Best way to clean a carboy (without building anything).... Go!

[billspudley]

What is the best way to clean carboys without having to assemble any DIY systems?

 

[1977Brewer]

1. Fill with water.
2. OxyClean/PBW/OneStep.
3. Wait.
4. Drain until you can handle it easily.
5. Shake the p!ss out of it.

 

[Auger]

1. Fill with water.
2. OxyClean/PBW/OneStep.
3. Wait.
4. Drain until you can handle it easily.
5. Shake the p!ss out of it.

I add the PBW first, then fill with hot tap water so the turnover of adding water helps to dissolve the PBW powder, but other than that...yep.

 

[LandoLincoln]

1) Throw it on your driveway
2) Collect and clean shards
3) Superglue shards back into a carboy

 

[billspudley]

Thanks Brewer and Auger!

 

[Wastegate]

Fill with PBW
Fill with Hot Water
Sit overnight.
Drain
Rinse
Done

 

[HopNutz]

I follow Charlie Papazians method. I fill with a bleach and warm water mixture. Even with a heavy ferment, all the caked on crud drops to the bottom within an hour or so. Rinse well with soapy, warm water. I do use PBW to clean the keg though

 

[BreezyBrew]

Fill with PBW
Fill with Hot Water
Sit overnight.
Drain
Rinse
Done

+1 on this method. I have to use PBW bc my tap water is very hard. Oxyclean will leave scale deposits on the inside of the carboy.

 

[vincentAlpha]

Yup gotta go with OxyClean, easiest cleaning ever if you soak it in that stuff.

 

[Pyg]

Fill with 1 gallon very warm Water
added 1 step cleaner/oxyclean
shake like an unwanted child
Drain, rinse!

 

[tally350z]

Add PBW
Add one gallon warm water.
Scrub with carboy brush..

 

[fornelius]

I agree with all the PBW posts. But I go a little further. I then drain the majority of the pbw (everything above the settled crud) into a bucket, then use it to clean bottles, remove labels & clean all the other glass crap around the house. The PBW is good for a week or two usually.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Oxyclean 24 hour soak. Rinse three times. Done.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Oxyclean 24 hour soak. Rinse three times. Done.

Do not do this if you have hard water.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Buy a new one everytime you brew.

Otherwise you'll have to assemble the solutions.

 

[flars]

I might as well add my two pennies worth.
Jet rinse with luke warm water. Add one tablespoon PBW. Fill about one-third full with luke warm water. Install stopper and invert in sink to soak over night. PBW solution should just cover the krausen line.
In the morning the crud will have dropped off. Any brown remaining can be wiped off with a carboy brush. Jet rinse with luke warm water. Inspect for brown spots.

Using to much PBW, with hard water, will precipitate out minerals that are hard to remove after a 24 hour soak.

 

[Staestc]

Do not do this if you have hard water.

In my experience, even with hard water or an extended soak time, the hazy scale left behind by PBW or Oxyclean is easily removed by filling with warm water and a little white vinegar. If you don't want to do that, starsan is acidic enough to get it off too.

And unless I am mistaken, PBW has the same ingredient in it that oxyclean has.

 

[DNKDUKE]

Have some one else clean it.

 

[sportpak]

1G hot water, a scoop of oxy type cleaner, and this brush on a drill. No more soaking required.
http://shop.thirdcoastdesignworks.com/Clean-Bottle-Express-Brush-Bundle-CBE4.htm

 

[glick]

PBW. It's the best stuff on earth for cleaning... Anything!

 

[ImNoExpert]

In my experience, even with hard water or an extended soak time, the hazy scale left behind by PBW or Oxyclean is easily removed by filling with warm water and a little white vinegar. If you don't want to do that, starsan is acidic enough to get it off too.

And unless I am mistaken, PBW has the same ingredient in it that oxyclean has.

Roger that. It's getting star san'd the next time I use it anyway. Oxyclean works great for me despite my overly hard water. That said, once I'm out of my current supply of oxy, I'm switching to homemade PBW for that very reason.

 

[govner1]

What is the best way to clean carboys without having to assemble any DIY systems?

1st- rinse thoroughly w/ hot water as soon as you've emptied it of beer.
2nd- fill w/ a couple of gallons of hot water & add 1 tbsp/gal of B-Brite & swirl to dissolve. Then finish filling w/ hot water & let stand about an hour.
3rd- final rinse w/ hot water. It should be clean!
Rarely I have to gently use a brush on the Krausen line.

 

[nymtber]

Ultimate Brewery Cleanser from Austin Homebrew. Its somewhere between PBW and Oxyclean, in both effectiveness and cost. We have super hard water, and its no where near as bad as oxyclean, but not as good as PBW with deposits. It is, however, a bit cheaper than PBW, so I'm happy. Warm water, soak a few hours or overnight (depending on how bad it is), scrub with carboy brush a little, drain, and rinse WELL. Any haze left (much less than oxyclean) goes away with star-san!

 

[SC_Ryan]

Soaking never worked form me when I used carboys. I always had to scrub

 

[kh54s10]

Give the glass carboy to someone else then get some Better Bottles. Clean the same way, but it is a LOT lighter and WAY safer.

 

[BreezyBrew]

Give the glass carboy to someone else then get some Better Bottles. Clean the same way, but it is a LOT lighter and WAY safer.

The OP didn't ask your opinion of glass carboys.

 

[macs]

Will that procedure work with a better bottle too? hehe

 

[LandoLincoln]

1) Pre-rinse yeast cake/trub from carboy
2) Fill with hot tap water
3) Add Craft Meister Keg & Carboy Cleaning Tablets or Oxygen Brewery Wash or Alkaline Brewery Wash
4) Watch gunk fall apart
5) Dump and rinse

Never worry about hard water scale build up or hard water "etching." Craft Meister products dissolve faster, rinse easier and never leave hard water scale behind.

You realize that HBT has requirements for vendors attempting to be shilling their products here, yes?