The Edit — Lifestyle
How to Clean a Water Bottle, Lid and Straw Included
Wash a reusable bottle daily with hot soapy water and a brush, and take the lid apart each time. What food-safety researchers found inside used bottles, and which 64 oz bottles can go in the dishwasher.
This guide is research-led: we have not handled these units ourselves. If you buy through our links we may earn a commission — it never changes a pick.Research-led, nothing handled. We may earn from links; it never changes a pick. How we choose
This page sets out how to clean a reusable water bottle from what food-safety researchers found inside used ones, then the 4 half-gallon bottles whose makers make cleaning easiest, as How we choose describes. Nothing here was handled or tested.
Best for Hot and cold drinks
Watch for Hand wash only
Best for A dishwasher-safe lid
Watch for Bottle is hand wash
Best for Steel, in the dishwasher
Watch for A big jug to carry
Best for Plastic, in the dishwasher
Watch for Not insulated
A brush or a dishwasher, not a rinse, gets a bottle clean
Carl Behnke, a food-safety researcher at Purdue University, found that bottle owners who scrubbed with a brush or used a dishwasher had the lowest bacteria counts inside, the BBC reported in March 2025. Of the 90 owners in his study, 15% said they never cleaned their bottle at all. Behnke had flushed his own bottle with hot water for years, until a paper towel wiped round the inside came out dirty. Fill the bottle a third full of hot water with a drop of dish soap, scrub the walls and base with a long bottle brush, and rinse.
The Iron Flask takes hot drinks, so it gets a brush by hand
Iron Flask says hand wash only for its 64 oz bottle, and it is still the one to buy for tea or coffee as well as water: it is rated cold for 24 hours and hot for 12. Its wide mouth takes a full-size bottle brush, and the straw lid comes apart for the sink.
IRON FLASK 64 oz Wide Mouth Water Bottle with Straw Lid
A 64 oz steel bottle rated cold for 24 hours and hot for 12, with a clip-on straw lid. Hand wash only.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Cold / hot | 24 h / 12 h, per Iron Flask |
|---|---|
| Mouth | Wide |
| Cleaning | Hand wash only |
Hot or cold, hand wash only.
Buy it if
- A drinker who wants one bottle for water and tea
Don't buy it if
- Anyone who wants to use the dishwasher
Water left in a bottle overnight is what grows bacteria
Empty the bottle at the end of each day instead of topping it up in the morning. Bacteria that infect people thrive near 98°F, but they also multiply at room temperature, around 68°F, according to Primrose Freestone, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Leicester. The longer water sits, the more grows. Keeping the bottle in the fridge between sips slows that down, she says, but does not stop it.
Protein shakes and sugary drinks need a wash the same day
Anything other than plain water feeds the microbes already in a bottle, Freestone says, and protein shakes most of all. Milk leaves a thin film on the inside wall, and bacteria grow well on it. Rinse the bottle as soon as a shake is finished and give it a full wash with soap and a brush that evening. Keep a separate bottle for shakes if the main one is a 64 oz steel bottle that only goes in the sink, and a separate cup for coffee: the insulated tumblers guide covers those.
Take the lid apart: the straw and the seals are what a bottle brush misses
A straw lid has a straw, a channel and one or more silicone seals, and a long bottle brush reaches none of them. Pull the straw out, remove any seal the maker says comes off, and wash each part. A thin straw brush clears the channel. The Owala FreeSip Sway splits the job: Owala says its lid goes in the dishwasher, while the 64 oz bottle itself is hand wash.
Owala FreeSip Sway 64 oz Insulated Bottle
Owala's straw-or-swig spout on a 64 oz bottle with a cupholder base. The lid goes in the dishwasher; the bottle is hand wash.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Spout | FreeSip, straw or swig |
|---|---|
| Lid | Dishwasher safe, per Owala |
| Bottle | Hand wash |
The lid goes in the dishwasher; the bottle is hand wash.
Buy it if
- A commuter who wants the fiddly part in the dishwasher
Don't buy it if
- Hot drinks: Owala says cold only
Stanley’s IceFlow jug and the Takeya are the 2 for the dishwasher
Behnke’s team suggest that a dishwasher with a sanitising cycle may be the most effective way to clean a bottle. Of the 64 oz bottles in the half-gallon water bottle guide, 2 are sold as dishwasher safe. Stanley says so of its IceFlow Flip Straw 2.0 Jug, a recycled-steel jug rated cold for 32 hours.
STANLEY IceFlow Flip Straw 2.0 Jug, 64 oz
A 64 oz recycled-steel jug Stanley rates cold for 32 hours and sells as dishwasher safe.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Cold / iced | 32 h / up to 6 days, per Stanley |
|---|---|
| Lid | Flip Straw 2.0 |
| Cleaning | Dishwasher safe |
An insulated steel jug that goes in the dishwasher.
Buy it if
- Anyone who would rather load a dishwasher than scrub
Don't buy it if
- A car cupholder: it is a big jug
Takeya says both the bottle and the lid of its Motivational bottle are dishwasher safe. It is BPA-free Tritan plastic with time markers down the side, and it is not insulated, so cold water warms up through the day.
Takeya Motivational Water Bottle with Straw Lid, 64 oz
A 64 oz Tritan plastic bottle with time markers, sold with bottle and lid both dishwasher safe.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Material | Eastman Tritan, BPA-free |
|---|---|
| Cleaning | Bottle and lid dishwasher safe |
| Insulation | None |
A plastic half gallon that goes in the dishwasher whole.
Buy it if
- A desk or gym bottle that goes in the dishwasher whole
Don't buy it if
- Keeping water cold: it is not insulated
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