Glass brushes

Pick the height to suit your tallest glass. An 18 centimetre brush is enough for tumblers, wine glasses and ordinary beer glasses. If you work with tall speciality beer glasses, highballs or vases, you need 25 centimetres, otherwise you will not reach the bottom. Sets containing both heights cover the whole cupboard in one go.

A single brush is meant for a quick rinse in between. A set of three or five works faster, because the outer brushes take care of the outside and the rim while the middle one does the inside. Then look at the mounting: suction cups go on a smooth stainless steel sink and can be moved, while a model with a base stands loose in the sink and is easier to lift out. The brush heads can be replaced separately, so the base lasts longer than the bristles.

Fill the sink with lukewarm water and a dash of glass-washing liquid, not with hot water. Water that is too hot actually fixes the grease onto the glass and can crack a thin rim. Push the glass down over the brush, turn it two or three times and rinse it in clean cold water. That final rinse is not an extra step but half the job, because soap residue leaves the same film as grease.

Then let the glasses drain upside down on a rack, or polish them with a lint-free cloth while they are still warm. You can tell a truly grease-free glass by the foam: pour beer into it and the head stays up, with rings running down the wall.

Bristles that hang in standing water all day start to smell. Rinse the brushes under the tap at the end of service, shake them dry and stand them upright so the water runs out. An aluminium base can go through a short dishwasher cycle.

Replace the heads as soon as the bristles splay out or stay flat, because at that point they no longer scour, they merely stroke. A glass brush does not work for carafes and bottles with a narrow neck; for those you need a long-handled brush or a cleaning agent.

Clean glassware is the starting point, not the finish. If your glasses are due for replacement, start with the beer glasses or the wine glasses, and for carafes you keep washing by hand take a look at the carafes. Behind the bar you will also find the cocktail shakers and the ice buckets. What a clean glass does for a drink is explained in the cocktail recipes, for instance with the gin and tonic.