Monday Rant: Beer Clean

One of the sub-debates in the beer community is cleanliness. You constantly here from others about tainted beer taste due to certain establishments not cleaning their lines. There are even multiple-step procedures for cleaning your beer glassware the proper way.

I pretty much run everything beer here at home. My father does most of the homebrewing, but when it comes to buying, storing and providing vessels to consume said beverages it's all up to me. I make it a point to hand wash every single one of my glasses in the sink. They soak for a few minutes in hot soapy water and each glass gets individually washed and dried.

Sometimes my old man gets lazy and fires some of my glasses into the dishwasher. So, I have to pluck them back out before the machine gets used. I'm not risking any paint, lining or labels being deformed or damaged. If there aren't any designs on them, I'm a but more alright with letting them go through the dish washer.

The cleaner the glass, the better chance of pretty lacing.

This weekend I ran a bit of an experiment. I took one of my glasses that had been in the dish washer (didn't rinse it prior to pouring as I make it a habit to do) and grabbed a Coors Banquet, to prevent losing out on some quality on a better beer.

I noticed some that dreaded congregation of bubbles on the side of the glass we all recognize. The obvious signs of something not being "beer clean." These bubbles were clustered on the bottom of the glass. This led me to the conclusion that the dish washer might be a great place to clean most of the ware you use to eat and drink, but just not able to get the job done for those of us that strive for that perfect experience that every beer can provide.