Dizavin

Recipes 

so, outside of the usual "have I ruined my brew?!?!?!" posts I thought I'd ask something that's been bugging the bejesus out of me ever since I started my first brew this week:

....how do you guys clean your carboys?

I don't know about everyone, but my dark ale is 4 days into it's fermentation and the foam remnants and the yeast layer on the bottom of the carboy are probably going to be caked on, good and solid and I'd like to have all my gear as clean and sanitized for the next batch once I drink this beer.

is there a special technique that most of you use to get carboys clean after a fermentation?

SGT-RIEL

Recipes 

I let it soak in extremely hot water 3 or 4 times then swish it around. That does the trick most of the time. If that doesn't work I bend a clothes hanger with a soft scratch pad rigged to it and that always does the trick.

Drustanos

Recipes 

As long as you clean it right after you empty it its not a big deal... let it dry a little and it gets much worse. Same goes for bottles.

Desert_Sky

Recipes 

PBW soak for an hour, give it a quick once over with your brush and after a rinse or two its sparkling clean.

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jchadscud

Recipes 

I took a short garden hose and attached an adjustable nozzle to one end and the other hooks up to the spout after removing the shower head in my bathtub. You can then adjust the nozzle to a strong stream to blast out the bottom of the carboy and then set it to mist and stick it in the neck of the carboy and it will spray down the sides to remove the rest of the gunk.

Then I soak in B-brite for a few minutes and the standard once over with the brush, rinse and let dry.

Homercidal

Recipes 

My bottle brush sucks for carboys. The metal tip always seems to stick out a bit and I worry about scratching the glass. I should try this chemical cleaner stuff. I've also used a bit of washcloth and coat hanger to rub around a bit and that helps.

I've also used a bottle washer device, but with a glass carboy, that's dangerous, especially with soapy water.

cdburg

Recipes 

Warm water is fine, but I'd stay away from "extremely hot water" in a carboy at any time. If the water is too hot, you could run the risk of shattering the carboy...

Revvy

Recipes 

Oxyclean and hot water, then a thorough rinse with a jet bottle/carboy washer.

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SGT-RIEL

Recipes 

It's from the faucet so it's hot but not enough to break a carboy.

jds

Recipes 

+1 for Oxyclean free.

Oxy free plus hot water + carboy brush = clean carboy in ten minutes.

If the Oxyclean leaves a film, rinse with vinegar, then clean water.