Used equipement - how to clean thoroughly?

Hi All,


I purchased some used fermenters (plastic), pots, pans etc from someone who was leaving the country. Got a real good deal on it.

BUT, I've noticed that he hadn't cleaned his fermenters since his last brew. ie: they're dirty as heck with caked on fermentation residue (looks like hop pellets, irish moss etc). The worst parts are the valves (plastic too..) which have dried on residue left from fermenting (even in the spout part).

I've already:

- soaked and cleaned the fermenter / valve using dishwashing liquid, used a pipe cleaner to scrub inside the valve (seemed to work well, I can't see the brown residue anymore)

- then soaked fermenter / valve in an oxidizer / cleaner (Chemipro OXI)

- Now soaking with a heavy bleach / water solution.

It seems that the equipment is coming clean, but I'm still worried.. Anyone have any tips / tricks that I could use to get this stuff ready to use for bottling tomorrow? I'll be using it as my bright-beer tank.


Thanks,
Awfers

Sounds like you've done what you can.

I'd give everything one more good hard blast with hot water to rinse thoroughly. Don't expose any SS to a strong bleach solution for too long because you can get pitting.

I'd say you're in good shape and ready to brew...

Hot PBW always works well for me. I'll heat up the water to 150°F dump in the PBW and let whatever item soak and then just let it go overnight. I haven't had any problems removing gunk yet. Sounds like all you need to do is sanitize and you're ready to go.

Thanks guys.

I ran yet another bleach soak, rinsed with the hotest water I could get from the tap, and then ran Chempro OXI for 30 minutes. Seemed to have removed the smell of previous fermentations.

There are some scratches on the bottom spigot attachment hole, but it doesn't seem to come in contact with the beer (I hope), so I bit the bullet and used it for bottling today.

we'll see if it's ok in about two weeks


Cheers!
Awfers