Stubborn PBW Residue

[Zelbinian]

Every time I clean out my carboys, I get this white residue left in it, probably from the PBW. The problem is, no matter how many times I rinse it out, there's always some left. And the cleaner brush doesn't seem to do diddly squat, either. What can I do? And what can I do to avoid it?

More importantly, will it affect my beer if I brew with it like that? (I'm assuming the answer is yes.)

 

[day_trippr]

Rinse it with something acidic. Standard Star San mix will work, as will vinegar with water...

Cheers!

[edit] The haze probably won't affect your brewing.

 

[JRems]

Day trippr is right. Do an acid rinse. Vinegar is cheap and will work fine to remove it.

 

[tyzippers]

I second (er, third) the vinegar and water solution. Is it possible you have hard water? I have hard water and I was having a problem with a white film on my dishes after running the dish washer and washing my brewing gear. I found a few tablespoons of vinegar in my dishwasher and brewing gear took care if the white film. Worked like a charm!

 

[Zelbinian]

The water here is a bit hard but there's a layer of powery stuff at the bottom (and it's a little hard to see in the pic, sorry about that). I'm probably just using too much PBW. But thanks for the vinegar suggestion. What ratio of vinegar to water should I use?

 

[brewingmeister]

The suggestions of star san and vinegar rinse are good. However it looks like you are using too high of a concentration or not using hot enough water to dissolve the pbw. Hotter water and agitating the mix should dissolve the pbw and clean everything up after a sit and a good rinse.

 

[day_trippr]

A half cup of vinegar in a quart of water ought to do the job. Give it a good swirl, let it sit, repeat until the film has dissolved, then rinse with fresh water and drip dry...

Cheers!

 

[pfgonzo]

Yup, that's a mineral deposit, and not PBW residue. If you have hard water, it's not uncommon when using PBW to get deposits. An acid rinse will take it right off. If you have CLR that stuff works wonders, but vinegar and StarSan work just as well, with white vinegar being the cheapest option.