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Getting out carboy stains
I got a free carboy from a friend and I'm trying to get it brew-ready. There are some stains (calcium deposits according to my brewshop) that aren't coming out. After reading some of the posts I tried the following: First, I filled it with water and oxyclean that I had used to clean one of my fermentation buckets. This did no good but I don't know how long oxyclean remains effective in solution. Then one of the guys at the brewshop suggested that vinegar works well. I poured in a good amount and turned the carboy on its side, turning it periodically to ensure that all areas got a soak. This also had little effect. So last weekend I used a concentrated PBW solution and soaked for several days, using the same rolling method I had used with the vinegar. This faded the stains but many are still there. I just poured the better part of a gallon of bleach into the thing and filled it up to the top with warm tap water. I figured I would give it another scrub with the brush after it sits for a day. Do I need to try something stronger than what I have been doing?
You'll never get all the stains out of a beer bucket. I have been using the same bucket for 10 years and there is a definable ring where the beer stop and the bucket.
My suggestion is to fill it entirely with PBW solution at the reccomended strength and let it soak for a couple days. You need full contact time. Then it should be clean enough to go with even if it is still discolored.
Lastly, I know alot of people like to talk about Oxyclean as a cheaper substitute for PWB... But it isn't the same. They use the same cleaning agent, but PBW has a surfactant in it that makes in possible for the no scrub cleaning. Oxy has no surfactants. Surfactants break down surface tension at the molecular level to help get in all the nooks and crannies that you can't see. It gets under the dirt to help lift it away.
I use Oxiclean, but would recco PBW if it doesn't come out. As Brewchez mentioned, Oxiclean is a poormans PBW. The surfactant, or lack thereof make it better for an immediate cleaning versus something that may have been sitting around. I can say if you use hot, very hot water OC will foam up and expand; but it's still not going to stay foamy that long. And if the water is too hot, it could break the glass. They do make an Oxiclean with a sufactant I believe. It's called Oxiclean Foam. It's more expensive, so they get you one way or another.
And I just read about the bleach......be sure to rinse the hell out of that thing before you put beer in there.....usually, a few caps per gallon is good to clean with bleach.
ricka182 wrote:
And I just read about the bleach......be sure to rinse the hell out of that thing before you put beer in there.....usually, a few caps per gallon is good to clean with bleach.
Also rinse it out the bleach very well before you add any OxyClean. You don't want to be mixing those two.
be careful using warm water and bleach. It can emit chlorine fumes. Use cold water with bleach.
Might want to get some CLR. It's used on glassware, coffee pots, etc. It comes i na green bottle. Just follow directions and if that doesn't work you probably won't get it out.
DC
One of my old carboys that I got from my Dad has the same issue. I've tried everything including PBW at a double strength dilution and soaked for 3 weeks to no avail. I've tried vinegar, bleach and oxyclean as well. After all of this I came to the realization (or resignation) that if it soaked with PBW for that long and it didn't dissolve then 2-4 weeks with beer in it isn't going to remove any either and I just don't worry about it anymore. Well not much anyway, I still save that carboy and only use it if I don't have another free one.
FirePitBrew wrote:
ricka182 wrote:
And I just read about the bleach......be sure to rinse the hell out of that thing before you put beer in there.....usually, a few caps per gallon is good to clean with bleach.
Also rinse it out the bleach very well before you add any OxyClean. You don't want to be mixing those two.
Mmmm....bleach and Oxiclean...almost as good as bleach and ammonia....
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