Crusty Carboy: Help Needed

[FreeParty]

I have been gifted several old glass one gallon carboys that are spherical. The problem is they have some old crusty residue inside that I cannot remove. I have tried sanitzer and a bottle brush. My second attempt, I boiled water and filled the carboys to let it soak and then tried cleaning it with a brush but no luck. I do not know what was in the glass before. How can I kill this residue organically and get to work?

 

[Revvy]

Hot water and oxyclean and an overnight soak is usually sufficient to break crud up.

If you've gotten all the biomatter our to it, and you have scale, try CLR and water.

 

[Jayhem]

I was able to get some old nasty crusty residue out of some antique bottles using a 48 hour soak with Oxiclean and warm water followed by filling the bottles with a small amount of sand and a little water and swishing them around really well...the sand blasts the crud right out!

 

[nasty_rabbit]

In yor post you stated that you used "sanitizer", that is for sanitizing not cleaning. There IS a difference. You should be able to find "Oxi Clean Free" at a local grocery store or Walmart, that will work wonders. Make sure that it is the Oxy Clean FREE version, the lid is a pale green. There are no DYES or PERFUME in that type. Add a small scoop and fill it to overflowing with warm to hot water, let it soak overnight then rinse well. That should get rid of anything that is in the carboy.

 

[FreeParty]

Thanks for the quick replies. Luckily, there are no Walmarts where I live and I don´t know the availability of Oxiclean in stores nor do I really want to hunt it down. So I found this:

Homemade OxyClean
recipe from The Grocery Cart Challenge

1 cup water
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup baking soda

I am going to give it an overnight soak with that solution and see what turns up.

 

[Revvy]

Any store has some form of oxygen cleaner, and they all work fine, even dollar stores sell some generic form of it. But if you want to try mixing your own, sure.

 

[FreeParty]

I live abroad in the Canary Islands, making do with what I have in the house pinching pennies.

 

[aiptasia]

In that case, yep. Make your own oxyclean. The overnight soak should get through the layers of gunk and a bottle brush will take care of the rest.

 

[Revvy]

Here is a DIY replacement for the Calcium/Lime/Rust (CLR) De-scaler, if the diy oxyclean isn't enough.

 

[HeadyKilowatt]

I was able to get some old nasty crusty residue out of some antique bottles using a 48 hour soak with Oxiclean and warm water followed by filling the bottles with a small amount of sand and a little water and swishing them around really well...the sand blasts the crud right out!

We use the sand method in the lab to clean out archaeologically-recovered bottles. Works great- even on bottles that have been in the ground for 100+ years!

 

[nasty_rabbit]

Thanks for the quick replies. Luckily, there are no Walmarts where I live and I don´t know the availability of Oxiclean in stores nor do I really want to hunt it down. So I found this:

Homemade OxyClean
recipe from The Grocery Cart Challenge

1 cup water
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup baking soda

I am going to give it an overnight soak with that solution and see what turns up.

Use caution when mixing the hydrogen peroxide with the baking soda as that the hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer (will release oxygen) and it will react. Think back to the grade school science projects of making a kitchen table volcano. Not that it can't be done, just expect it to foam up a good bit.

 

[Zamial]

I have no idea how this would work but I know it works for cleaning out glass coffee pots... add in some water, ice cubes and a bunch of salt. Swirl the mixture around until it is clean.

 

[FreeParty]

Thank you for all the replies. This is a really great community! I guess I am going to have to go to the beach to get some sand, darn.

 

[Jayhem]

Thank you for all the replies. This is a really great community! I guess I am going to have to go to the beach to get some sand, darn.

Honestly anything that is heavy and comes in small particles/pieces would work. Just go to dollar store and buy a bag of small metal washers and/or nuts, swirl those around in there with some water.

 

[FreeParty]

For anyone interested, I soak the carboy for 24 hours or more with a solution of water, a couple tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide and equal amount of baking soda. Then I use the sand swirling method, which works best with a 3:1 sand to water ratio. The water just helps the sand move, the sand does all the work. And last, I scrub whatever dirty bits wont leave with some warm water and bottle brush. Hot water may crack the glass, it happened to me (doh!).

It is always best to clean the carboy immediately after it is emptied and the dirty bits are still moist.