How do you clean your Winpak?

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Having trouble figuring out what would be the best to clean it with.... in terms of scrubbing the inside.

Thanks for any input

 

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No 1? Or am I the only one up still?

 

[jfkriege]

I dump in Oxyclean and shake it around once an hour for a Saturday. Works well. Then just rinse and starsan.

 

[nutty_gnome]

I have some odd shaped fermenters and I do the same, fill it with hot water and oxylean-free (from walmart) and let it sit for at least a day, I usually let it go for a few weeks, but I am lazy. As long as you keep the water topped off it seems to work great.

 

[rcrabb22]

Having trouble figuring out what would be the best to clean it with.... in terms of scrubbing the inside.

Thanks for any input

WinPaks are plastic and scrubbing with anything more abrasive than a soft cloth will cause scratches which will eventually harbor bacteria.

I have 4 of them and while the attached handle and the fact they are opaque are a plus, hop oils have permeated the plastic and the I cannot remove the smell no matter how long I soak with Oxyclean. Anytime I give them a rinse with water after sitting for a week or 2 the hop aroma is pronounced. It concerns me.

 

[nutty_gnome]

This sounds no different than the way the standard ale pail buckets smell after using them for a while. Its all HDPE plastic, after all, and will retain some odors. People have said that a one-year replacement schedule for ale pails isn't a bad idea, so maybe it should be the same for winpacks if you are nervous.

 

[rcrabb22]

I never used plastic buckets, I started with glass carboys so it is new to me. Thanks for the reassurance. I was worried I wasn't cleaning completely.

FWIW - I do not have this issue with Better Bottles so when I retire the WinPaks I will replace with BB's

 

[ibbones]

Another Oxy and let it sit for a while. I add about two gallons of hot water and around half a scoop of oxy and shake the fool out of it. Set it down on the side and every time I walk by it, I either roll it around or pick it up and shake till my teeth are loose.
They look clean but like the buckets, have a hop smell.

 

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Yeah I am not too worried about the smell... my old ale pale had the smell for a long time. I just am concerned about all the little hop and fermentation gunk that is left behind after fermentation.

And I don't want to scratch the inside with anything like rcrabb22 was concerned with...


Look for my winpack scrub cleaning method post in a week or so depending on how the job is going