kjones

Recipes 

I have a question about cleaning carboys. I usually rinse then soak in bleach and water after a fermentation. Then, scrub with carboy brush and rinse before putting away. But, I notice when I get in out and get ready to sanitize, when I start to fill it with the water and sanitizer I can see exactly where I scrubbed when the water condensates on the sides. Just wondering what the best way to clean to avoid this is. I know these brushes are so stiff that the tend to just scratch at the krauzen ring.

ALPS

Recipes 

Save the bleach for your laundry. Get a tub of Oxy-clean instead. Fill the CB with hot water and a half scoop of Oxy-clean. After a short soak it will scrub clean nicely.

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shafferpilot

Recipes 

There's no need to scrub with Oxyclean and HOT water. 20 minutes soak time and rinse, rinse, rinse. I'm not crazy about scrubbing any of my equipment, sounds too much like work.

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BuffaloSabresBrewer

Recipes 

AMEN!

Too much cleaning takes the fun out of brewing. Live on the edge.

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Blender

Recipes 

Carboy brushes don't work to well on the sides of the glass. I usually throw in a clean rag and wrap it around the brush for cleaning the sides. I use PBW for a cleaner.

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Gary

TheBone

Recipes 

the no rinse solutions that are included in the Northern Brewers starter kits?

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rohanski

Recipes 

DO NOT TAKE THIS ADVISE! I had 12 or 14 bad batches in a row because I used this advice. I held the carboy up to the light and discovered a light film that Oxyclead would not remove. After I scrubbed the carboy and used a strong bleach solution the infections stopped.

shafferpilot

Recipes 

You should have been using strong bleach solution (10:1) to sanitize anyways (IMO). I leave my carboys full to the brim with bleach solution any time they don't have beer in them, that way they are always santized. I don't see any advantage to drying them then sanitizing again when it's time to use them, so why make that effort? I have heard many times here of a sticky film left by oxyclean. I've never seen it myself, but I think it results from using WAY too much and leaving it sit for days on end. It only takes a half a scoop and half an hour. Infections are usually the result of bad sanitation and/or scratches, cracks and etchings in plastic and glass that harbour bacteria..... Which is the other reason that I don't scrub anything. What sanitizer were you using when you had the infection problem?

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Donasay

Recipes 

I clean the carboys first using a strong bleach solution and the carboy brush, then I leave a light bleach mixture sitting in my carboys until they are ready to use. If you mix 1/2 a cup of bleach and 1/2 a cup of vinegar to 5 or 6 gallons of water it will sanitize very well and work for up to 30 days. If it is going to be more than 30 days between being filled (god forbid) then you should probably empty them as you will have to re-sanitize anyway. The weak bleach/vinegar solution does not "have" to be rinsed, it is weak enough that you won't taste it, but strong enough to kill all the nasties after just 2 minutes of contact time. Just because I am anal I usually dump out the bleach rinse the carboys and then fill with star-san and then dump the star san. I make one 5 gallon batch of star san on brew day and it covers all 4 of my carboys.

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rohanski

Recipes 

Everything! I'm telling you Oxyclean will not remove the light coating left from fermentation. I do not let anything (except beer) sit in the carboy for more than a few hours because it all leaves a very light deposit. The deposit can only be seen if it is held up to a very bright light. It is usually not a problem but once you get an infection not even strong bleach will kill it. Belive me because I tried it. I just emptied a carboy last night that was a good batch and it also had a deposit.

Moral to story....SCRUB!