ring in carboy

I'm having a (maybe) unusual cleaning problem with one of my BetterBottles.

After repeated soaking and shaking with PBW and numerous acid rinses with vinegar, I'm left with a very thin, hazy white ring on the inside of the carboy.

The ring's location corresponds pretty much to the bottom and top of the ring of krauzen foam during fermentation.

It's very subtle, but won't go away. I never touch or otherwise scrub the inside of the carboy. Yes, I do have hard water.

Has anybody seen anything like this? Any advice would be appreciated.

I get one when I let a beer sit for a prolonged period of time. Get a carboy brush and scrub it. Don't worry, you won't scratch the glass (in fact, that's why I still use glass).

I soak mine upside down in Oxyclean and they come clean. How long did you let the beer sit? I've cleaned several glasses & various pet water dishes with hard water stains and they come relatively clean with a little scrubbing, but have not scrubbed my better bottles yet.

Nip the end off of a carboy brush and insert it into a cordless drill. Bend the brush end over to reach the insides and give it hell. Be sure to dip the brush in cleaning solution in the bottom of the carboy now and then. Then pick up the carboy and give it a shake to swirl the solution around the bottle. Repeat if needed. Rinse, and that should do it.

GearBeer said:

I get one when I let a beer sit for a prolonged period of time. Get a carboy brush and scrub it. Don't worry, you won't scratch the glass (in fact, that's why I still use glass).

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BetterBottle's are not glass they are plastic. If you use a carboy brush you can easily scratch it. I just recently had the same exact problem. I soaked mine a couple of times in Oxyclean and hot water. It eventually went away. You can also try putting a wash cloth in the bottle with some hot water and Oxyclean or PBW.

I have not scratched any of my beter bottles with a brush. Lucky I guess. Or it could be the Caustic soak and the peracedic acid rinse.

use a carboy brush covered with a tshirt. great way to clean better bottles.


don't use a bare brush. really. don't.

If you really want to make sure you don't scratch your BB with a brush, do what I do: put an inch or two of Oxyclean/water into the carboy and stuff a washcloth all the way in. Turn it upside down and swirl. The washcloth will wipe the crud off for you. It works surprisingly well!

-Joe, who didn't think of this but read it here.

Thanks for all the good advice. I really don't want to use a brush on the plastic. I may try stuffing in a soft cotton washcloth with a gallon of some kind of cleaner and shaking. I'm thinking that since this is probably some kind of alkaline mineral deposit that the cure might be an acid. But vinegar hasn't worked so far.

The haze ring is very subtle--hard to see without holding the carboy up to the light. When the PET plastic is really clean, remaining drops almost jump off of the plastic. However, a layer of water is stopping at the deposit ring during draining and sort of sticks to the doggone stuff.

Many thanks.

I use a Brushtech wine carafe brush to remove such rings from my Better Bottles.



They are made of foam around a wire (?) base, bendable but supportive enough to remove the gunk. They can be found at kitchen supply places like Sur La Table or amazon.com.

If this is mineral scale mechanical cleaning will be difficult at best and will eventually ruin a better bottle.

For scale you need a concentrated acid. Since vinegar dosent work you need more horsepower. If you have access to HCl or phosphoric acid you can dilute as needed. No need for scrubbing.

I just tried an overnight soak with StarSan solution and zero results. This stuff seems bonded to the plastic.

I would prefer to soak it out if possible. I'm considering CLR. 5 Star also makes stronger acids.

Thanks again.