PP is. Not sure if PVC is good enough for temps around 100 °C (212 °F)?
I don't think that is a food-safe cap.
salsalady said:
without knowing the manufacturer or specifics, I'd tend to assume that caps sold with hot sauce bottles are of the proper material to handle the heat. You could probably contact the mfg for specs, but if you bought them at a store, you may not be able to get the mfg name.
Most people get a black "plastic" (sorry I don't know the specific type of plastic) cap with a foam or plastic coated paper liner. They all work with 100C/212F sauces. By the time the sauce is dipped up and poured into the bottle, usually with a funnel, it will loose a couple degrees temp, but will still be well in the safe zone.
You can get metal lids for some bottles, they have a rubber ring on the inside and can be boiling water bathed, or pressure canned.
Once the sauce is cooked and ready to bottle, I like to put it in a double boiler set up. This keeps the sauce hot, but reduces the risk of scorching while bottling. As long as you have a kettle that is slightly larger than your sauce cooking pot, you can have the water kettle hot and ready to go, as soon as the sauce is done, plop it into the water kettle and Off You Go!
Have Fun and post pics if you can. We luuuv pics!
salsalady
Thanks for the warm welcome.
I've been lurking these forums for a while and this was my second year of growing hot peppers so I've decided I want to dab a little in hot sauce making as well.Thanks for all the information! It helps! If I'll be successful in making a good sauce I'll for sure post some pics.
The Hot Pepper said:
These were bought at a store that sells food-grade items (bottles, caps, etc.) so they're definitely safe. But doing some research I'd say It's not optimal so I'll sure be buying different ones the next time.
Damn! - do you rinse your bottles before sterilizing? Do any or all of you at all? I get my bottles upright from the distributor and we do a quick rinse before popping them into the oven.
Just to be sure there's no dust or glass or anything else in them
Just to be sure there's no dust or glass or anything else in them
Per my Food Lab where I send my samples to get my scheduled process, they only require me to flip and hold inverted for 4 minutes (although I often keep them inverted for longer), then flip back right side up to cool. I don't know how the caps would seal to the bottle if they didn't cool right side up to create the pressure for the lid to seal