Spinoff: washing reusable water bottles

[Ruthla]

Whenever I wash my glass water bottles in the dishwasher, they often get a residue on the inside.

I hand wash them, but I'm not sure I can really get them clean enough. I bought a baby bottle brush, but it's not particularly effective- it's hard to get it inside the bottle opening, and then it doesn't scrub well along the bottom edges. I wasn't able to find one that's just bristles- the only one I could find has a sponge at the end and it just has no scrubbing action!!!

I checked at a supermarket and at an evil dollar store today, but I couldn't find any bottle brushes that were all bristle, no sponge at the bottom. Any clue where I could find one?

[KMK_Mama]

I got a bristle only bottle brush in the baby section at Target....It has a suction cup on the bottom so it just stick on my sink when not in use.....or you could try denture cleaning tablets. I've heard of people using those lately, but I haven't tried it yet.

[EnviroBecca]

I found a bristle-only baby bottle brush in my supermarket. Keep looking!

I use 10-ounce glass bottles to take orange juice in my lunch for work. Once in a while they look or smell scrungy despite diligent brushing. What I do is dissolve a scoop of oxygen bleach in just enough hot water to cover the bottles and let them soak until water is room temp. Then I rinse them thoroughly and wash them as usual. This takes care of the problem for a month or more.

I've also found that it's important to dry the bottles in the drying rack, where air can get into them. I had been standing them upside-down on a towel, which meant that the mouth of the bottle was essentially sealed by damp towel, and condensation inside it was growing stuff.

[Ruthla]

I found a bristle-only brush in the "cleaning supplies" section of the supermarket today, it even has a longer handle than a typical baby bottle brush. It sure was hard enough to find!!!