RebelBrews
Member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2020
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 8
Hi all. I recently started brewing again and I’d bought some glass carboys. I cleaned them like I always did by soaking them overnight with hot water and Oxiclean. Before the soak I had scrubbed a bit with the carboy brush and this time left the brush in the carboy overnight. Before draining I gave the carboy another brushing and then drained the water. I then rinsed the carboy a few times. It was then I noticed that there were lots of brush marks left on the inside of the carboy. These brush marks are difficult but not impossible to remove. Though a few areas do seem particularly stubborn. I don’t think they’re regular brewing residues as they seem very white.
After some research I discovered that using hot water to clean glass carboys is actually quite dangerous because of the thermal stress on the glass. So I won’t be doing it again. However, my main question is about what I should do now. I’ve removed about 95% of the marks and rinsed it a bunch. Ditching the carboy would be less expensive to me than wasting my next batch.
This whole situation reminded me of a frustrating problem I’d had in my previous brewing life. I went through a streak of beer batches that had an off aroma and I’d convinced myself it was caused by chlorophenols from chloramine in the water supply. It seemed impossible to resolve even with careful treatment of the water. However, now I’m wondering if leaving a carboy brush in super hot water might soften the plastic bristles enough to leave plastic residue behind and even possibly have been the source of the burnt plastic phenolics I’d previously encountered many years ago.
Questions:
1. Should I ditch the glass carboy?
2. Is the carboy brush left in hot water a possible/likely source of band-aid like phenolics?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
After some research I discovered that using hot water to clean glass carboys is actually quite dangerous because of the thermal stress on the glass. So I won’t be doing it again. However, my main question is about what I should do now. I’ve removed about 95% of the marks and rinsed it a bunch. Ditching the carboy would be less expensive to me than wasting my next batch.
This whole situation reminded me of a frustrating problem I’d had in my previous brewing life. I went through a streak of beer batches that had an off aroma and I’d convinced myself it was caused by chlorophenols from chloramine in the water supply. It seemed impossible to resolve even with careful treatment of the water. However, now I’m wondering if leaving a carboy brush in super hot water might soften the plastic bristles enough to leave plastic residue behind and even possibly have been the source of the burnt plastic phenolics I’d previously encountered many years ago.
Questions:
1. Should I ditch the glass carboy?
2. Is the carboy brush left in hot water a possible/likely source of band-aid like phenolics?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!