Primary Fermentor Smell

After transferring my brew to the secondary ferment or and cleaning the plastic primary with oxiclean and sterilizing it with star san, I can still smell beer. It is a good beer smell, just wondering if I'm getting it clean enough and making sure I'm not setting myself up for failure in the future?

Thanks, Rich

Mine have stunk at times and I've yet to have a contaminated brew. Be sure to sanitize it really well before using it again.

Yeah, you're fine. Those buckets absorb odors, but it never seems to impact subsequent batches. Just inspect them thoroughly before each batch, and replace them if you notice scratches or other damage.

RDWESOB

(Relax, don't worry, enjoy the smell of beer) It will be fine.

In my opinion
The hop oils work their way into the plastic - becoming bound to it. I think nothing short of severe mechanical scrubbing will get it all out (not a good idea with scratchable plastic) but if you were to clean your equipment hot (ie pre soak with hot water before using a hot detergent solution) you would get the balance of it out. The bottom line is - have you killed all the wee beasties? Don't worry so much about the smell, the molecules are smaller and more resistant to cleaning than bacteria.

My primary bucket has become stained and retains a strong hop odor. I tried to get rid of that stuff once, filling the bucket with hot water on top of 1/2 cup of Oxi-Clean. It worked pretty well, getting rid of the stain and most of the odor. But of course the stain & strong odor came right back in a few more batches. So- I figured stain couldn't hurt the beer, and beer's gonna smell like hops anyway, so I just clean and sanitize the bucket, and continue brewing. So far, it works.......