Best Way To Sanitize A Carboy?

Fill it with sanitizing solution and let it sit? Suggestions?

The way I do it (and I've read posts from other guys who are way more experienced than me who do it this way too) is to put some sanitizing solution in the carboy, stick your stopper in, plug the stopper with your thumb and start shaking the hell out of it. Be careful with wet hands . . . .

AHU

i usually just fill them up, with the runoff from the wort chiller if i'm using that, with some iodphor or bleach( if they are really cruddy from past ferments) and let them sit over night. then i take a big carboy brush and get all the nasties off it, rinse it out like six times with hot water, and refill about half way with iodophor and let it sit till i need it again.

What I have been doing is as soon as I get them cleaned up, if I am not putting a new batch into it that instant, I fill it up with a bleach mixture place some plastic wrap on top and keep the plastic there with a rubber band.

When I want to use it I empty it out, fill it with HOT water all the way up, empty it again then fill it half way up and shake the everliving hell outa it. Let it dry out for a bit then stick my nose in there and take a snort. If I even think I smell bleach I rinse it again

I clean with warm water and oxiclean then emprty.
I then fill with 1 gallon of warm water and a teaspoon of brucleen, slosh it about for a minute to wet all of the surface and let sit for 10 minutes.
I then tip on its side and roll it for a minute or so, empty it and let sit 5 minutes. I then rinse with warm water ready to use. I put a little kitchen foil over the top to stop any microbastards from dropping in.

Pumbaa said:

...I fill it up with a bleach mixture...When I want to use it I empty it out, fill it with HOT water all the way up, empty it again then fill it half way up and shake the everliving hell outa it...

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Why don't you just rinse it out with a jet washer after dumping the bleach mixture? That's what I do. No need to turn the carboy upside down with all that water in it.

homebrewer_99 said:

Why don't you just rinse it out with a jet washer after dumping the bleach mixture? That's what I do. No need to turn the carboy upside down with all that water in it.

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Homebrewer is right just clean, rinse and let it dry. Get your hands on some of those pop off tops for big water bottles and put them on after cleaning/drying to keep anything out. Next time you need it put a little sani in it shake it, let it drain and you are ready to rock and roll.......

After I've used a carboy as a secondary, I rinse out the trub, empty, then fill to the brim with water and 2T of bleach and let soak for 24-36 hours. This usually removes any stains, stubborn trub sediment, etc. Then rinse with a jet washer and hot water.

On transfer day, assuming it was cleaned previously, I just fill with 1 to 2 T bleach, soak for 30 minutes, then rinse with hot water using the abovementioned jet washer.

Avoid soaps at all costs. Some folks are concerned with "bleach taste," but I have yet to experience it. I should mention that I turn up my hot water heater to it's highest setting a couple of hours before rinsing. I think the hot (140-155 degree) water gets rid of bleach nicely, and I cannot say enough good things about the Jet Washer.

If you use prefer Iodophor or other no-rinse, I might suggest using bleach to clean after usage and for storage, as above, then iodophor/etc as a sanitizer. Again, 15-30 minutes in a filled container, with a capful (teaspoon) of iodophor. (Not sure about the amounts for other sanitizers).