# Carboy cleaning BREAKTHROUGH!



## TheFrenchCanadian (Mar 20, 2015)

I got two glass carboys from a friend a few days ago that hadn't been used in nearly ten years. Both of them were quite dirty. One is a 23 litre one that had some whitish powedery deposits up near the neck and heavy hard water stains in a ring around the bottom. The other is an 11.3 litre version that had a fine, but very definite crud ring just below the shoulder, and some sort of rough gritty stuff that had pooled and hardnened onto the side, once again, just below the shoulder.

I gave both of them the usual wash with 1tsp Oxiclean Free dissolved in 4 litres of water. Dropped a rag in there with a bit of the soapy solution and sloshed it around until my arms hurt, then used my carboy bristle brush as best I could. The ring around the neck of the larger one was gone, but the hard water stains remained in the bottom and the smaller one looked like I hadn't even touched it. I decided to fill the small one with the same Oxiclean mixture mentioned above and leave it overnight. The next day, I wasn't any further ahead.

I started thinking about what I could put in there to scrub them clean - even went to my LHBS to see if they had one of those drill mounted carboy cleaners, but no luck. I had read about the rice trick, didn't have any on hand and decided to try lentils (they're like split peas), which I had. No luck either. Did you know that lentils will stick to the bottom of a wet carboy? Well, they do, and very well I might add - trust me... 

Then I started looking around the basement. My wife makes jewelery and has a small tumbler which uses Stainless Steel mixed shot to polish the stuff she makes. She has a pound of mixed shot to go with it, which comes in four different shapes, ranging from fine pins that are maybe 1/32" thick to round balls that are no larger than maybe 5/32" across, as well as diagonal shapes. I figured, what the heck, same idea, but might work even better than rice!

So I dumped the whole pound in (about a cup's worth) & put about a cup of water in with it. Not bad, a bit hard to swish around though - not enough liquid and a bit sticky. So I put in about a litre total of the Oxiclean soapy water and it was perfect!!

It swished around nicely and once I was into a bit of a rhythm, I was able to clean up every square inch of the carboy in no time, with just a few passes! Worked like a charm with very little effort. 

I simply dumped out the shot into a fine colander when I was done and then gave the carboy another wash with only clean water and Oxiclean & then a good rinse and it was positively sparkling.

So there you go - spend more time making wine and less time cleaning! Find yourself a pound of fine jewelers stainless steel shot in various shapes, pour it into your carboy with a litre of the cleaner of your choice and you'll be in business!

TFC

*PLEASE NOTE:* _I was VERY careful not to pitch or hammer the shot around inside the carboys, I swished it gently and made sure it stayed in the water, forming kind of a water/metal/soap slurry if you will. Of course, glass carboys are delicate, use caution any time you're using something metal with it!_


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## vacuumpumpman (Mar 20, 2015)

I am glad it worked for you -

Me personally - I would use more oxy clean and use the carboy cleaner - works wonderful every time !!


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## Floandgary (Mar 20, 2015)

Sometimes you just need the abrasive!!!! The smaller the material less likely to cause any damage. Coarse sand would work too.


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## dustonthebottle (Mar 21, 2015)

I have used fish tank gravel for this same purpose and it works really well too and is pretty cheap.


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## Arne (Mar 22, 2015)

Rock salt works well, also. Arne


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## Floandgary (Mar 22, 2015)

There ya have it folks!! Several easy/effective/cheap cleaning methods and not one drop of dreaded detergent or soap or bleach needed!


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## Jimyson (Mar 22, 2015)

This and a mix of PBW usually do me fine.


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## Bergmann (Mar 22, 2015)

what is PBW?


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## vacuumpumpman (Mar 22, 2015)

Bergmann said:


> what is PBW?




PBW - POWDERED BREWERY WASH

http://brewandwinesupply.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=pbw&product_id=506


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## Jimyson (Mar 22, 2015)

Yep, the best cleaner out there for home use IMO. 

http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/PBWTech.pdf


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## dralarms (Mar 22, 2015)

Do you have to rinse pbw?


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## Jimyson (Mar 22, 2015)

Yes, you should rinse any time you clean. That's how you get rid of all the yucky stuff. It doesn't just disappear.


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## dralarms (Mar 22, 2015)

Well duh, I guess I should have been more specific. If washing bottles that have nothing in them and you use pbw, do they need rinsing?


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## Jimyson (Mar 22, 2015)

Yes, PBW has to be rinsed prior to consumable product being added.

"When using P.B.W. in food processing areas the equipment that has been cleaned must be rinsed with potable water."


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