Fermenter Smells When Empty

[kevind]

After fermenting an apple cider a couple weeks ago my primary bucket smells distinctly of apples. It's not really a bad smell, but you can tell what I've been using the bucket for.

Is this just bad cleaning? Will this give some apply flavor to my next batch? The bucket's been around for 18-20 batches, so maybe it's time for a new one? Thanks!

 

[PVH]

I have always been able to get all traces of aroma out of the primary by cleaning well, then soaking overnight in bleach solution. Starsan is great, but in my experience it will not completely eliminate odors like good ol' bleach does.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

So, keep it full then. Problem solved.

 

[Catt22]

I would give it a long bleach soak followed by a rinse and an Oxyclean soak, both using very hot water. That should pretty much eliminate any residual odor. Let the bucket air dry completely. If that fails, you could try mixing up some baking soda and hot water and do another soak. I would not be concerned it it were only smelling of beer, but the cider smell would worry me some. You could also dedicate that bucket to cider only and move on. That might well be the best option.

 

[rico567]

I've bleached my fermenting bucket before, but a perceptible smell of hops still remains. Does it affect the beer? If so, how? Make the beer smell like hops? In the case of the cider, OK, just keep that bucket for cider.....apples to apples.

 

[JKoravos]

My fermenter always has a scent of hops. i soak it in PBW and star-san it between every batch. I don't worry about it. If you cleaned it well, I'm sure the apple-y scent won't come through in the beer.

 

[statseeker]

Wouldnt it make sense that the cider would be more acidic than say beer or anything else? Eventually it would pit the plastic if only on a microscopic level. That would be enough to make bacteria quite a niche.

 

[JKoravos]

It's not acidic enough to affect the plastic. PE is very inert with acids. Think about it...what kind of container does your Star San come in?

 

[Starderup]

Letting it air dry out in the sun after the bleach, oxy, or StarSan would help, too. One flavor/aroma you DON'T want in your beer is cidery.

 

[kevind]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll try the bleach solution first, and then keeping it always full of beer. Any ideas about how much bleach to use?

 

[FromZwolle]

this is why you should only use your fermenters to hold wort/beer. there is another thread floating around somewhere about plastic leeching flavors/aromas. a faint trace of beer invading your beer isn't a problem, but if other chemicals were stored in there...