residual fermenter smell

I have now brewed 2 batches of beer with my food grade plastic fermenter and it now has a strong beer smell to it. While it smells great, I worry that it is dirty and could contaminate my beer. I wiped it down and rinsed it out real well right after bottling, but didn't wash it with oxyclean until a few weeks later. I used a half of a scoop of oxyclean in 1 gallon water, I soaked the bottom 5" or so for about an hour, then rotated that same solution by laying the bucket on its side and rotating around so all the sides had about 10-15 minutes to soak. Then I scrubbed it all with a paper towel and the soln.

It still has a fairly strong beer smell. Is this normal or do I need to put some more effort into cleaning it before I run another batch through it?

Thanks!

My buckets have always smelled STRONGLY of beer. No contamination since I started over a year ago.

My bucket had the same smell in it after the first batch, I have ran several batches through it since with no problems.

It's almost impossible to remove all stains and odors from buckets. At some point they will go from having a beer/hops smell to a more unpleasant odor and need to be replaced. It depends on how much you ferment in them. You can usually get at least 10 batches per bucket before this happens.

It's normal and mine has the same. I haven't had any issues with flavors mixing with the few batches I've brewed.

I'm curious why you didn't just put a scoop of oxiclean in the bucket and fill it to the top. Do this with some warm water and let it sit overnight. Oxiclean will clean up any residual organic material left behind.

I'm curious why you didn't just put a scoop of oxiclean in the bucket and fill it to the top. Do this with some warm water and let it sit overnight. Oxiclean will clean up any residual organic material left behind.

Click to expand...

Good question! I'm not really sure of the portions I should be using with my Oxyclean. I worried that less than 1/2 scoop to 1 gallon water would be diluted too much. I'd rather not use a whole tub of oxyclean per batch of beer. If 1 scoop to 5 gallons is an acceptable dilution, then I'll certainly go that route next time.

I have noticed the leftover smell in my fermenter as well. It was not as bad after my first batch in it but the second really stuck to it. After reading a bit here I filled it with oxyclean and hot water to the top. I let it soak sealed up for 2 days then washed it down with a nice soft wash cloth and the smell was completely gone. I would imagaine you could do the same with a baking soda and water mix.

I had discoloration and beer smell in my bucket for a few batches until I started using OxiClean. I used 1 scoop, filled the bucket to the brim with hot water, and let it sit overnight. The next day, the discoloration and smell was practically gone.