bottles-jars How you clean your bottles in a commercial setup

Hi, Im new to the forum and enjoy it a lot, its a gold mine of information, I think I will past lot of time there!
 
Im from Quebec, Canada and I speak French that's will explain my language mistakes and weird phrases!
 
I have a small artisan hot sauce company but demand increase a lot and I have to turn to a commercial setup. I cook with a 25 gallons steam pot and have no problem bottling around 500 bottles with a HandyFiller bot I didn't find yet a way to clean and sanitize my bottles that is not really time consuming. I would really appreciated to have some tips and suggestion of methods to do 500 bottles batch. I use brand new 5 once Woozy.  
 
Thanks.
 
 
 
Are you able to run them through a steam dishwasher, like the ones you see in a restaurant?  Perhaps load it up up-side down, steam them and stock them upside down until you are ready to fill?
 
I believe the boiling sauce will re-sanitize the bottles as they are filled, cap it and then put them into boxes upside down for 5-10 minutes at least to get a seal...
 
SalsaLady had a nice article in the hot sauce making sub-forum about filling.  But 500 bottles, I would think you're looking at a mass-cleaning system, as they are too much to boil and fill (too slow)
 
Hi Kalitarios, thanks for the fast reply!
 
Thats what I currently use, a restaurant steam dishwasher, it work well but I have to find a way to make a rack or bottle tree to easily fit the bottles. When I started I boiled the bottles but it was very slow and some bottle breaks and I had to check every bottle to be sure they don't contain any piece of glass
 
One way is to put them on sheet pans and in the oven for an hour at 300.  Got that one from Salsalady.  However, if they are new you probably don't need to do anything.  I would check w/ your governing authority, but my copacker goes from the case to the filling line and FDA is cool w/ that.
 
And welcome to THP!
 
Thanks PepperDaddy, go directly from the case would be great! In fact the hot bottling and the low acid of the sauce sanitize the bottle by itself! I will make sure with the government.
 
:welcome: Damn!
 
As PepperDaddy said, a lot of packers go straight from the box to the fill line.  With the HandyFiller, you need to make sure the sauce is at full temp when it goes into the bottle for assurance the bottle and cap are fully sanitized by the heat.  I don't know how your system is set up, if you are pulling out of a pot that is on heat or other.  I set up the HandyFiller so it sucks directly out of the stock pot which is on a burner on low, so the sauce never has a chance to cool down.  That way, the sauce is at full 200F+ when it goes into the bottle.
 
Back to the bottles,  if the bottles are dusty (sometimes they are, even new out of the box) a quick rinse with plain water and then into roasting pans (better than sheet pans) and into the oven for a bit.  The goal is to get the bottles in the middle of the pan up over 200F/93C.  You can bake the bottles ahead of time, even days ahead, just cover them when they come out of the oven with plastic wrap or clean dish towels until you are ready to process.  Seems like I can fit about 60 148ml woozy bottles in a standard hotel pan.  If you have access to some of the larger commercial roasting pans, you could probably fit 8-10 cases. 
 
Great to hear your sauce company is growing!  Keep up the good work!
 
salsalady   
 
Thanks Salsalady. I cook with a 30 gallon steam pot so I can keep the temperature and not be afraid to burn the sauce.
 
Having an hot sauce company is very fun but its a lot of job and things to deal with, a lot more than I expected but I love it!
 
Someone help me confirm this. Not all commercial dishwashers sanitize. The kitchen I started in did not have a dishwasher that could reach sanitizing temps. So I opted for the bottles jn a roasting pan like salsalady suggested.
 
correct, not all machines sanitize, but most that do sanitize use a chemical sanitizer not a heat sanitize cycle.  Most commercial machines have a really quick cycle.  I question how well the sanitizer spray can get up inside 5 oz woozy bottles, especially if the bottles are stuck on the prongs to hold them upright.  Home dishwashers usually use a heat cycle for sanitizing so contact with a sanitizing solution on the inside of the bottle is not critical. 
 
Sanitizing is a combination of time and effect.  Super-hot oven for a short amount of time, less-hot oven for a longer time.  Soak the items to be sanitized in XXppm bleach water for 10 minutes, or XXXppm bleach water for 2 minutes 
 
The bottles can be completely immersed/filled with sanitizer solution and then up-ended to drain.  I've thought about getting some commercial dishwasher glassware racks, I think some have space for 36 glasses and you can probably fit 2-3 woozys per space.  But for now, I give the bottle a quick rinse with fresh running water, up-end in a dishrack for a few minutes to let the water drain, then stack in roasting pans and bake. 
 
salsalady said:
correct, not all machines sanitize, but most that do sanitize use a chemical sanitizer not a heat sanitize cycle.  Most commercial machines have a really quick cycle.  I question how well the sanitizer spray can get up inside 5 oz woozy bottles, especially if the bottles are stuck on the prongs to hold them upright.  Home dishwashers usually use a heat cycle for sanitizing so contact with a sanitizing solution on the inside of the bottle is not critical. 
 
Sanitizing is a combination of time and effect.  Super-hot oven for a short amount of time, less-hot oven for a longer time.  Soak the items to be sanitized in XXppm bleach water for 10 minutes, or XXXppm bleach water for 2 minutes 
 
The bottles can be completely immersed/filled with sanitizer solution and then up-ended to drain.  I've thought about getting some commercial dishwasher glassware racks, I think some have space for 36 glasses and you can probably fit 2-3 woozys per space.  But for now, I give the bottle a quick rinse with fresh running water, up-end in a dishrack for a few minutes to let the water drain, then stack in roasting pans and bake. 
 
 
 
 
Those commercial dishwasher racks are great.  I have two of them.  When I was manufacturing myself I would rinse all the bottles, set them to drain in the dishwasher racks and then pop them in the oven in a roasting pan.  You can never be too safe when it comes to food safety. :)
 
This is a handy dandy looking gadget that would be good for low volume beer/wine people, but I am not certain it would work for hot sauce woozys.  Certainly wouldn't be sturdy enough for mass processing, but my first thought was imagining these in a chain...
 
It's late.  I should get to bed.
 
Have you guys ever experimented with liquids that sanitize beer bottles and equipment. One of the big names is star san. I was thinking of utilizing that since it would be way faster to sanitize than any other method.
 
Yes, a lot of people use non-bleach sanitizers as are used in beer and wine making.  Personally I have not as I have other options available.  Don't know what the cost comparison is.
 
 
Each situation is different- how many bottles are being sanitized, how large of a container is available for the sanitizing solution, how long it takes to hand dip 500 bottles through a solution, how to deal with 500 up-ended bottles while they drain, is an oven(s) available, can the sanitizing be done ahead of time and the bottles left sitting for another day(usually not feasible for those using a shared use commercial kitchen)....
 
Some may have to use one option over another due to different constraints. 
 
Even right out of the box you might consider using compressed air to blow out the dust. No wait for bottles to dry - easier if you have an air compressor but I think the little cans would work for a small batch? Not sure if those have something toxic in 'em.
 
For now I sterilize them in the oven, I can put 2 pan with 10 boxes (12) each so it work very well for me, I do around 50 boxes each batch. I like the compressed air idea to remove dust before putting them in the oven I will try this!
 
Interesting read none of it affects me are you guys bottling in glass or plastic bottles?
 
I'm bottling seaweed extract (Used for growing the chillies) so I'm rather lucky I don't need to sanitise my bottles. I'm using chemical resistant plastic bottles for obvious reasons and my suppiler tells me the bottles direct from the blow molding machine which I suspect will sterilise the bottles anyway..
 
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