Cleaning some nasty carboys?

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damrass

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Hey everyone. :mug:

So I have two carboys that weren't cleaned after they were last used, and there's some nastiness growing in one of em. Before they can be used I need to make sure I sanitize the hell out of em.

My plan is to soak em in PBW for a day or two to get the crud off, then soak em in bleach a day or two, and then soak em in Starsan for a day or two just for good measure.

Comments, suggestions? Anyone have experience cleaning carboys that have bacteria and fungi growing in them?
 
sounds like overkill, but better safe than sorry. I assume your going to give everything a thorough rinse / scrub before using the chemicals?
 
Carboy brush to remove the crud. and less than 1/4 cup of bleach and 5 gallons of water should work fine if you let it sit for a day.
 
I just blasted mine out with the garden hose, drained, and blasted some more. Most everything came out and then filled with bleach water and let soak.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. Looks like I'll be brewing for the first time in 6 months July 4th weekend. Can't wait! :D
 
Something else I occasionally do to get crud out is to dump a small amount of dry rice in the carboy with the cleaning solution (in my case, usually just hot water and Ivory dish soap). Shake the hell out of the carboy and swish that rice around well. It works like an abrasive to get a lot of the nastiness out.
 
Something else I occasionally do to get crud out is to dump a small amount of dry rice in the carboy with the cleaning solution (in my case, usually just hot water and Ivory dish soap). Shake the hell out of the carboy and swish that rice around well. It works like an abrasive to get a lot of the nastiness out.

Kinda the same theory as cleaning out a coffee decanter.... fill it with crushed ice & a small amount of water and swish it around to scrub the brown film off.

I hear sand works good too.
 
What I do is add some PBW of line cleaner fill to about half with water then flip upside down and put it in my sink.

That usually gets the ring that's crusted on the top off.

I usually try to rinse it good before but sometimes i get lazy.

do the same thing but have it sitting normal if you got stuff on the bottom. It all falls of I dont even need a brush the way I do it.
 
Something else I occasionally do to get crud out is to dump a small amount of dry rice in the carboy with the cleaning solution (in my case, usually just hot water and Ivory dish soap). Shake the hell out of the carboy and swish that rice around well. It works like an abrasive to get a lot of the nastiness out.

I would not use dish soap on ANY brewing equipment. PBW, Oxyclean, and bleach are about all that I would use. Soap can leave residue that gives unwanted flavors, kills head retention, and is not an effective brewery cleaning product. Rice, baking soda, and water would be a much more effective abrasive, but as had been said bleach and COLD water will eat everything (hot water makes bleach degrade rapidly and lose its scum eating capabilities).
 
A friend of mine was going to toss a 6.5 gallon glass carboy because it had 4 dead/dried mice in the bottom. I used PBW and hot water to remove them. Then more PBW and a thorough scrubbing with a brush. This cleaned it completely. Several more cleanings and sanitinzer rinses and it is as good as new. Mouse tail IPA anyone?
 
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