Heres a tip to anyone who is feeling a hint of laziness when it comes to clean-up. Don't do what I did:
So, I had just finished up fermenting a belgian wit in a 6.5 gal garboy, which had been sitting in there for about 4 weeks or so. I went ahead and racked it to a keg. Well, once I was done with that, it came time to clean out the carboy. So i went ahead and funneled in some water, wooshed it around a little and dumped out the yeast cake. Well, there was still a little in there, and then of course there was the old krausen remains on the sides. I went ahead and filled the entire carboy with hot water, then ran the carboy brush around the edges and unmucked all of the crap on the sides. At this point though that carboy was entirely filled with water, it was also very wet on the outside such that i couldnt get a good grip, and i was tired...so i said...ill finish the clean-up later.
Well, 4 days later came around...and this vile smell began to permeate through all of the vents in the house. It was as though my dog decided to have a No.2 accident every room of the house. I didnt realize it at first, but when I entered the laundry room, I identified that area as the focal point of the smell. Well, i knew what had to be done and I could not put it off any longer. I proceeded to grip the carboy and start to dump it at the sink, and I nearly dropped it twice from dry heaving over the smell coming out of it as i poured the liquid down the drain. Somehow i managed to get it all out and all was well...until the fumes started coming up from the drain. I ended up having to dump bleach down the drain and lysol the nearest 3 rooms. Unfortunately, for the next 3-4 hours...nobody wanted to be in the house..the smell was that rank.
So moral of the story is, dont put off what you can do right away when it comes to equipment clean-up. Also, never underestimate the pure putrid nature of yeast autolysis, its easily one of the worst smells ive ever smelled in my life.
So, I had just finished up fermenting a belgian wit in a 6.5 gal garboy, which had been sitting in there for about 4 weeks or so. I went ahead and racked it to a keg. Well, once I was done with that, it came time to clean out the carboy. So i went ahead and funneled in some water, wooshed it around a little and dumped out the yeast cake. Well, there was still a little in there, and then of course there was the old krausen remains on the sides. I went ahead and filled the entire carboy with hot water, then ran the carboy brush around the edges and unmucked all of the crap on the sides. At this point though that carboy was entirely filled with water, it was also very wet on the outside such that i couldnt get a good grip, and i was tired...so i said...ill finish the clean-up later.
Well, 4 days later came around...and this vile smell began to permeate through all of the vents in the house. It was as though my dog decided to have a No.2 accident every room of the house. I didnt realize it at first, but when I entered the laundry room, I identified that area as the focal point of the smell. Well, i knew what had to be done and I could not put it off any longer. I proceeded to grip the carboy and start to dump it at the sink, and I nearly dropped it twice from dry heaving over the smell coming out of it as i poured the liquid down the drain. Somehow i managed to get it all out and all was well...until the fumes started coming up from the drain. I ended up having to dump bleach down the drain and lysol the nearest 3 rooms. Unfortunately, for the next 3-4 hours...nobody wanted to be in the house..the smell was that rank.
So moral of the story is, dont put off what you can do right away when it comes to equipment clean-up. Also, never underestimate the pure putrid nature of yeast autolysis, its easily one of the worst smells ive ever smelled in my life.
