Carboy Cleaner

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I like the concept too. I also saw this in the BYO mag. I considered it but realized that you do need your own cordless drill to attach it to, which i do not have. And theres something about paying 30 bucks for a metal rod with some pads attached to the end that tells me somethings wrong. I feel like you could make your own with a towel and a metal rod that would be just as good.
 
After watching that vid I'm in love.

However, I'll be making my own for prob 5 bucks worth of stuff from Home Depot.

Thanks for the idea though.
 
I considered that device when I saw it in BYO also, but it seemed unnecessary to me. I would be nervous that my carboy would break with something like that. I haven't had my carboy for that long, but I prefer to just do an oxiclean soak.
 
Looks pretty cool but the video was hilarious. I liked the bit where he was unsuccessfully trying to clean it with a carboy brush. It should have been in black and white like in an infomercial.
 
I considered that device when I saw it in BYO also, but it seemed unnecessary to me. I would be nervous that my carboy would break with something like that. I haven't had my carboy for that long, but I prefer to just do an oxiclean soak.

Yeah, I must be doing something wrong as cleaning a carboy has never been much work at all for me. Oxyclean soak, quick brush and rinse.

How does it get any easier than that?
 
I like it. I'm too lazy to do the oxy soak....I forget about it for days and then I get those damn mineral deposits.

No way will I pay 30 bucks for it though, (sorry, I'm stealing the idea...broke brewer here...)...but I'll be picking up the crap for it at Lowes tomorrow I think. I figure a few bucks for a rod, then some fancy method of attaching the cloth, (strips of towel or something should work, perhaps with a bit of scotchbrite scrubby sewn onto the end?). Maybe a plastic or epoxy cap on the bottom so it doesn't have metal-to-carboy contact on the tip....


Side note: that video is ridiculous.
 
I like it. I'm too lazy to do the oxy soak....I forget about it for days and then I get those damn mineral deposits.

No way will I pay 30 bucks for it though, (sorry, I'm stealing the idea...broke brewer here...)...but I'll be picking up the crap for it at Lowes tomorrow I think. I figure a few bucks for a rod, then some fancy method of attaching the cloth, (strips of towel or something should work, perhaps with a bit of scotchbrite scrubby sewn onto the end?). Maybe a plastic or epoxy cap on the bottom so it doesn't have metal-to-carboy contact on the tip....


Side note: that video is ridiculous.

Yeah it looks like a ShamWoW on a stick.
 
Looks pretty cool but the video was hilarious. I liked the bit where he was unsuccessfully trying to clean it with a carboy brush. It should have been in black and white like in an infomercial.
I thought for sure that guy was going to told me that if I ordered in the next hour I would get a second carboy cleaner for free. Anyone else think this dude is trying to be the next Billie Mays?

Watching the carboy shake jiggle and bounce all over the place scared the crap out of me. I'll just stick with the soak!
 
are you tired of spending hours ???

Hours?

I fill it with Oxi ( or a little bleach) and hot water let it soak while I'm doing other things and it all just rinses away.
Easy Peasy

But with a little chunk of wood as the neck guard a length of 3/8" all-thread and a couple nuts and washers you can convert a rag to do that yourself
 
Looks pretty cool but the video was hilarious. I liked the bit where he was unsuccessfully trying to clean it with a carboy brush. It should have been in black and white like in an infomercial.

hilarious! my same thought exactly... to make it official infomercial, he would have had to grab his lower back and attempt to stand up to infer some sort of injury with "the old way"
 
hilarious! my same thought exactly... to make it official infomercial, he would have had to grab his lower back and attempt to stand up to infer some sort of injury with "the old way"

LOL!
"What do you have to lose?" he says. Well, $29.95 and a glass carboy, that's what I have to lose. No thanks.
 
I do like the idea of using it for a keg fermenter though! Cool vid!

