Any ideas how to remove beer stone from a plastic fermenter.

[Calder]

I have a plastic Big Mouth Bubbler, and it has got a lot of build-up of beer stone in it. Anyone else had this problem, and any suggestions on how to remove it? There is a little on the bottom, which may just be hard water stains, but most of it is at or above the liquid level. All the top of the fermenter has a light covering, with a very dense covering for about an inch on the side above the liquid level.

I've tried rubbing CLR on it with no obvious impact. Contact time was only 2 minutes in line with packaging, being worried it could damage the fermenter.

I've tried 'Bar Keepers Friend', again to no effect. Contact time again limited to 2 minutes.

I've tried 'The Works', a lime, rust and calcium remover to no effect. Contact time limited to 1 minute.

It is currently on it's side with about a pint of StarSan in it. Wondering if that will do anything.

 

[cshamilton]

Vinegar takes it out of my boil kettle

 

[Kwitty]

Lemon juice works too.

 

[passedpawn]

Vinegar didn't work for me. Nor did starsan. Zep grout cleaner did the trick. I added a drop of dish soap and shook to coat the inside.

 

[Calder]

Vinegar takes it out of my boil kettle

Lemon juice works too.

These will work for hard water stains, but I'm not sure about beer stone. I'm also really reluctant to have vinegar anywhere near anything I use for beer. Probably no big deal with thorough cleaning, but I just don't want to do it.

Vinegar didn't work for me. Nor did starsan. Zep grout cleaner did the trick. I added a drop of dish soap and shook to coat the inside.

Never seen the stuff. Looks like Walmart has it. Why the dish soap?

Do you use full strength as it comes out of the bottle or is it diluted. How long did you leave it?

 

[Revvy]

I just noticed that our freinds at 5-Star Chemicals, the makers of Starsan have a beerstone remover.... looks like it's another acid...

BS Remover (love the title)

 

[passedpawn]

Never seen the stuff. Looks like Walmart has it. Why the dish soap?

Do you use full strength as it comes out of the bottle or is it diluted. How long did you leave it?

I just had a similar issue in my big mouth fermentors. I was sure strong starsan or vinegar would work, but literally didn't do anything. The grout cleaner dissolved the scale completely, though I did wipe it away with a sponge -
which you can't t do with the better bottles. Do you have one of those spinning wand things to clean them?

I did not dilute. The stuff has the consistence of water, and I wanted it to stick to the walls of the carboy for a few minutes, so I used one drop of dish soap (no more) in the carboy as a surfactant.

Maybe the minerals you have might not be affected, but just give it a shot.

 

[Calder]

I tried the Zep (as suggested by Passedpawn), and didn't really do much. I think it worked a little better than anything else I tried, but that may also have just been my imagination.

Literally scraping with a metal edge seemed to be the only way to remove the stuff, but I can't get into the indents in the plastic or the corners without seriously scratching the plastic.

I got some BeerStone remover from label-Peelers (as suggested by Revvy). I think the Zep worked better. I left the BS remover in it for a week and it didn't seem to do anything.

I have other HDPE fermenters that are 30+ years old, and do not have a problem ..... Why do I have this issue with the BMB?

No worries. I'm retiring the BMB anyway. I've had blistering on the internal surface for over a year now. All the blisters have been clear up to now (indicating no break in the internal surface), but last week I noticed one of the blisters had a cloudy color/opaque appearance. I used the BMB anyway as a secondary, but that will be the last time as I'm concerned it may be compromised and could potentially harbor contamination. Now just looking for a replacement - it will NOT be another BMB.