Smelly Primary Fermenter, cleaning agent?

[Roachmeister]

I washed my primary right after racking to carboy. I left it out the next day, and when I came home it had smelled the entire apartment up! Embarrassingly, the apartment's repair man had come by. I was relieved to see he didn't make a comment about the stench.

I filled the bucket with lysol disinfectant cleaner and some water and let it soak a while, then scrubbed again. It is much better, but still I can scent the taint of it.

I guess that's one good reason to use glass, but until I get in the buying mood again, anyone have any tricks for really purifying these plastic primaries?

Darn stainless primaries are expensive!

 

[AtlasBrew]

Nice long bleach soak with room temp water. Use 4 cups worth. Then long Hot water rinse. Repeat if needed. But please stay away from the Lysol. I'm assuming you used the Lysol 4in1 which is very pungent. Not a good thing when it comes to plastic as it may leave behind chemical residue and smell which will ruin your next batch. You may also consider ditching this Primary if you can't get the smell out. $20 is worth it to preserve all that hard work that goes into a batch of beer.

 

[brewagentjay]

oxiclean with hot water over night should be good to go if not time to replace

 

[Roachmeister]

Is it the general consensus that a large glass carboy (6.5 gallon +) makes a better primary fermenter? Smells come out easier?

 

[brewagentjay]

Can't say as I only have plastic better bottle carboys and buckets..........Fear breaking the glass

 

[nebben]

Carboys do not retain smells. I just put my nose in my fermenter #2 , and not a trace of anything that I can detect...and it's had some nasty looking stuff in it.

My fermenting bucket though, it holds onto smells.

 

[RedGlass]

At this point you should be more concerned with getting the flavors of the lysol out than the beer smell if you're going to be using that bucket again. Bleach or oxiclean free will both work...just rinse the crap out of that bucket afterward to get everything out.

At some point the bucket will have to be replaced...thats just the way it is. They tend to get funky over time.

 

[Ziggybrew]

Use the bucket to store your chiller and get another fermenter. Consider glass 6.5

I am a big fan of Oxyclean. I had a brand new bucket and after three batches of washings it still reaked increasingly. I soaked it in Oxyclean for a whole week and you can still smell it (not as bad) but the smell never really left.

I still use plastic buckets. I still love oxyclean. But I'm slowly converting to glass carboys. In the long run it is cheaper. Cleaning is easy (and less ambiguous) with no lingering odor.

And if you worry about breakage or weight; ask how many time a month do you actually have to carry, clean or handle them? Brew day and racking day, that's it. If you develope a system; glass has been rewarding in my personal experience.

 

[RedGlass]

And if you worry about breakage or weight; ask how many time a month do you actually have to carry, clean or handle them?

If you worry about breakage or weight; buy a better bottle.

 

[Ziggybrew]

My better bottles never hold any odors and I like that about them. Not busting on better bottles.
You just can't use a brush on them or let them get scratched inside, they eventually will wear out, they are more expensive, and do not come in 6.5 gallon size. Those tiny reasons deflect me towards glass (personally).

But fermenting beer is more important. Beer was around long before carboys and plastic buckets. Let's just brew any way we want or can.

 

[Roachmeister]

Use the bucket to store your chiller and get another fermenter. Consider glass 6.5

LOL!

I like that. Yeah, glass is probably for me until I can afford one of those overpriced stainless conicals or something. Maybe I can pick one up off ebay or something.

 

[jeffmeh]

The plastic Winpaks I use for primary tend to retain hop smells, but that does not bother me. I cannot imagine the plastic imparting any odor or taste that would be detectable over that batch's malt, hops, and yeast.

 

[Ziggybrew]

Hey... While we are on the subject. I have some nylon bags that I can't get the hop smell out of. How much impact will it have on flavor/aroma if I reuse those?

 

[IceFisherChris]

Am I the only one who uses nothing but hot water to clean a bucket/carboy? I never have problems with smells, and I especially don't like using unnecessary chemicals.

 

[skidaddytn]

If you really used lysol, I would recommend trashing it... lysol has a place and purpose, but it's not for use in your primary! As a little kid, I once decided it would be a good idea to use this after cleaning an aquarium to freshen it up... my pet hamsters died not even a week later!

as already stated oxyclean works well...