I made my first attempt at a mead about 3 years ago. Long story short, it didn't turn out. So I've sat on it for the past 3 years hoping it would improve. It didn't. So I finally dumped it the other day and had is soaking in Oxyclean. I bought some AJ today to make a cider and I was going to clean the carboy. I scrubbed the hell out of it with my carboy brush and there is residue covering about 10% of the inside. I CANNOT get it off. I spent an hour scrubbing with warm water, oxclean, and the brush, no luck. It literally won't budge. It looks like an old label residue actually. Like old label glue. I have no idea why it won't come off. I've never let anything go for 3 years before but I don't understand why it won't come off. Literally scrubbing hard with the brush and oxyclean doesn't do anything at all. So, I said screw it and rinsed the hell out of it and sanitized much more than normal and went ahead with the AJ. I know thats not the smartest thing to do, but I figure I'd rather spoil 5 gallons of cider than beer and know for sure that I've got a problem. Anyone have any advise? Here's a picture:
