cleaning glass carboy

I have a mind to put something LIKE sand ( but not sand ) with soap and water in the carboy-and roll it around in my yard until the inside is scrubbed. I am afraid sand would scar the glass. Has anyone tried something like this? If so, what did you use?

Pbw??

Bleach solution is also a pretty powerful cleanser. A good long soak in a 10:1 water:bleach solution should loosen up most grime.

Oxyclean. One or two scoops, fill with hot water, let it sit overnight, rinse. No scrubbing and clean as brand new.

Yup: Oxyclean=magic. Just be sure you rinse it out REALLY well. Oxyclean-flavored beer is not palatable, as it turns out.

umm... is it so extra-super dirty that a carboy brush can't take care of it?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E62PRG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Yup, carboy brush and PBW.
Or a good detergent such as One-Step or Straight-A ... all followed by sanitizing with Star-San. (yeah, I know, one-step is supposed to be a sanitizer ... I still use star-san afterwords. I'm just a belt-and-suspenders kinda guy.)

TyTanium said:

Yup: Oxyclean=magic. Just be sure you rinse it out REALLY well. Oxyclean-flavored beer is not palatable, as it turns out.

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Oxyclean is the best way to go, but as Ty say, be sure to rinse really well. Also, if you don't go much over a 24 hour soak, the soapy film comes off a lot easier with just a hot water rinse. If it's still filmy, stick a rag and a gallon of hot water in there and shake the bajesus out of it.


edit to say:
Haven't used my carboy brush in over a year.

Was given a 6 gal carboy with dead mice in it. Used hot water to get them out. Then sand and rolled it around. Then bleach over night. Then heavy dose of sulfite again over night...It worked out well...if in doubt just give the first batch you make in the carboy to your friends....

First i rinse, then put warm water and a good cup or so of kosher salt, shake it up, then use the brush with sanitizer. Works like aharm for me.

I would not roll my carboy around the yard. Maybe its just me, but sounds risky.

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If the interior has some kind of haze that a good soak and brush scrub won't take care of, you can use uncooked rice grains as an abrasive. They won't scratch the glass, and they're biodegradable so you can just dump them afterward.

rice and beans! that is perfect! thank you.

I have never heard of dead mice, wow that is a prize winner right there

Yea it was in some guys garage and they got in and could not get out....but got it clean using sand, bleach and sulfite and lots of hot water ....

huesmann said:

If the interior has some kind of haze that a good soak and brush scrub won't take care of, you can use uncooked rice grains as an abrasive. They won't scratch the glass, and they're biodegradable so you can just dump them afterward.

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I have a haze on one of mine. I have tried everything and it won't go away. I have used it anyway with no problems. It does bother me tho.

oxyclean is king, as mentioned, make sure you get the 'free' version as it doesn't have the perfumes and stuff in it.

TomSD said:

oxyclean is king, as mentioned, make sure you get the 'free' version as it doesn't have the perfumes and stuff in it.

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Just used this on min 10 min ago works perfect.

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mcantu said:

I have never heard of dead mice, wow that is a prize winner right there

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Dead mice in beer bottles reminds me of Bob & Doug McKenzie. I think they did a bit like that.

After cleaning with oxyclean, if there is a haze or scaling on the glass, you could try a soak with a vinegar solution.

Jacob_Marley said:

Dead mice in beer bottles reminds me of Bob & Doug McKenzie. I think they did a bit like that.

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Their movie strange brew is on Netflix. They tried getting free beer by claiming it came with a live mouse in the bottle

Rinse out gunk with warm water................Oxyclean and hot water...brush....rinse.....then apple cider vinegar water mix.

Vinegar and water soaks for 10 mins, to kill any Oxyclean left over...finally a cold water rinse then off to storage.

Jacob_Marley said:

Dead mice in beer bottles reminds me of Bob & Doug McKenzie. I think they did a bit like that.

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Take off, eh!

When I worked in a restaurant, we cleaned the coffee pots every night by putting in salt, lemon slices, and ice, and giving it a good few swishes, left everything in there till morning. Germs don't like salt or acid, and the salt and ice acted as glass-safe abrasives.

That said, other's advice is probably more appropriate for cleaning carboys: Oxi-clean or PBW should work without any abrasives, and if you're left with a haze, cut it with an acid, vinegar or star-san should suffice.