If you hydrate with something besides water during training, you’ve most likely seen some nasty build-up in your water bottles. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled out a bottle, ready to fill it before a long ride, only to see little black spots of gunk coating the inside. Gross.
So, how do you clean it?!
You have two options: Either a spin through the dishwasher (though I’ve found this doesn’t always work; the gunk almost gets baked on) or…
… a deep clean brush scrub with baby bottle cleaning tools. Thanks to my niece Finley for the inspiration earlier this year 🙂
With that, the must-haves to clean the crud!
- Boon grass countertop drying rack – the perfect place to dry your water bottles. The green grass and white base come apart for easy washing. And, it comes in two sizes, small or large (or with white grass). The small holds about six bottles + lids.
- OXO tot bottle brush – these brushes fit just right in water bottles. This one comes with a base, but the one we purchased at Target has a suction cup on the bottom. Both make for handy counter top storage.
- Munchkin cleaning brush set – these bendable little guys reach all the nooks and crannies.
18 Comments
You are a GENIUS Erin!! I’ve been just throwing them away and getting new bottles. Since we don’t have kids and I’m not around my nieces very often (we sadly don’t live very close), I would have never thought of this. Thanks for the tip!!
Ha! Thanks, Kecia! My niece gets all the credit 🙂 You’re welcome! I hope you get to see your nieces soon! Auntiehood is the very best!
Oh my goodness- thank you so much for posting this! I always hand wash ours, but I can never get in far enough. Nerdy but true- I’ve been too scared to put our Ironman race ones in the dishwasher, but now that I see you have I will!
You’re so welcome! I used to hand wash, too, and never could reach the bottom… and, then I found the brush! I thought the dishwasher would wreck the IM bottles and pull the paint off, but tried it, and they came out ok! Give it a whirl 🙂
i need that boon grass thing. I use something like the munchkin cleaning brush thing for my plastic cups w/ straws (how I drink my juice). And the tops just go in the dishwasher. I also have a bunch of Clean Bottles. So much easier.
The munchkin brush is perfect for straws… I use it for my plastic ones, too. The clean bottles are great! I only have one, but will have to pick up some more. Because you can never have too many bottles! 😉
That picture of all of your bottles is crazy! I am a dishwasher girl but I use only water in my good bottles because I hate the funk. Luckily there are enough free water bottles around for Nuun and non water drinks!
And, that’s not even half of them! We have a ton of bottles 🙂 Definitely tons of free bottles at races… they make great throwaway bottles for IM, too!
Oh my goodness, I need the countertop grass! Cute and functional. We don’t have a dishwasher (so sad,) so we need all the fun tools we can find!
Isn’t it fun?! We have the small one, but may need to swap for the larger one. I went without a dishwasher for a looong time, so can relate 🙂
It’s been a long time since I’ve found funk in a water bottle – I rinse them as soon as I get home, then throw them in the dishwasher. But I have ruined a hydration pack bladder by forgetting to clean it!
That grass thing looks great. Maybe I need to peruse the baby section at Target more often. Ok, who are we kidding, I avoid that part of the store like the plague.
If only I’d remember to rinse them as soon as I get home! 🙂 Definitely check out the grass… quickly… in the baby section! Having a nine-month-old niece gets me in there occasionally, but I tend to avoid it, too (at least for a couple more years!) 🙂
This post is so smart. I can’t believe I haven’t ever seen anything like it! I just had this horrible experience for the first time with my aero bottle a few weeks ago. It was disgusting, and I had the hardest time getting my hand to fit into it to clean it out right. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this stuff. I want to get that grass and a long brush to clean. I’m adding it to my stocking stuffer wishlist (is that such a thing?).
Sorry about your gross bottle, Meghan! It’s happened to me so many times. I used to put diluted bleach in them and soak ’em over night to clean them! Definitely a good thing to add to your wishlist 🙂
Love the grass drying rack, it’s sad but I always have to smell my bottles before filling them to make sure they aren’t skunky!
I do that, too, Beth, even after they’re washed!
I have a zillion bottles too! I mostly put them in the dishwasher. A lot of the print comes off of them and I worry about the heat in the dishwasher too! I am just too lazy to do it the “hand-washing” way!! 🙂
The dishwasher works great, too! I usually make the bf wash the bottles by hand… I empty and load the dishwasher, so that’s fair, right?! 🙂