Before bottling the beer, all bottles, the bottling bucket and siphon equipment must be cleaned and sanitized. As usual, use a sanitizing solution of chlorine bleach and water, or an iodine solution to soak bottles and equipment. A five gallon batch of beer requires around 50 bottles.

It helps to fill each bottle with sanitizing solution, and to allow them to soak submerged. Be sure to rinse all sanitizing solution thoroughly if using chlorine bleach or iodine because any residual solution can have adverse affects on the beer flavor or on your health.

Bottle caps can be sanitized by boiling them for 15 minutes. Count out 50 bottle caps for a five gallon batch, and perhaps throw in a couple extra in case you drop one or two on the floor during bottling; there won’t be enough time to sanitize them again should any fall on the floor.