New Carboy (sort of)

[whino-wino]

I was thinking that I'd get out some frozen wild blueberries that I picked last summer and let them thaw overnight so I could whip up a batch of blueberry wine tomorrow. The only problem was that I only had 2 one gallon glass jugs for carboys and when I added it up, I had about 18 lbs of blueberrries, give or take a half a pound. Then suddenly a thought occurred to me. My grandmother gave me 2 very old five gallon carboys last summer. They had sat in her cellar for about 15 years and then in my garage since last summer. I pulled one out and brought it in the house. It was VERY DIRTY, and worse yet, upon closer inspection I do believe that there were the remains of a dead mouse in there. I went out and got the other one. Dead mouse in there too. I put about 3 inches of hot water in the bottom of one and let it soak for a while...

Then scrubbed like heck for the next hour or so....

Voila!! One more carboy in the collection. There are a lot of defects in the glass (air bubbles and such) but it's clean as a whistle now. Looks like I'll be doing a 5 gallon batch after all. Now for the other one.......

 

[NorthernWinos]

They look great and hold lots of memories for you.
I would fillthem with a strong Sulfite Solution for a few days, till your fermentation is done, then rinse well.


We had bought a carboy at a garage sale that had dried on Chokecherry wine from many eras ago...We cleaned it all up...BUT...it is an 8 gallon and we probably could never pick it up when full....so it just sits there.Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[whino-wino]

I rinsed it with a bleach solution and plan on hitting it with some k-meta solution before I use it. I have two of them and I'll have to check on how much k-meta I have left. I had a 1lb bag of it but it's down to less than 1/4 lb. Not sure if I have enough for 10 gallons of solution (with dead mice in the equation I plan on mixing itSTRONG)I thought a lb would last about forever, guess I was wrong.

 

[scubaman2151]

You don't have to make that much solution. Just make 1 or 2 very strong gallons of solution. Pour that into the carboy and then just put a bung on it. The odors from the solution will help sanitize the entire carboy. You can also slosh it around every one is awhile.


Scuba

 

[whino-wino]

Usually I do pretty much that. I suppose you're right though, I shouldn't need to fill them. It's just the dead mouse thing

. Kind of grosses me out, you know?