Products for carboy deep clean & brush rust removal

[Ajmassa]

I picked up a few old carboys and BB's off craigslist and gave em a quick rinse and scrub. (One seems to be 7.5 gal too) But they need a deep heavy clean.
I've Always used carboy brushes or a homemade drill-mount cleaner (like the one with the blue flaps). My typical routine for dirty carboys has been:
Rinse and blast with garden hose
Shaking around some Piping hot water
OneStep with brush or drilling
K-meta
... but something more is needed here.
I figured 2+ days soak in oxyclean would get the job done. But if anyone knows of a better system I'm all ears.
And while I'm at it, I've got multiple carboy brushes that have rusted. Any suggested product to soak and remove rust? There's lots of home remedies for rust so I'm just curious who's had success with what. I've used wd40 for rust in the past.

 

[fivebk]

There is A product called CLR (calcium lime rust remover). Use it, then wash with hot soapy water and rinse several times.

BOB

 

[sour_grapes]

I am a big fan of PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash).

 

[Ajmassa]

CLR is sold all over I see. I'll give that a shot. Thanks.

I've got PBW, easy clean, and one step. But the carboys have some stains in the glass sitting open for 5 yrs in a garage. I don't think it's mold, but tough to get to. Still can't upload pics.
I found this thread https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/very-dirty-carboys.51388/#post-582513.
And it's agreed in that thread (by you too Paul) that an oxyclean soak in warm water for a couple days is the way to go.

 

[Johnd]

For me, regardless of which cleaner is used, the rubber meets the road with some good old fashioned elbow grease, gotta get in there and exert some cleaning pressure on the interior of the carboy. My tool of choice for the last several years has been the drill mounted cleaner, which puts a lot of contact cleaning on the inside, more than I could ever do with a brush. With hot water and some B-Brite in there, it does great on my carboys.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

The pink bleach powder sold at many wine supply stores works well if you let it soak for several hours.

 

[Ajmassa]

John that's always been my thoughts as well. Especially for the difficult areas. The carboy brushes are too gentle for the stubborn crud. And the flapper thing has the advantage there. I made my own but rarely use it since I'm not letting glass get to that point.
But I gotta soak to soften it up since even the flappers with cleaner couldn't get it. I'm gonna do the oxyclean soak tomorrow and see how it goes. I haven't seen that pink granulated stuff since I was a kid , but I'm gonna look into to that now as well. Thanks.

 

[Donatelo]

fill half full of water with dawn dish cleaner. Add marbles . Use the drill mounted agitator You can use pea gravel, ect..

 

[Sage]

I've used gravel with cleaner and shook the bottle or carboy. Gravel has sharp edges. I keep a container of BBs, like for an air rifle, to use with cleaners also. They are less abrasive but do work very well for light crud.

 

[LoveTheWine]

Oxyclean (scent free). Soak 24hrs, quick scrub and you are good to go

 

[Johnd]

If you’re really in a bind, you can use this old waiters trick for cleaning coffee pots: Put crushed ice and rock salt in your carboy and start sloshing it around, works like a charm.

 

[Ajmassa]

If you’re really in a bind, you can use this old waiters trick for cleaning coffee pots: Put crushed ice and rock salt in your carboy and start sloshing it around, works like a charm.

No bind. Rather than attempting one of those remedies with items I didn't have on hand I just made something real quick so I could get a legit scrub on those on areas.
I was able to knock down all the stubborn nastiness with it and now soaking in oxi-clean
Heavy duty scrub pad, an old stick ruler, electrical tape and zip ties. No judgements. Went for function over fashion here.

 

[dralarms]

This is what I use.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Clean-Bott...rush-and-Wine-Beer-Bottle-Brush-/180731656561

 

[Ajmassa]

This is what I use.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Clean-Bott...rush-and-Wine-Beer-Bottle-Brush-/180731656561

I have one similar a as well as the brushes. Neither were able get the stains without soaking first. These were used carboys sitting open in a dirty garage for years.
I went overkill and scrubbed em off first. Now soaking before scrubbing again. But I mean, my wines gonna be in there right? And I gotta be able to sleep at night.

 

[Julie]

I agree with using OxyClean, you would really surprised on how clean the carboy will get with only a couple of hours of soaking in OxyClean.

 

[Ajmassa]

Test photo. Files too large using standard upload.


Same exact photo using mobile app selecting "optimized" option


2nd photo selecting "best" option mobile app

 

[Mismost]

I went over board and built a bottle/bucket/carboy washer using a sump pump, PVC pipe, and a big plastic storage tub. I put the nastiest carboy on it, hot water Ox-clean, turn it on and come back in 30 minutes and it's clear as well...Glass! I will admit that it is one of those things that doesn't get used often now. I have a bottle supple and clean as soon as emptied. Carboy and buckets are always cleaned right away. But, sump pumps are handy to have around the place for other things.

 

[TomC]

I went over board and built a bottle/bucket/carboy washer using a sump pump, PVC pipe, and a big plastic storage tub. I put the nastiest carboy on it, hot water Ox-clean, turn it on and come back in 30 minutes and it's clear as well...Glass! I will admit that it is one of those things that doesn't get used often now. I have a bottle supple and clean as soon as emptied. Carboy and buckets are always cleaned right away. But, sump pumps are handy to have around the place for other things.

I like this! Could you post some pictures? Did you drill holes in the pvc pipe? I take it that the carboy sits upside down on the sump pump. Does the pipe go all the way up. Lots of questions; pictures would answer most. TIA.

 

[Alan tate]

I picked up a few old carboys and BB's off craigslist and gave em a quick rinse and scrub. (One seems to be 7.5 gal too) But they need a deep heavy clean.
I've Always used carboy brushes or a homemade drill-mount cleaner (like the one with the blue flaps). My typical routine for dirty carboys has been:
Rinse and blast with garden hose
Shaking around some Piping hot water
OneStep with brush or drilling
K-meta
... but something more is needed here.
I figured 2+ days soak in oxyclean would get the job done. But if anyone knows of a better system I'm all ears.
And while I'm at it, I've got multiple carboy brushes that have rusted. Any suggested product to soak and remove rust? There's lots of home remedies for rust so I'm just curious who's had success with what. I've used wd40 for rust in the past.

 

[Alan tate]

Bleach its cheap and gets the job done, just make sure you rinse really good.