Pressure washing a glass carboy?

[Beer_Goggles]

Anyone ever tried this with a lower pressure? Couldn't find a thread on it.

 

[day_trippr]

Never occurred to me - and I pressure-washed one side of my house just this afternoon. Two tablespoons of Oxyclean Free, filled to the neck with hot tap water and left for a few hours, has always made my carboys sparkle...

Cheers!

 

[Beer_Goggles]

That's probably the route I'm going to take, just curious how much water pressure would chip/break the glass.

 

[Hello]

I'd say you could damage the glass if you have a high PSI washer. Washers tailored to car detailing may be okay.

 

[mpcluever]

Why pressure wash it? Pressure washing the inside will only clean the bottom which comes clean right away anyway. Cleaning the outside takes 10 seconds with a rag.

 

[kh54s10]

Sounds too dangerous to me... but then again I will never own a glass carboy. Oxyclean soak and maybe a carboy brush should be plenty.

 

[Hello]

Sounds too dangerous to me... but then again I will never own a glass carboy. Oxyclean soak and maybe a carboy brush should be plenty.

Not to hijack the thread, but why won't you ever own one?


OP, do you have some dingy carboys?

 

[Demus]

Not to hijack the thread, but why won't you ever own one?

Let's see. Heavy. Breaks easily. Hard to clean. Can cause severe injury. That about cover it?

 

[mikescooling]

Let's look at why you have to pressure wash your carboy? I was a guy with a brush, scrubbing away at one point, but I found with the best cleaners and a dance move swerling the carboy with a little water in it, that sucker will be crystal clear. Some of the guys have made carboy/keg cleaners with a sump-pump and some PVC.

 

[grathan]

They make tips that shoot streams at an upwards angle that would probably work well.

It is possible that a downwards projected thrust could catch you unaware the first time though if you were using a hose instead of a wand.

 

[MaxStout]

I'll bet some enterprising person could fabricate a pressure washer nozzle with several tiny holes drilled around the side. Lower into carboy, power it up and clean the inside walls.

/coming to an LHBS near you.

 

[TyTanium]

Wear goggles.

 

[kh54s10]

Not to hijack the thread, but why won't you ever own one?


OP, do you have some dingy carboys?

Let's see. Heavy. Breaks easily. Hard to clean. Can cause severe injury. That about cover it?

This does cover it. There are some pretty graphic threads showing the injuries people have sustained when their carboy broke.

That and I just don't want to deal with the weight.

 

[kh54s10]

I'll bet some enterprising person could fabricate a pressure washer nozzle with several tiny holes drilled around the side. Lower into carboy, power it up and clean the inside walls.

/coming to an LHBS near you.

It is already available:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewery-essentials-carboy-washer-assembly.html

Though it does not use a separate pressure washer.

 

[smccarter]

Not sure why you would want to pressure wash a carboy. They're very easy to clean with a little hot water, dish soap, and a carboy brush. Glass is sanitary. Just use the simplest and easiest method to clean the debris from the inside of the carboy. On brewday, simply put your sanitizing agent into the carboy and swirl it around the entire inner surface, drain it, and you're good to go.

I've been brewing for 10 years. Never had a problem with infections (knock on wood... I'll probably get one now). I don't pressure wash my carboys, don't bake them in the oven, don't submerge them in starsan, and haven't purchased anything special to clean them with.. just the brush. And above all else... I don't drop my carboys. I have 8. They've been with me for just about the entire 10 years.... now watch... I'll drop one today. I purchsed nylon carboy carriers with each of them, so I have handles on either side. It makes them very easy to handle and carry. Not sure I'd want to use them without the carriers. They would be too dangerous in that case.

 

[grathan]

I'm sure the psi on that northern brewer pump is nowhere near 3000.

As to why, how about why not? You want to heat up water, use expensive soap, and use a brush that may or may not reach the crud. That is assuming you also don't have plastic vessels which would also scratch and harbor bacteria.

For homebrewers who already own a pressure washer I think this needs to be explored more. I have used 50,000 psi on a nossle that sprayed upwards with multiple jets(didn't rotate) so I know they exist, but a quick Google search just shows spray balls that operate at 50 PSI. I think a rotating spray ball with a valve gating the PSI to max out a CIP spray ball would be a neat option.

 

[smccarter]

Could also try a flame thrower. I hear that kills all of the bacteria in a carboy.