(Looks like Godzilla is running around while he is trying to scrub the carboy with the brush :) )
 
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Well, has anyone built a DIY one with any success yet? I'm itching to start using my sanke fermenter, but genuinely don't trust the whole "just soak it in oxy/PBW and rinse it out" method to completely get the passed-on yeasties and sticky kreusen out of there. This looks like just the thing, but like others... $30 for a rag on a stick?
 
I made one a while back. it shook like hell and didn't work well at all...I used threaded rod, a hose clamp, and some chamois material....
 
Well, I put one together.

I used a 3/8" 28" length of aluminum rod, with a compression fitting at the end. I then added chamois strips, with a silicone washer in between, then capped.

As Shorty said, the thing shook like hell. After a couple of seconds, the threaded cap came loose, shot off the end, and cracked the carboy. Which was just as well, since I wasn't able to get the thing back out of the neck.

Talk about an epic fail!
 
Go low tech... put a small wash cloth (4-6" square or simliar) into the carboy with a bit of cleaning solution, and agitate/swirl. Takes a minute and the yeast crusties are gone. The rag come right out with the cleanser.

Now if we can just come up with a quick way to remove whole hops from a carboy after dryhopping! :p
 
Right. After having... issues with my homemade carboy cleaner (aka rag on a stick) I actually bit the bullet and bought one of these.

I have to say, I'm surprised.

I racked a 10 gallon batch out of two 6.5 gallon better bottles into secondary. The better bottles were crusty, cruddy, and as a comparison, I had a buddy clean one with a standard carboy brush, and after he got started, I whipped out the carboy cleaner.

I wish I'd taken photos - I really REALLY wish I'd taken photos. Mainly because of the dirty filthy looks I got. After dumping and a quick rinse, I poured about a gallon of water in there, a little scoop of PBW, and went to town. Followed the instructions, running it at medium RPM down in the bottom, and slowing it down in the neck. And it did exactly what it said on the tin - about 60 seconds, and it was completely crud free. Well, not completely - it didn't do as good a job around the neck as I thought, but another few seconds with the carboy brush took care of that. Dump and rinse again, and I had a completely clean better bottle in about 3 minutes.

At this point, the other better bottle was about a quarter of the way scrubbed by the afforementioned buddy, who threatened to stab me with the carboy brush if I didn't hand over the drill and carboy cleaner.

As I said before, $30 shipped seemed like a lot initially for a "rag on a stick", but when I think about what I spent to make mine - probably about $20 worth of parts - which was completely useless, it's actually not bad. And considering I cut my carboy cleaning time from about a half hour of scrubbing (for two) to less than 10 minutes, it's a nice tool to have. Probably a luxury, sure - but certainly a nice one. If you've got $30 burning a hole in your pocket, it's not a bad way to spend it.
 
Well, I put one together.

I used a 3/8" 28" length of aluminum rod, with a compression fitting at the end. I then added chamois strips, with a silicone washer in between, then capped.

As Shorty said, the thing shook like hell. After a couple of seconds, the threaded cap came loose, shot off the end, and cracked the carboy. Which was just as well, since I wasn't able to get the thing back out of the neck.

Talk about an epic fail!


This story is hillarious sir!!!
 
This story is hillarious sir!!!
In hindsight, it is. At the time, I was furious. $20 worth of materials and a $30 carboy down the crapper because I thought saving $10 was a good idea.

The key is the vibration (and I guess balance). The Carboy Cleaner has slightly rigid pads which helps (nothing flapping around out of control) and the rod flexes slightly but NOTHING like my homemade version.

Honestly, the thing's awesome. I friggin' HATE cleaning carboys. I just wish the pads were a wee bit longer so it could reach inside of a sanke. Now THAT would rock.
 
Here’s my DIY carboy cleaner 3/8” all thread some nuts and washers weed whacker line a bung plug with hole and your good to go it works great. I got the idea from a guy on line.

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I tie short strips (about 4") of shammy-like material to the ends of my degasser. Works very well. Still need the brush for the neck, but I can spend the extra 30 seconds with the brush, considering I've cleaned the rest of the carboy in about 60 seconds.
 

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