Deep cleaning winpak no-chill containers

[btbnl]

Despite giving my 4 winpak 6-gallon no-chill containers a good soak in hot water & pbw every time I use them, after 3 years and 40 batches the insides are pretty tannin-stained. Has anyone had any success deep-cleaning these? Any issues with bleach and HDPE?

I also considered just replacing them all, but the shipping costs have more than doubled and are now almost the same as the price of the container itself ($18 container + $15 shipping).

Thanks for any tips.

 

[MaryB]

No issues I am aware of beyond needing to be very thoroughly rinsed to remove all traces of chlorine...

 

[eeedamian]

I don't even do as much cleaning as you do. I know there isn't any dirty wild organism waiting to spread infection because it went through the no chill process and will go through it again on every use. My winpaks get a few rinses with hot water after I take the wort from the container to my fermenter. Do you ferment inside your winpaks?

I feel that my containers are seasoned in a way that I know they've been used enough to not have any plastic flavors come off. By this I mean I was more concerned on rinsing them well when they were brand new.

Don't worry about cleaning them. Mine are dirty looking but I know it is just visual. You couldn't clean them in a sanitation way any better than the no chill process provides you so why take the time? Do you worry about flavor from old batches carrying on to new ones?

 

[btbnl]

I don't even do as much cleaning as you do. I know there isn't any dirty wild organism waiting to spread infection because it went through the no chill process and will go through it again on every use. My winpaks get a few rinses with hot water after I take the wort from the container to my fermenter. Do you ferment inside your winpaks?

I feel that my containers are seasoned in a way that I know they've been used enough to not have any plastic flavors come off. By this I mean I was more concerned on rinsing them well when they were brand new.

Don't worry about cleaning them. Mine are dirty looking but I know it is just visual. You couldn't clean them in a sanitation way any better than the no chill process provides you so why take the time? Do you worry about flavor from old batches carrying on to new ones?

I used to ferment inside them, but I found they're a bit snug for that if you want to fill a 5 gallon keg afterwards so now I transfer to a separate fermentor.

I like the idea of "seasoning" - my concern is just whether the staining is imparting any flavor to my wort.

 

[Jwin]

Rinse well
Then fill with boiling water.
Rest until at pitch temp
Poor water out and taste it.
Should be a solid indicator as to wether or not any flavor transfer is occurring.