Old Jugs - Grandmothers Basement

[MrsJones]

So my grandmother used to make huckleberry wine many many years ago - so I decided to go through some of her old supplies.

I found some 1.5-2 gallon jugs and a larger ceramic one and am wondering if they are worth the effort to clean? They have sediment/wine dregs over 20 years old.

This photo shows two screw cap ones and an old 1.5 cork top one



and this photo shows an old ceramic one...



Thanks for the advice!

 

[cintipam]

Hi

no clue about the ceramic jug, but you can probably clean the glass ones fairly easily. I actually also had a very old one gallon jug that had been stored in a basement for way too many years. First, get Oxyclean no scent ie green top from the laundry dept. Use hot water and oxyclean as per directions. I often do several treatments in a row when they start that dirty. It will either be very clean, or have hard water stains left. Mine had the hard water stains that even repeated brush cleaning didn't budge. So, and this is something to be careful with, I filled the jug with vinegar, capped tightly and set aside totally away from my winemaking stuff (because you don't want vinegar or bleach anywhere near your wine stuff, cross contamination is a winespoiler). To date it has sat about a year and looks much much better. I've yet to finish cleaning it since I haven't needed it yet. If that hard water ring hadn't been there I'd have been using it long long ago. Anyway, you can use leftover oxyclean to clean carboys etc so give it a go. The warm and fuzzy feeling from using g'mas supplies will be well worth the work.

Pam in cinti

 

[dralarms]

Pam, is that white or red vinegar?

 

[MrsJones]

Thanks for the advice Pam! I'll had oxyclean to the supply shopping list!

 

[cintipam]

Mrs Jones, remember to use hot water and let it sit overnight before draining. Repeat a couple more times since these are really really icky. When I have done something that looks that bad to start with after oxyclean (and if necessary then vinegar then well rinsed ) I also give it a rinse with Star San (contact sterilizer) rinse, then use Kmeta solution. I've read that these 2 sterilizers kill nasties at the opposite end of the spectrum, so using both is like a good insurance policy. I don't go that far on carboys I've been keeping well maintained, but something I don't know the history I feel better safe than sorry.

Dralarms, I'm sure either vinegar would work but I used white. It helps a lot that I've been able to see the hard water line diminish over times. Mrs Jones, if you need to go the vinegar route remember to keep well well away from winemaking area, let it sit as long as it needs (mines been a year) and rinse rinse rinse and rinse some more to be certain all traces of vinegar are gone before another Oxyclean etc as outlined above before using the jug.

I feel like I used the word rinse too many times. But actually I didn't. Rinse. Now I feel better.

Pam in cinti

 

[olusteebus]

I cleaned a badly stained carboy once by using PBW and it came out sparkling. I would definitely do that on the ceramic jug.

those are real nice.

You may want to google that ceramic to see what the value is.

 

[MrsJones]

Thank you again Pam for the very thoughtful advice!

So far I just have the sanitizer my local wine shop sells for the carboys but I'll see about picking up the others you suggested to catch all the potential wine gremlins.

 

[MrsJones]

@Bus - what does PBW stand for?

I'll do that on the ceramic jug!

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree PBW is probably your best bet. I would clean them and use them for decorations. http://www.piwine.com/professional-brewery-wash-1-lb.html

 

[pjd]

I think the only way to clean that glass corked jug is to send it to me. That one is beautiful! Well worth the effort to clean them up.

 

[MrsJones]

Haha pjd! I'll give it a go and let u know if I give up .

 

[GreginND]

I'd be happy to take the ceramic jug off your hands.

 

[MrsJones]

You weren't joking about how powerful Oxyclean is!!! I stopped at Costco on the way home and it's already working it's magic

...I don't think that jug has a nice purple hue after all lol

 

[BernardSmith]

Apologies for appearing to be a killjoy but I wonder if the ceramic carboy is lead free. Is there any risk that those kinds of vessels may made with lead?

 

[Sage]

An easy way to clean any bottle: Put sanitizer (pint or so) and a large handful of small crushed rocks. Swirl the jug/bottle. Repeat as needed until residue is gone. I some times use air rifle BB's but the sharp edged rocks are faster.

 

[MrsJones]

Hmm thanks for bringing up lead us a risk - I'll try to do some research on the maker of the ceramic jug.