Carboy Cleaning

I have a problem... Just bottled my first batch of beer, and I'm having trouble cleaning my glass carboy so I can start another batch. What's the easiest, most effective way to do this. Any and all suggestions please!

Oxyclean Free and hot water usually does the job for me.

Do you have a jet bottle washer, that you hook up to a sink? Like this one?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055RSPKK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

After I empty a carboy, I just put it over this with hot water and move it around, it blasts pretty much everything out, then I will give it a oxy clean soak.

I just do a sodium percarbonate (more expensive and stronger form of oxi clean) soak using hot water and leave it for about 20ish minutes. The bubbles and foaming action usually clean it out pretty well and then I scrub it with a carboy brush too. Works like a charm everytime.

I just soak it in hot water with oxiclean, swirling it around every now and then. It takes a while, but that stuff typically does the trick.

Great! Oxyclean is what I'll use. Any specific scrubber to use, say a carboy brush? Haha.

I don't use a brush. Rinse, oxyclean soak overnight and rinse again.

b-brite and bottle brush, then rinse with starsan, done in 10 min

Fill it with warm water and PBW, and soak it over night. Rinse out a few times with warm water the next day.

my carboy brush has been kept dry since I discovered the awesomeness of oxy clean. Assuming that you haven't had anything caked on the carboy for a really extended period of time, you should be good with a soak and rinse.

Perfect! Thanks!

Just to clarify; Oxiclean Free is what you want:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GI8UPI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Not to be confused with regular Oxiclean which has fragrances that you don't want in there. I soak my carboys in Oxiclean Free for 1 to 20 days. Works great.

Oxi-Free supposedly contains "ALCOHOL ETHOXYLATES (C12-15)" which is none too good for you, according to this site:
http://www.ewg.org/guides/substances/840

Would you recommend PBW?

Ethan19993 said:

Would you recommend PBW?

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I'm no scientist or lobbyist, but I do like to research stuff and mitigate risk accordingly.

The main ingredient in PBW scored even worse:

http://www.ewg.org/guides/substances/5615

I wonder if water soaking would be as effective as oxi-clean soak. I found this to be the case when removing bottle labels.

antitelephonica said:

b-brite and bottle brush, then rinse with starsan, done in 10 min

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Don't waste your Starsan! Once it is dry the Starsan is no longer sanitary.

Use the Starsan on brewday a couple of minutes before adding the wort.

kh54s10 said:

Don't waste your Starsan! Once it is dry the Starsan is no longer sanitary.

Use the Starsan on brewday a couple of minutes before adding the wort.

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Thanks for the tip!
Luckily, that's usually when I break down and clean them.

if you get it on your hands then spray them with some starsan and rinse off as acid neutralizes base...

You may find that oxy can/will leave some scaling at the edge where it can dry. I moved to pbw and have had no troubles, same easy cleaning and no scale.

if I ever get a little reside from the oxy, a bit of starsan or white vinegar removes it pretty quick.

I've never used Oxyclean, but I haven't felt a need to. PBW is more expensive, but it's a no fuss cleaner. From what I have heard, it is a lot easier to rinse than Oxyclean. All I know is that I certainly don't spend a lot of time cleaning/rinsing with PBW when soaking over night. If you go with PBW, buy the bulk container to get more bang for your buck. I also use about half of the recommended dosage that they recommend on the container when I am soaking over night and have never had a problem.