Film ring in carboy

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Travis K. Jansen

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Hey folks! I have brewed two batches in my life, both about 10 years ago. One of them my friends aptly named "Turd's Bitter Ale," and another was more successful. I've since reprocured some equipment to start this hobby up again, armed with a lot more knowledge and know-how, and the prevalence of YouTube!

My first question for you folks is this: My carboy has a ring of what is hardened crauesen/wort where the 5-gallon line is, obviously from the past owner's brews. I will sanitize, and I have scrubbed it with a brush, but there are bits that remain. Picture below!

How important is it to get all that hardened stuff off? Will sanitizing with one-step be enough? I'm super conscious in regards to cleanliness so I don't brew another batch of "Turd's Bitter Ale." Thanks! I'm hoping to become a regular around these parts as I get back into the hobby.

IMG_20171210_165844_1.jpg
 
I wouldn't feel comfortable with that in my carboy, especially if I'd never brewed anything of my own in it. I can offer the following:

A few months back, my grandfather gave me a 60-year-old carboy he used to use to make wine. It had a similar ring of what I assumed were mineral deposits. I let it soak in a strong OxyClean mix for a week, and that pulled off some of the gunk, but not all. Even a carboy brush wouldn't get rid of it.

I learned that using a different type of cleaner might help, and it did. A lot of people recommended PBW, but I didn't have the money to buy any, so I used StarSan. Apparently an acid-based solution like StarSan (or even just citric acid) attacks stains differently. I let the carboy soak in that for a few days, and then used the "shake scrub" method with a handful of rice. Basically after it's soaked for a while, you dump out all but ~1 gallon of the solution and then throw in a handful of rice. You then shake the carboy like crazy, and the rice is abrasive enough that it will scrub the gunk like a scouring pad.

Obviously you need to be careful shaking a carboy, but this method worked for me. My carboy is now clean as a whistle, and it's worked fine after several batches.

Good luck.
 
I kind of had a feeling this was gonna be the response. I do have some star-san and some one-step, so I can try that. Just fill it past the line with enough of a solution that it reaches the gunk?

I wonder if I could get a scouring pad onto my brush handle and see if that helps remove it as well...
 
I kind of had a feeling this was gonna be the response. I do have some star-san and some one-step, so I can try that. Just fill it past the line with enough of a solution that it reaches the gunk?

I wonder if I could get a scouring pad onto my brush handle and see if that helps remove it as well...

Try unscented oxyclean first- it's cheap and you can put a couple of scoops in the carboy and fill with hot (not TOO hot- you don't want to crack the carboy- water). Let it soak a long while, and then scrub if you need to. It should come off.

One-step is the same thing as oxyclean, but oxyclean is cheaper. If you have plenty of one-step, and don't care about the cost, you could keep soaking in that.
 
I added this to my brewery this past year. It has really helped to loosen things off the inside of my fermenter and boil kettle. I have been thinking about taking my tube bender that I used to make my wort chiller and putting a little more of an angle on it to make it easier to get the inside of my fermenter. It is not a carboy but is a closed vessel with not much room to get to the inside.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G2WMD40/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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You shouldn't scrub plastic. You'll create micro scratches where the bacteria can hide from any attempt to sanitize the carboy properly. If you can't clean it by soaking, I would just toss it and get a new one.
 
Gotta throw another "Oxyclean Free" comment in the ring! Stuff is cheap and works great. I use more for my brew stuff than my wife does for laundry stuff!!
 
I used a tube of Daisy BBs and oxyclean to clean up a dozen Coke syrup bottles which had been sitting under a house for years.

Some were etched and did not return to like new condition but most came out great.
 
OxyClean (FREE ONLY! you don't want the scent) and TSP/90 (not TSP, but the Ace TSP substitute) at 2:1 ratio. Will soak off anything.
 
What is TSP??

P.S. it seems like oxyclean is the recommended "sanitizer" round these parts. Is it cheaper than the one-steps or other home-brew solutions?

I have her soakin' in 5 gallons of one-step right now, hopefully it gets everything off...
 
Oxyclean does not sanitize.
It cleans.
Very separate things.
Use the Oxyclean and TriSodiumPhosphate Sub (ex here) for cleaning
Then use bleach, iodophor, StarSan for sanitizing
 
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Well, that's why I put it in quotes. I know it cleans, but everything I've read about oxygen cleaners is that they can't legally be called sanitizer but they do a good job of actually killing stuff when it comes to home brewing.
 
Thanks to the soaking idea, 24 hours later that stuff lifted off with my bent brush using almost no elbow grease. I'm a confident happy camper knowing my carboy is clean and ready for my first brew in probably 10 years!
 
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