First time carboy clean/Prep

[DougMedic]

Hello. Doing my second brew kit. A Belgian Blonde. My first time using a glass carboy. I've washed and now sanitizing using starsan. Do I need to soak the entire inside? And when I empty it out do I need to get rid of most of the bubbles? I know it's not supposed to add any flavor but need to know how diligent I need to be. Thanks all.

 

[Pie_Man]

I use 6 gallon glass carboys. After cleaning the carboy, I add about 2-3 gallons of Star San solution to it. You really only need enough Star San to coat the surfaces of the carboy, some people use less, I like using 2-3 gallons. I give the carboy a few shakes and let the solution sit for a few minutes. I then drain the Star San into gallon jugs for resuse. Whatever bubbles are left in the carboy after draining, and shaking a little bit to get some of the bubbles, stay in the carboy. The saying with Star San is don't fear the foam, so I don't.

Just to be clear, Star San is sanitizing. Cleaning is something you do sometime before sanitizing. Clean after use, sanitize before use. And depending on how something looks, or how long my carboy has been sitting around, I sometimes clean again right before sanitizing. When cleaning, I fill the carboy up with hot water and oxiclean or pbw. I the cleaning solution soak for a few hours or overnight. I then give it a scrub with the carboy brush, rinse and store. Then sanitize before use. Again, clean after use, sanitize before use; it makes life a lot easier.

 

[DougMedic]

Thanks for the awesome reply. I cleaned last night in the way that you described. First time with the carboy so I just wanted to make sure. Also 1 more quick question. The carboy has a rubber stopper. So does the airlock. Do you insert the airlock with its rubber stopper into the carboy stopper? Or do I remove the stopper from airlock and insert into carboy stopper? Probably a really stupid question, I don't know if it even matters or not...


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[Pie_Man]

I don't really know what you mean by carboy stopper vs an airlock stopper.

Something like this should go into the neck of the carboy: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=rc&uact=3&dur=5356&page=1&start=0&ndsp=25

 

[DougMedic]

Was wondering if they both need rubber stoppers??

 

[Pie_Man]

The stopper that is not in the neck of the carboy (airlock stopper) is not doing anything, so I would say no, you just need the one stopper (carboy stopper).

 

[DougMedic]

Thanks pie man!


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[Puddlethumper]

I just transferred wort to a freshly sanitized fermenter. StarSan foam pushed up and over the sides of the fermenter bucket as it was filling. Perfect. Everything is clean and sanitary.

StarSan is a very mild acid and it is completely neutralized by the pH of the beer. You can have equipment dripping with StarSan foam while you are filling them with wort. No problem at all.