Old Carboy Refuses to Come Clean!

[jguy898]

I picked 6 five gallon carboys from an old wine maker and it looks he didn't clean them out at all. He told me they had been sitting for years. There looks to be a mixture of old wine, dried mold and calcium deposit around the bottom edge of these carboys and it will not come out. So far I have tried soaking in Star-San, Looong soaks in Oxyclean, short soaks in Oxyclean with 140 degree water and vigorous scrubbing, dish soap with 140 degree water and even more vigorous scrubbing. I'm posting up some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. It may not look so bad on the pictures but some of it is still yellow and there is no way I'm going to rack anything on to it. I have a Skeeter Pee that desperately needs racking out of the primary fermenter but because of these darn Crusted Carboys I have no where to rack it.
Does anyone know how to Remove this stuff from a carboy!?!?!?!? I'm going to go insane!

 

[djsethall]

Maybe invest in one of them carboy cleaners that attach to your drill

 

[brewstonian]

If you used cleaner then all the mold is dead. When you buy used stuff you get "used" stuff. I've been to breweries that were grose but when you chem clean it should be good... just go for it! If it didn't come off during a soak or scrubbing it wont come off!

 

[Dougan]

Gasoline.

 

[jguy898]

Gasoline.

Hahaha! I've done that before and was hoping to not ever use that trick for brewing

Actually while reading through some threads that came up when searching for the answer a little while ago I incidentally stumbled across my own answer to other problems like this one. Someone happened to mention "White Vinager" and then I remembered what it is that I do to remove hard water deposits from my tea pots. A vinager / water mixture.
I mixed up about two cups white vinager to about half a gallon of 140degree water and shook it as hard as I dared without breaking the neck off the carboy. With no need to scrub what-so-ever, all the deposits just fell out of the carboy. It was such a beautiful sight. *insert happy tears here*

I have 4 more carboys to do but the whole process only takes about ten minutes per, and even the worst of the worst carboys just fall clean. Ahh, once again, so beautiful.

 

[djsethall]

Awesome. I will file that technique in my memory bank for future use

 

[Inodoro_Pereyra]

As far as I know, this would be your best option:

Go to Lowe's (it's the only place I know that carries it) and buy a 2Lb jar of "Roebic crystal drain opener". If you want to be on the safe side, buy a pair of rubber gloves.

Get about 1/2 gallon of as-cold-as-possible water (better if you throw some ice in it), and start pouring the crystals, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mixing thoroughly after each addition. Be VERY CAREFUL with those crystals, as they are 100% lye, and they will cause some pretty nasty chemical burns on your skin.
You will probably be able to pour 4 or 5 tablespoons before the water starts getting hot. If it gets too hot (you will notice a kinda strong smell), stop adding the lye, and let the water cool down. Leave that solution in the carboy for 24Hrs. After that, carefully pour the solution down the drain, pour a couple of gallons of clean water in the carboy, and give it a shake (again, make sure no lye water touches your skin!!!). Rinse the carboy a couple of times, and it should be squeaky clean, and completely lye free.

 

[Raider-11]

Handful of play sand, white vinager, water and a carboy cleaner on a drill.

 

[Raider-11]

Insted of sand I have seen pieses of copper wire cut to 1/8" used but do not use vinager as it will turn the copper black and leach off

 

[onthekeg]

I know you solved your problem already biut airsoft BB's and a mixstir work well too.

 

[rico567]

There is a recipe for glass cleaner in the back of the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Any glass will come clean virtually instantly, no matter what's on it. The main constituent of this stuff is concentrated sulfuric acid, and apart from giving the reference above, I won't even pretend to give anyone the actual recipe over the Internet. If you have experience using strong acids or caustics, go ahead and look it up and use it. Otherwise, this method is for avoiding.