Cleaning a fermenter

[elktaker]

Okay, I put my first brew in the bottles day before yesterday and I am excited about how the last glass of non-carbonated, room temperature beer tasted. Now for the two week wait.
My question to the forum is:
How in the heck do I clean my 6.5 gallon glass carboy? I used Oxyclean for four hours with a good brushing to try to get it clean. Still have a quite visible ring on the inside of the carboy at the level of fermentation. Okay, so let's put a 3 percent solution of Chlorox in the carboy. Left it over night. Still a visible ring on the inside of the carboy. Done to my LHBS to buy a jar of PBW. Mixed according to directions, got busy and actually left it in the carboy for almost an hour before trying the brush on the inside of the carboy. Still have slightly visible ring on the inside of the carboy. Also noticed at the top "angle" of the carboy that there is visible staining on the glass.
I am not excited about the amount of work this is taking. Am I doing something wrong, is there an easier way or am I being overly anal about the cleanliness thing.
Any and all help will be appreciated.

 

[ncoutroulis]

Okay, I put my first brew in the bottles day before yesterday and I am excited about how the last glass of non-carbonated, room temperature beer tasted. Now for the two week wait.
My question to the forum is:
How in the heck do I clean my 6.5 gallon glass carboy? I used Oxyclean for four hours with a good brushing to try to get it clean. Still have a quite visible ring on the inside of the carboy at the level of fermentation. Okay, so let's put a 3 percent solution of Chlorox in the carboy. Left it over night. Still a visible ring on the inside of the carboy. Done to my LHBS to buy a jar of PBW. Mixed according to directions, got busy and actually left it in the carboy for almost an hour before trying the brush on the inside of the carboy. Still have slightly visible ring on the inside of the carboy. Also noticed at the top "angle" of the carboy that there is visible staining on the glass.
I am not excited about the amount of work this is taking. Am I doing something wrong, is there an easier way or am I being overly anal about the cleanliness thing.
Any and all help will be appreciated.

I have the same question...Just bottled my first batch, and cleaned the glass carboy with the brush and dish soap. Got it pretty clean, but wondering what i need to do next time i ferment in it, to make sure its "really clean". Will StarSans do the trick?

 

[Fedora]

One scoop of oxyclean free. Mix with hot water in carboy. Top up with hot water. Let it sit overnight or two days. Scrub with brush if needed. Rinse well. Sanitize immediately before next use. Slainte!

 

[adamdillabo]

Don't use dish-soap! It beaks down cells any residue will kill your yeast. I used oxyclean in a bucket today and an hour later everything just poured right out. However I use buckets much easier to get your hand in there. I would suggest hot water with oxyclean soak for hours take most out and shake the crap out of it.

 

[robfar]

I fill about halfway with OxyClean or PBW, put a solid stopper in it, shake it and flip it upside down in a milk crate. Come back the next day and give it another shake. If I need to brush, the softened ring comes off easily.

Don't leave them for too long before doing this, though.

 

[1975brewer]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...dg8xbJxkjom0e88eCLtxF2b399Nn-7c1RwaAnad8P8HAQ

Try 1 of these I got mine at my LHBS. The only thing I don't like is the paddles wear out very fast.

 

[flars]

I use PBW, but Oxyclean is a good substitute.
Add 3 tablespoons of PBW or Oxy the to carboy. Add warm water to about the one-third level. Install undrilled bung and invert in sink, resting at an angle so it doesn't tip over. Solution should cover the krausen ring.
Let it soak for a day, then brush out.
It helps to rinse the carboy with a jet washer after harvesting the yeast. The only place with remaining residue, will be the krausen ring area.

I avoid filling my glass carboys with hot water to reduce the chance of thermal stress.

 

[kombat]

I never scrub. As soon as the carboy is emptied, I rinse it with warm water, then fill it to the brim with 1 scoop of Oxyclean Free and hot water. Let it sit for a day or two, then rinse thoroughly, sanitize, cap with foil, and store until the next brew day.

 

[electrolight]

Tip #1, don't let it dry out. Clean as soon as you rack.

Tip #2, if shaking it around is too heavy, then use a brush and scrub it. In my case, if I follow tip #1 I don't tend to have a problem. It all getsome scrubbed off easily.

Except with notingham yeast... that krausen is a pain to clean.

 

[elktaker]

THANK YOU everyone that replied to my OP.
When I moved my brew from the fermenter to the bottling carboy I did not rinse the fermenter. Won't do this again.
Will the ring be a factor when I brew the next batch?
I am going to continue to work at getting the ring out because I am worried about ruining my next brew. Any thoughts about how this is going to effect my next brew?

 

[kh54s10]

I use 1/3 scoop of oxyclean and let it soak overnight. I use a Better Bottle, rinse, insert a washcloth and about 1 -2 qts hot tap water, swirl, rinse well and done.

Be very careful with that glass carboy, the cleaners will make it very slippery.

Also, try one beer at 2 weeks if you must but be prepared to wait 3 weeks or longer for them to carbonate properly. I have had some that carbonated well at 2 weeks, ALL of them tasted better at 3 weeks or longer. The one I am drinking now I bottled in late December 2011. A winter warmer.

 

[flars]

THANK YOU everyone that replied to my OP.
When I moved my brew from the fermenter to the bottling carboy I did not rinse the fermenter. Won't do this again.
Will the ring be a factor when I brew the next batch?
I am going to continue to work at getting the ring out because I am worried about ruining my next brew. Any thoughts about how this is going to effect my next brew?

If a speck from the previous brew is in the fermentor, the next brew may turn out to be a sour.

 

[aprichman]

I always rinse my carboy with warm/hot water as soon as I bottle. It's pretty awful to be honest. I will use my sink's spray hose to get in there but there is still a huge ring. After that I will try to brush it out with a large carboy brush. This usually gets 99% of the gunk off but it's pretty awful - especially pulling the brush out. The bristles spray hop/yeast gunk all over my face For the last 1% of gunk I fill the carboy up with a bleach & water solution and let it sit overnight. By morning the last 1% is gone 100% of the time. I think the trick is to clean it up as soon as you're done bottling before anything gets a chance to dry. If I let any of the gunk dry on there pretty sure I would have to use more aggressive methods to clean.

It's one of my least favorite parts of bottling so much so that I bought a plastic Big Mouth Bubbler so I could just clean everything out with a soft rag. As far as cleaning goes the Big Mouth Bubbler is much better than a glass carboy HOWEVER it doesn't create an airtight seal.

In my opinion there are pros and cons of using carboys vs buckets/big mouth bubblers. With a carboy you get a 100% airtight seal but they are a pain in the ass to clean. With buckets/bubblers you get easy cleanup but will never get an airtight seal.

Pick you poison :cross:

 

[govner1]

I use BB's and make sure I rinse the thoroughly w/ hot water as soon as I'm finished transferring to secondary or from 2° to a keg.
I them clean w/ a solution of hot water & B-Brite @ 1 Tbsp per gallon. A one hour soak usually leaves me w/ a spotless carboy. On rare occasions I've had to gently apply a bottle brush for stubborn krausen lines.

 

[C-Rider]

Rinse EVERYTHING as soon as you finish using it. When you rack to bottling bucket RINSE the racking cane before you worry about filling the bottles. If you think cleaning a carboy is hard try to figure how to get "gunk" out of the racking tubing. LOL

Buy the way that's why I use plastic buckets. NO PROBLEM CLEANING THEM.