How to Sanitize Wine Bottles (6 Steps)

Sanitizing all equipment is the single most important thing a winemaker can do to ensure success. This includes cleaning all glass thoroughly before bottling the wine. Special bottle sanitizers can be purchased at wine-making shops, and they work just fine, but so does common household bleach. A bottle washer that attaches to the kitchen sink makes fast work of rinsing the bottles, and a dishwasher with a heat-dry setting will finish the job. Sanitize bottles shortly before bottling the wine and sealing with corks.

Things You'll Need

Chlorine laundry bleach
Nylon bottle scrubber

Bottle washer with threaded attachment for a sink faucet or dishwasher with heat-dry setting

Instructions

Pour 1 tbsp. of bleach into each wine bottle and fill with water.
Let the bottles sit with the bleach solution for one hour.
Empty the bottles and scrub the inside of each with the bottle brush.
Rinse the bottles using a bottle washer attached to the sink. The washer activates by placing the bottle over a brass rod and pressing the valve against the neck of the bottle to spray water inside.
Set the sanitized bottles neck-down on the bottom rack of a dishwasher, using the heavy-duty cleaning cycle followed by heat drying. Do not use dishwasher detergent; just run the cycle with the bottles.
Remove the bottles from the dishwasher and allow to cool before filling with wine and corking.

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