Cleaning after 12 years

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Ramdough

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So, I have a 15 gallon glass carboy, a 5 gallon carboy, and 4 corny kegs that have not been cleaned since last used 12 years ago.

How would you recommend cleaning them and preparing them for use again?

Thanks
 
I would likely soak them for several hours in hot water with PBW...amazing stuff. (Assuming I could lift a 15 gallon carboy - never seen one)
 
The glass can be filled with hot water and oxy-clean and left to soak for a day.
the kegs the same way I suppose, but I have never cleaned a corny kegso really unsure
 
The glass can be filled with hot water and oxy-clean and left to soak for a day.
the kegs the same way I suppose, but I have never cleaned a corny kegso really unsure

I use PBW in my cornies too...works great. Oxyclean FREE is similar, but doesn't have all of the ingredients found in PBW. There are threads on making your own, but I have not tried it yet.
 
I would say to do what you normally did 12 years ago but for a longer time and perhaps more vigorously.
 
Ramdough said:
So, I have a 15 gallon glass carboy, a 5 gallon carboy, and 4 corny kegs that have not been cleaned since last used 12 years ago.

How would you recommend cleaning them and preparing them for use again?

Thanks

Can you show a pic of the 15 gallon carboy? I've never seen one this size.
 
As stated I would soak in PBW or oxyclean solution for a day or two. Are they really dirty? For the kegs I would probably get new gaskets all around just cuz 12 years is a long time.
 
Can you elaborate a little more? Were they put away clean, or did you leave the containers dirty or full of beer/trub? If not, I'd guess you'd just need to rinse the dust out and sanitize as usual. Otherwise I'd soak in oxyclean or PBW as everyone else recommended. If you have soft water, the oxy works great and is a lot cheaper than PBW. If your water is hard, the oxi can be a real pain to rinse off and things will always feel slimy. In that case, go for the PBW, I think it's basically oxyclean + TSP as a rinse agent.

Either way, o-rings on the kegs are probably cracked and should be replaced.
 
The kegs had beer in them, they were consumed but never cleaned. There was whatever the co2 could not push out, so there was some liquid. They have been sealed since then.

The carboy was probably rinsed, but I don't remember. I was very busy at the time.

I will post a pic of the carboy when I get a chance. It was very heavy when full.
 
Carboys: I'd do an oxiclean soak with hot water, and leave them overnight. Attack them with a brush if needed, rinse a bunch and you should be good.

Kegs: I'd pull out the dip tubes, posts, poppets. Fill the kegs with hot oxiclean, throw the long diptubes in there to soak with them. Get a few bowls or tupperware contrainers (keep the parts from each keg separate in case they're different style posts/poppets, and keep the lids with their respective kegs) and soak all the other pieces in hot oxiclean in those. Get a dip tube brush if you don't have one, and the next day scrub out the dip tubes and hit the kegs with the carboy brush. Everything else should clean up pretty easily, slap some new, lubed o-rings on there and you should be fine.
 
I have 3 of those 15 gals carboys. For your information, they are fairly cheap in the "used" market, generally for wine making. (got 3 of them for a total of 45$ cnd)...

They are nice for big batches, but keep in mind how much of a pain they are to carry around. You can't carry them around like a 5 gals carboy AT ALL! The glass is also thinner than our beer carboys. Unless they are empty, forget about carrying them by the tip or the glass is gonna break. Also when cleaning, pay attention because they get very slippery when wet...

You might end up preferring 2 normal carboys instead... ;-)
 
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