Cleaning questions - How To

Hi all,

I have been reading these forums for a while but just created an account and had a few questions for you all. Well, lots of questions but 2 that are relevant to this thread.

How do you clean the clear plastic tubing after you rack with it? I clean it with soap and water then sanitize with idophor but getting it dry seems to take days and then it seems worse than when I started. I'm afraid I'm going to grow mold in the tube.

The other piece that I am trying to get clean is a glass carboy. A friend gave it to me but it was left unclean for a couple months in storage. I have cleaned with with plenty of soap and its 99% clean but I can't get the last few pieces of gunk stuck to the inside walls. I have a bottle brush but I cant seem to scrub it hard enough to get it clean. Is there a special device or is it just better to get a new one. In my limited experience the plastic carboys seem easier to clean so I may just get one of those.

Thanks!

These are good questions. There are two stages you need to follow: cleaning and sanitizing.

You really need to get some "soaps" specifically for cleaning brewing equipment like "easy clean" by ID Carlson or PBW by Five Star Chemical. You can find these or varieties of these at all homebrew stores or online.

You may also need to get various brushes to use in the cleaning process. In either case, you need to follow the directions on these cleaners. For scum that has sat for a long time, you may need to soak overnight or for a few days.

For the sanitizing, just use the star san and hang the tubes to dry. In addition, it helps to resanitize everything you are going to use immediately before using it. Equipment can go directly from the sanitizing bucket to whatever use it is for - just drip dry it for a few seconds.

I like a bottle jet for cleaning my wet carboy gunk, in addition to the long brush with a 90 degree angle at the end from the LHBS for the dried stuff. It may take a minute with really hot water to hit the spot and knock it loose. I've heard good things about the powdered oxygen cleaners (oxi-clean) but have yet to use the bucket of it I purchased at the dollar store on Friday. The good news is that once the second hand equipment and bottles are cleaned and welcomed to the fold you won't have to worry about in again(until you expand your process). Hope this helps.

BTW, if you can't get that carboy cleaned I'd be happy to take it off your hands

If you like hard work, you can get carboy brushes from the LHBS. (They're like overgrown bottle brushes.)
OxiClean or PBW in hot water for an overnight soak also works wonders, but I believe that OxiClean and possibly PBW can attack the glass if left too long (longer than 24 hours).
The other possibility is household bleach. 3 - 4 tbsp in warm water works wonders in 24 hours or so.
Whatever you use, rinse the carboy really thoroughly after cleaning.
I just rinse my tubing wait hot water, and hang it up to dry, and sanitize with iodophor immediately before use. Dried iodophor looks quite disgusting, but rinses off quite easily.

-a.

It's been 2 batches since I posted this and I took all the advice on here.
Using Oxi Clean and letting it soak overnight then rinsing the carboy out.(Did this 3 times) It's now clean and holding beer again.

The tubing though, I went my own route and thought I would post for any others who might care to know. I clean with soap and water still, then run some Idophor solution in them and wash it out with water. Then I take the tubes and go outside and whirl them over my head for about 30 seconds then switch ends that I am holding and do the same. They are dry within 2 minutes. If you have an air compressor you could do this without the effort of swinging a 6' tube around your backyard scaring the hell out of your dog (maybe thats just my dog)

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

I have a 9 foot section of hose attached to my faucet. The tubing fits right in there and I just run hot water through them. I also just hang them up for the water to drip out. I've never used soap on any of my tubing. Just a hot water rinse and sanitizing solution.

The trick is to do it right away since you're only dissolving sugar water anyway.

PBW is absolutely magic for cleaning carboys. Let it sit full of PBW solution for a day and what doesn't come off all by itself can be easily brushed away with a carboy brush.

On a side note, I bought and use a Turbo Scrubber

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=5672

This makes quick work of scrubbing out carboys after a PBW soak. I really like this piece of equipment (no affiliation). You will need a high RPM drill to make the best use of this.

Prosit!

I love PBW and Starsan. Sometimes I get lazy and let me vessels sit with gunk in them for a "FEW" days. a soak of PBW takes care of everything!

I'm with HB_99. I just use hot water right after I'm done with them (This does not include blow-off hoses...) and then I just swirl them around. I sanitize before use.