The inside of a water bottle is the ideal place for bacteria, mold, and germs to thrive since it’s a dark and moist environment. Even though these microorganisms aren’t visible, they’re definitely there and can cause you to fall sick. Luckily, it’s easy to wash and reuse glass water bottles.
There are many ways to clean glass water bottles. You can use dish soap, vinegar and hot water, homemade rubbing alcohol wipes, or a mixture of bleach and baking soda. You can also clear glass cloudiness using nail varnish remover, white vinegar, or mild detergent.
If you’ve also decided to reuse glass water bottles but are thrown off by the idea of the germs and bacteria inside, you no longer need to worry. Let’s look at all the ways to clean a glass water bottle in more detail and see how you can get rid of the cloudiness.
How Do You Clean Glass Water Bottles?
While there are many ways to clean glass water bottles, the following four are the most effective:
Using Vinegar
Distilled white vinegar is an economically and environment-friendly, natural sanitizer that kills bacteria and germs almost as effectively as most commercial solutions. The acidity in vinegar can also help you get rid of slimy buildup inside the bottle.
There are numerous ways you can go about using white vinegar (on Amazon) to clean glass bottles.
For instance, you can fill one-third of the bottle with white vinegar and the rest of it with hot water. Allow it to stand for around ten minutes, then empty it and rinse it until the smell of vinegar goes away. You might have to rinse a few times to get the smell out before letting the bottle air dry.
Alternatively, you can wash the bottle with soapy water and fill half of it with equal parts of water and white vinegar. Cover the opening of the bottle and shake it well.
Let the solution sit in the bottle overnight, and thoroughly rinse it out the next day with warm water. Rinse the bottle until all the vinegar washes away and allow it to dry fully.
Another way you can use vinegar to clean your bottle is to mix it with salt. Pour roughly a quarter cup of coarse salt into the glass bottle, and then add a little bit of vinegar. You don’t need too much vinegar — it should be just enough to allow you to move the salt around the bottle.
Cover the opening of the bottle and shake it thoroughly to loosen the gunk and let the salt scrub it away. Then rinse it thoroughly and allow it to dry.
Using Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol is also effective at cleaning glass water bottles. Instead of directly adding it to the bottle, you can make wipes and use those to clean the bottle.
To do so, pour 60-90% isopropyl alcohol or ethanol into an airtight container and submerge reusable cloth or paper towels in it. Let the cloth soak in the solution for around 5 minutes and then use these wipes to disinfect the bottle.
Using Dish Soap
Using dish soap is the easiest method for cleaning your glass bottle daily to keep it disinfected and clean. And while you can put glass bottles in the dishwasher, cleaning them daily by hand with hot water and dishwashing soap is more thorough, equally effective, and easy.
To clean the bottles with dish soap, here’s what you have to do:
- Fill up the bottle with hot water.
- Seal the bottle, shake it thoroughly, and discard half of the water.
- Add a few drops of dish soap.
- Seal the bottle again and shake it to make a lather.
- Try to squeeze and pour the solution out through the opening of the bottle (or the nozzle if there’s one) to clean that, too.
- Wash and rinse the bottle thoroughly.
- Let it dry on a draining rack and quickly rinse it before reusing it.
Using Baking Soda
If you’re looking for a more rigorous way of cleaning your glass bottle if you’ve neglected it for too long, then you can use baking soda. While daily cleaning will get rid of the germ build-up, a deep clean every few days will make sure that you get rid of lingering bacteria, too.
In addition to being a natural deodorizer, baking soda is also a gentle abrasive cleaner and can get rid of mold without leaving any unpleasant smell behind or scratching the glass.
For this method, mix one teaspoon of bleach with an equal amount of baking soda and add it to the bottle. Fill the rest of the bottle with water. Just like before, squeeze the solution through the opening to clean that too.
Allow the solution to sit in the bottle overnight. The next day, rinse it thoroughly using warm water, ensuring that you get rid of all the cleaning solution. Let the bottle air dry and rinse once more before reusing it.
You can safely drink water from a bottle cleaned using a weak bleach solution if it’s thoroughly rinsed. Always make sure that you follow the safety guidelines provided by the bleach manufacturer.
How to Remove Cloudiness From Glass Water Bottles
Cloudiness in glass water bottles usually occurs because of hard water, but there are numerous ways to get rid of it. You can swab the glass bottle with a nail varnish remover, soak it in white vinegar for around 15 minutes, or scrub it gently with mild detergent.