Sports drink and water bottle cleaning ritual?
 

I used to drink just plain water. But at some point, I started using sports drinks (Gatorade etc), which I like. However, those seems a perfect medium for bacteria growth!

I've been caught a few times when I came home late or tired, and forgot to clean the bottle. The next day? It was yucky!

Now, I do my best to rinse the bottle out as soon as I get home. But recently, I discovered "stuff" growing in the drinking spout! Upon closer examination, "stuff" are also found in area not easily reached, e.g. around the curvy narrow part of the bottle where the cage grabs the bottle... Needless to say, I didn't clean my bottle as thoroughly as I should have. :(

For those of you who use sports drinks, what do you do to clean your bottle?

And, if you're the absent minded kind like me, what's your best "rescue plan" to clean up bottles that got over-populated by sports drink fed bacteria?

hot water and soap, rinse and store in the freezer when not in use

Dishwasher

I found dishwasher most disappointing.

It doesn't reach the part beyond the neck (the narrow part of the bottle). The backside of that part didn't get cleaned at all.

It's only when the bottle was dirty (because I forgot to clean it immediately) that I can actually SEE which part of the bottle did or didn't get cleaned.

Dishwasher or hot water and soap. Haven't tried the freezer thing.

I buy cheap bottles.
scalding water and bottle brush with dishsoap.

Any bottle doesn’t make the grade, even a little suspect gets tossed.
I buy cheap bottles. $2.78ea

Barry

I've got some Camelback bottles and you can take the spouts completely apart - I'll do that every once in a while, and give the parts an overnight soak in water with a tbsp of bleach, or so. It helps a lot, and would not buy any new bottles if the spouts couldn't be disassembled, cleaned and reassembled.

Preventative maintenance goes a long way, though. Yes, rinse as soon as possible. Another thing that I'll do is contain the funk somewhat by assigning bottles for sports drink duty... like, for the lifetime of the bottle. Those not assigned to sports drink duty get water only - this keeps them from getting as funky. When I head out on a ride, I'll grab one of each bottle.

I have clean canteen bottles. I use metal lids on them no drink spout. I use them to refill my Camelbak. I only use the little water bottle to mix drinks and only water in everything else. hot or boiling water and soap for cleaning.

Have a Bosch dishwasher and it cleans even the tall bottles really well.

1. Unscrew lid and place on upper tray
2. Place bottle with glassware
3. Push button

Hot soapy water and bottle brush for the bottles, and toothbrush for the caps.

Baby bottle brush for quick cleaning. I'll fill 'em with hot water and a little Dawn or other dish soap, shake 'em up, squirt the soapy water through the lid several times, then rinse.

As noted above, Camelbak lids with one-way valves can be disassembled for thorough cleaning. Reminds me, mine are overdue for disassembly and cleaning. After awhile they'll develop mold, despite the plastic being designed to resist buildup of bacteria, mold, etc.

I put a table spoon of rice, tiny drip of soap and a little water into bottle. Shake bottle to scrub the inside clean. Dump rice in trash, and rince out bottle to remove soap. I do this if a bottle grows mold, or about once a month even if it looks clean.

In addition to soap, water and a brush others have mentioned I boil the caps of my bottles once every few weeks.

I use those baby bottle sterilising tablets (Milton). Not every wash, but once I start seeing signs of mould growing.

Bottles and lids go in the dishwasher. As for hydration bladders, hot soapy water, multiple rinses and we store them empty in the freezer.

Off topic but related: If you have a chest freezer with enough space and return from a camping trip with wet gear and no time or space to immediately dry it out, freeze it until you can properly deal with it.

I rinse mine out soon after I get home. Also use a bottle brush on them. My bottles are just 25 fl oz Monster Energy drink bottles that I bought at a convenience store and emptied the contents which I don't care for. Every blue moon or two I might add a little chlorine bleach or Oxyclean if I ever spot any thing that looks like life inside.

On Camelback bottles, same thing. However they more often need to have the nipple pulled off and taken apart. Mold or mildew seems to like getting up in there and growing. Bleach and a small brush get it cleaned out then after drying, reassembled.

TBH, this is why I only put water in water bottles. Yes, they can be cleaned, but it's a PITA. Any sugar water is a perfect growth medium for all sorts of things. If your soda from a fountain has an off-taste, do not drink it! They're probably not cleaning the system properly, and I've seen the crap that can grow in those nozzles.

Fantastic!

Thank you all for sharing of all your good ideas. :)

Dumb question, is the black stuff that grows in the spout actually bad for you? What is it technically (and don't just say mold), because I eat bleu cheese with mold in it and I'm still standing. How many others don't care a lot about a little crud in their bidon?

As always, you do you.

There's a huge range and variety of mold - some can be bad for you, while others aren't. The stuff growing in your bottles hasn't exactly been hand-picked, so who knows what's growing in there. While I'm not terribly concerned about the health ramifications, I just think that black **** growing on my nozzles is gross and cleaner bottles taste better.

I'm pretty sure the mold in bleu cheese came about because many ate their cheese with mold in it and one mold taste better than others. How many died from eating the wrong kind of mold? Hard to say. But who knows, perhaps we're survivors from Darwinism and can eat many molds with impunity! On the other hand, it only take one bad one to rake havoc in one body...

Same here. I might occasionally put something like a Skratch additive in my bottle, then wash it thoroughly right after the ride. But I'll tell you this: my Camelback hydration bladders get only water. This has been my policy ever since I screwed up a couple years ago and put in some Gatorade... then forgot to clean it out after the ride... then a few days later filled it with water and went out again. I drank from it and got sick, then noticed there was black mold growing in the tube. Really stupid move, but I think I learned my lesson.

Sports drink with sugar is the primary problem. That's what gives bacteria/mold something to eat. Dishwasher only does so much, especially if you have bottle caps that are the variety that are leakproof while open and liquid only travels thru the nozzle when forced by squeezing. That obviously means that wash water will likely not get inside even in the dishwasher.

Basically I just empty when done with a ride. Hot sudsy dawn + water in the bottle and then squirt thru the cap to flush out anything in there remaining. Yes, being able to dismantle the nozzles for cleaning helps from time to time, but probably only do this once in every 10 rides' worth of usage.

Bleu cheese mold is a very specific penicillium mold with very specific properties. If you're drinking through a bunch of slime, who the hell knows what molds and bacteria are in there? Keep in mind there's a bunch of random contaminants getting kicked up from the road or trail landing on that nozzle. Feel free to run your little experiment and consume "black stuff", what could go wrong?

If there's enough stuff growing there to actually see the slime, I'd bet there's a whole little ecosystem operating there with lots of different types of organisms. Coliform bacteria would not be a bad bet. Blecccch!