Flex tanks

[Hokapsig]

Question about Polyethylene flex tanks - I have Cab Sauv in 2 of the tanks and there is staining from the juice on the tanks. I pressure washed and k meta'd the tanks. Is there anything else I can do to sanitize the tanks and will the staining cause any contamination issues?

 

[grapeman]

I find that an oxyclean type cleaner works alright to get most of the staining out.

 

[geek]

Question about Polyethylene flex tanks - I have Cab Sauv in 2 of the tanks and there is staining from the juice on the tanks. I pressure washed and k meta'd the tanks. Is there anything else I can do to sanitize the tanks and will the staining cause any contamination issues?

how is the Flextank working for you?
They now have the 15gal unit for wine making. I was waiting until this smaller vessel was available but then last month decided to instead get a 23L Hungarian oak barrel.

 

[stickman]

The Flex tank manual recommends the use of a weak sodium hydroxide solution as a tank wash, but I agree with Grapeman and generally use a base type cleaner like Oxyclean. After rinsing out the Oxyclean, I would follow with an acidic wash solution like citric acid etc. to ensure all traces of base are neutralized. So far this has worked well in my cellar.

 

[Rocco]

The Flex tank manual recommends the use of a weak sodium hydroxide solution as a tank wash, but I agree with Grapeman and generally use a base type cleaner like Oxyclean. After rinsing out the Oxyclean, I would follow with an acidic wash solution like citric acid etc. to ensure all traces of base are neutralized. So far this has worked well in my cellar.

Sodium Hydroxide is poison!!!!!! Use it to clean tanks??????!!!!……can I just use easy clean???

 

[GreginND]

Sodium hydroxide is not that bad. Sure it's caustic and concentrated solutions will burn your skin. But a weak solution is not poison in the strict sense of the word. It is completely soluble in water so it washes away.

Have you ever heard of lutefisk? It's dried fish preserved with lye (sodium hydroxide).

 

[sour_grapes]

Sodium Hydroxide is poison!!!!!! Use it to clean tanks??????!!!!……can I just use easy clean???

"Alle Dinge sind Gift und nichts ist ohne Gift, allein die Dosis macht es, dass ein Ding kein Gift ist."* -- Paracelsus


* "All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison." This is often condensed to: The dose makes the poison.

 

[NorCal]

30g flex here. I clean with pbw, seems to do the job.

 

[Nancyvernon]

30 gal flex tank, used oxy cleaner to remove stains. Any suggestions for how much citric acid to use?

 

[Rice_Guy]

used oxy cleaner to remove stains. Any suggestions for how much citric acid to use?

Stains; the pigment in red grape will turn dark blue and then decolonized / removed when the pH is above 8.0, I would use powder brewery wash, One Step or similar winery cleaner for the purpose of pulling the color off.

Practically speaking many cleaners change the pH of organics so the refractive color shifts.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

30 gal flex tank, used oxy cleaner to remove stains. Any suggestions for how much citric acid to use?

I use tartaric acid at a rate of ~1lb per 8 gallons, I expect citric acid will be similar. But to be honest you could probably get away with less. The acid rinse is just to neutralize any remaining peroxide from the oxiclean and it pretty much works immediately on contact, so just make sure it gets on all the surfaces.

 

[Hokapsig]

how is the Flextank working for you?
They now have the 15gal unit for wine making. I was waiting until this smaller vessel was available but then last month decided to instead get a 23L Hungarian oak barrel.

duh, sorry i'm late answering this one, but we continue to use the 70 gal flex tanks after 10 years. Great for blending and pumping out of. Cleaning is now easy with One Step and hot water. We did use a soda ash solution for some nastier stains and it worked fine. We did a full flush after cleaning.