Describe your glass carboy sanitation method.

I've been using plastic buckets to ferment because I'm terrified of needing to move this filled heavy carboy around when I'm cleaning/sanitizing.

My bucket method was to fill all the way to the top with water/cleaner, scrub it out, dump it, rinse, then fill with water/sanitizer and sanitize. It’s fairly easy to lift and dump with a bucket handle. However with a carboy, moving around a full carboy is a lot harder. I don't think a brew hauler will help me much in this case.

How do you sanitize? Do I need to fill the carboys all the way to the top with sanitizer, or can I just swirl a gallon or so around in there for a couple minutes and be OK?

Help!

I clean them with a carboy brush and oxy-clean. I usually leave them full to the top with a scoop or two of oxy clean until I'm ready to use them.

You don't need much sanatizer if you use a good no-rinse. I use star-san. I just swirl it around a bit and leave it upside down to drain.

I also have a milk carton for each of my carboys to cary them. On top of that, I have a carboy handle on the 6.5 gallon ones.

The sanitzer only needs to touch the surfaces--you don't need to completely fill the carboy.

A gallon or two swirled around over the sink with the carboy held mostly upside down (but at a bit of an angle) works fine.

Or do it outside or in a large sink, and let the carboy fill all the way up and overflow a bit. (This uses sanitizer a bit more extravagently, of course). Insted of tipping a full (heavy) carboy, you can siphon out of it and thereby sanitize your siphoning gear at the same time.

After you guys fill the carboys all the way up with water/cleaner how do you guys dump it out? For instance, I usually clean mine in my utility sink the the basement. I just don't feel confident in lifting a slippery carboy full of 5-6 gallons of water and trying to dump it 3 feet off the floor...

TK421 said:

After you guys fill the carboys all the way up with water/cleaner how do you guys dump it out? For instance, I usually clean mine in my utility sink the the basement. I just don't feel confident in lifting a slippery carboy full of 5-6 gallons of water and trying to dump it 3 feet off the floor...

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When I clean, I probably have a couple of gallons in there. No need to fill it up. I do it for storage, but you don't have to.

To avoild slippery glass, get some milk cartons - the good ones. They work really well. I never take my 6.5 gallon carboys out of them. They fit nice and snug too.

You can fill carboy about 1/4 full lay it on the side on a towel then just turn and slosh a bit works great.

After I clean a carboy, I immediately put some star san sanitizer into it and put the carboy cap on, swirl it all around and leave it. When it's time to use the carboy, it's ready to go. I just give it another swirl and drain... into another carboy to keep re-using the star san.

I soak mine in Oxyclean and then a good rinse with my homemade carboy rinser:


Then Starsan before each use.

When handling full, hreavy, slippery carboys, wear latex gloves. Even when the carboys are wet, they give a good grip.

-a.

Brewiz said:

I soak mine in Oxyclean and then a good rinse with my homemade carboy rinser:

Then Starsan before each use.

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Thats a neat idea. Got any more pictures of the spraying area? I may have to make me one of these. It would be handy for kegs also.

Brewiz said:

I soak mine in Oxyclean and then a good rinse with my homemade carboy rinser:

Then Starsan before each use.

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I second that I would like a closer look at that as well.

1. fill up with iodephor/water solution
2. let set for a min, then set on its side and let it drain by it self.
3.siphon out the solution to a sanitizing bucket for anything else i need to sanitize (this also sanitizes the siphon)
4.set on carboy dryer for 5-10 min.

Brewiz - Your nuclear strength carboy washer makes me and my carboy brush feel very inadequate.

If I had one I'd paint "U S S R" along it's side in big, red block letters.

I'd say to skip fermenting in the carboy. I've been fermenting in plastic pails forever. I recently tried the carboy again and now I have a mess.

How am I ever going to clean this ?
http://picasaweb.google.com/beermeister1/VariousThingsBrewing/photo#5027181455283514194

Its a red wine. I had a hard time cleaning the goo (dried must) on the outside of the carboy and inside the jar, let alone cleaning the inside of the carboy. It should be done fermenting next week.

I fill my carboy up with 5 gal. of water and star san then siphon out, which sanitizes my autosiphon, into my bucket which I use to sanitize my utensils/bottles. Then I transfer star san into my 5 gal for my secondary. I use this method so I can sanitize my siphon. I also reuse the star san for a couple brews before I replace it. It works for me.
I have a bottle washer that I clean the carboy out with after I soak with oxi clean. It took me a while to get my system down, but I don't ever have to scrub my carboy. Just soak, rinse, and fill with sanitizer until it's time to use.


Dan

sAvAgE said:

I second that I would like a closer look at that as well.

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All I did was drill some small hole in a pvc cap. One in the center then some around the top. Once I put a carboy on I trun on the water and spin it to make sure I get all of it rinsed. I will take some more pics tonight after work..

brewman ! said:

Its a red wine. I had a hard time cleaning the goo (dried must) on the outside of the carboy and inside the jar, let alone cleaning the inside of the carboy. It should be done fermenting next week.

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Oxyclean is the sh*t!!! fill it full of the hottest tap water you have, and a scoop of oxyclean and leave it over night. I am a chef and it keeps my white jackets white with no bleach (that is 3 day old blood, wine, etc) and keeps my carboys clean with no scubbing.

As far as empting a full carboy the easiest way is to put a racking cane in it so it has a snorkel. It gives a way for air to rush in and the liquid to rush out. (think giant shotgunning a beer)

Since trying Oxyclean I have yet to scrub a carboy, even one I have left uncleaned for a week.

HTH

John

I just scrub mine out with hot water & a little oxyclean or dishsoap right after I'm finished using it. I try to get as much of the gunk out as I can with the carboy brush, which is usually all of it. Then, I just store it filled to the brim with water and a little bleach (ahh, I can feel myself starting to burn in hell for this). Bleach is pretty good at breaking down organic material, so if there is any gunk left it'll eat it up. When I'm ready to use it again, I drain the carboy, rinse a few times with hot water and my carboy/bottle sprayer, then slosh around ~ 1 gallon of starsan.

This works good for me. Does anybody see any potential issues with storing the carboy with water/bleach in it for 1 month or more?