To clean.... or not to clean....

Been brewing for about 6 months now and have a question about cleaning my bucket fermentors. They haven't gotten nasty crud on them with the brews I have been making. I've been able to wipe out everything with a sponge and everything looks clean. Should I still be cleaning them with a cleaner such as PBW or am I okay with the fact that they look clean?

You definitely want to sanitize them after scrubbing them down. Even though they look clean, there will be bacteria there and it'll only be a matter of time before it ruins a batch of beer.

I don't use harsh abrasives on any of my fermenter buckets for only one reason, a scratch on the plastic can be an infection zone for bacteria to hide in. Nothing harsher than a paper towel goes into any of my fermentation buckets and I just use idophor and elbow grease to clean them out. A strong kitchen sink sprayer and hot water is usually sufficient to clean out any trub or adjuncts (garbage disposal eats the rest). Then, everything gets a thorough breakdown and inspection, especially the gasket rings around the airlock and the lid. I remove them, then wipe everything down with idophor water and let it soak for 2-3 minutes, then just pour it out. I don't bother rinsing the idophor off. I just let it air dry.

A 24-hour soak with warm Oxyclean Free clears up most, if not all, of that gunk for me.

Starsan and a paper towel rub down before and after contact.

JonM said:

A 24-hour soak with warm Oxyclean Free clears up most, if not all, of that gunk for me.

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+1. Super cheap at Target too. Up and Up brand.

I'm shy about using oxy now. It tends to leave a bunch of residue on my bottles that's hard to get off. Hot water and a sponge does well for me. Even a simple hot rinse before anything sets on my bottles , tubing, siphon, etc and air dry has worked for me. Star San gets used before I use my equipment... Not in the cleaning process

As soon as you get the beer out of the fermenter dump the trub, spray it out really well and use a soft sponge or cloth for a good rub down then re spray it out to rinse. Before the next brew fill it with OXY and let it soak (a couple of hours) dump the oxy, rinse well and spray it with StarSan.

bosco

I clean my buckets out right after I bottle. I used Oxy, but been using Palmolive Clear and Free with good results. When I get ready to use it for the next batch, I just sanitize it with Star-san.

I clean mine in the dishwasher after a good spraying.

JonM said:

A 24-hour soak with warm Oxyclean Free clears up most, if not all, of that gunk for me.

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Best Advice ever!!!!!

Bamsdealer said:

I'm shy about using oxy now. It tends to leave a bunch of residue on my bottles that's hard to get off. Hot water and a sponge does well for me. Even a simple hot rinse before anything sets on my bottles , tubing, siphon, etc and air dry has worked for me. Star San gets used before I use my equipment... Not in the cleaning process

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You do have to rinse well after using oxyclean

I've never had an issue with using regular household bleach to clean (small amounts), then sanitizing with some One-Step. Cheap and simple.

I generally try to keep my brewing steps to a minimum and like to put stuff away as soon as possible. So if hot water and a paper towel or sponge can get all the crud out I just go with that. Rinse the bucket out a couple times, let stand upside down to dry and then put away. I don’t think there’s a need to use a cleanser if everything is clean to the eye.

If the crud is especially bad (or if the bucket is stained from wine or something) it gets an overnight soak in a strong oxyclean solution. Then it get a rinse with hot than cold water and dryed before being put away.

I always, always, always sanitize with Starsan right before use.

masskrug said:

Starsan and a paper towel rub down before and after contact.

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If you're rubbing with a towel to dry the star san, just don't bother with it. It's a no-rinse wet sanitizer, if you dry it (or let it dry naturally) it's no longer effective.

mattmeiske12 said:

I've never had an issue with using regular household bleach to clean (small amounts), then sanitizing with some One-Step. Cheap and simple.

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is one step a sanitizer?

From all I've been able to determine, One-Step is pretty much the same thing as Oxy-Clean, but a bit more expensive. I find it's a bit less likely to leave a residue.

aiptasia said:

I don't use harsh abrasives on any of my fermenter buckets for only one reason, a scratch on the plastic can be an infection zone for bacteria to hide in. Nothing harsher than a paper towel goes into any of my fermentation buckets and I just use idophor and elbow grease to clean them out.

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this is often repeated but i have never seen any proof that this is true or that it is worth worrying about any more than it's worth worrying about bad bugs floating around the air on dust particles. i would bet that the vast majority of plastic fermentors in use by people on these boards are scratched yet infections are pretty rare. when a true infection turns up it is just as often in a glass carboy as a plastic fermentor and the brewer rarely if ever knows where the infection came from anyway.

eastoak said:

is one step a sanitizer?

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Yes, it's a no-rinse sanitizer. I've had the residue problem with oxi-clean, so this is a nice alternative. Yea, a little bit pricier, but I think its worth it. Plus there is an abundance of it at my homebrew shop. For some reason, every time I want/need to go buy SS, they are out.