 

[zach976]

Never used my pressure washer on a carboy but works great on corny kegs.

 

[PaintedRat]

Pressure washing sounds like more effort than is needed. My first hand me down carboy hadn't been washed after a friends last batch of beer. It sat in his garage and crusted up pretty good. I scrubbed that thing long enough to consider just buying a new one. I don't think I've needed a brush since I started using oxyclean free.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

And you can sanitize it this way

http://youtu.be/-yMZmpjq5nw

 

[mpcluever]

Pressure washing sounds like more effort than is needed.

I'm all for overthinking and overengineering things. However, given how easy it is to clean a carboy WITHOUT involving pressure, I just don't see the point. If you've ever broken a carboy, you'll see how thin that glass really is in spots.

 

[MaxStout]

There's always this gizmo:

Never used one, though it looks like it would work well.

 

[smccarter]

This should do the trick

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200405767_200405767

 

[passedpawn]

I'm all for overthinking and overengineering things. However, given how easy it is to clean a carboy WITHOUT involving pressure, I just don't see the point. If you've ever broken a carboy, you'll see how thin that glass really is in spots.

This. I thought they were relatively thick and strong. My glass carboy was heavy, and had those ribs on it, and it just looked indestructible. Then I broke one. I saw how thin the glass actually was.

You'd be surprised.

 

[kh54s10]

To the question of why I will never own a glass carboy. And why I wouldn't suggest using a pressure washer on one:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/carboy-brewing-accident-313454/

 

[Huff360]

I saw it attempted once. It was a true steam cleaner, not just a pressure washer, so it was much more pressure than the jiffy little $300 unit most of us have in our garage. Kerosene fired, 240V, trailer mounted, etc.

The wand didn't even make it into the neck all the way before the carboy blew into about 100 pieces (or more).

 

[smccarter]

I find that soaking my carboys in 2 gallons of unleaded gasoline and lighting them from a distance, thouroughly sanitizes them.

Just saying.

 

[Beer_Goggles]

Sorry been gone for a while. Thanks for the feedback though. I'm pretty new to home brewing and already love it. Went straight to all grain. Thanks to a lot of you in this forum its made brewing a little less frustrating.

I haven't had the need to use the pressure washer on the carboy (yet). I had the pressure washer out the other day washing my bike and was just thinking how it would work on a carboy. After reading some posts, sounds like a bad idea.

 

[skipper1953]

http://www.ultimatewasher.com/sewer-jetting-nozzles.htm#rotarysewernozzle

Scroll down to
Stainless Steel Rotating Sewer Nozzle

I use one on a regular basis for creating a mist of sanitizing solution inside 1000 liter totes. I've never tried it in a carboy. It will certainly fit into the neck of a carboy.

The holes are directed slightly toward the rear. It probably would not clean the bottom of a carboy without additional holes drilled into it. Since I have successfully enlarged the holes in the one I use, I can well imagine that one could drill an additional TINY hole or two to accomodate cleaning a carboy.

I got mine at ACE Hardware.

 

[Bsquared]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#71445T84

These work great with a sump pump in a bucket, I clean and sanitize my carboys, conical, and kegs with it. I use about 3-4 gallons with 3oz of PBW and can clean 4 carboys, 4 corny kegs, a 15 gallon keg and 15 gallon conical. I can probably clean more to but thats about all i have. I was using a CIP ball I got from brewershardware, but it would not fit in the neck of my 6.5 gallon carboys. the nozzle from Mcmaster It did not fit in my 6 gallon carboy and I have not tried it with my 5 gallon carboys.

I love the setup, one of my most used pieces of equipment next to my rig and my pint glass.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/easy-keg-washer-387421/

 

[philipCT]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#71445T84

These work great with a sump pump in a bucket, I clean and sanitize my carboys, conical, and kegs with it. I use about 3-4 gallons with 3oz of PBW and can clean 4 carboys, 4 corny kegs, a 15 gallon keg and 15 gallon conical. I can probably clean more to but thats about all i have. I was using a CIP ball I got from brewershardware, but it would not fit in the neck of my 6.5 gallon carboys. the nozzle from Mcmaster It did not fit in my 6 gallon carboy and I have not tried it with my 5 gallon carboys.

I love the setup, one of my most used pieces of equipment next to my rig and my pint glass.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/easy-keg-washer-387421/

So, bsquared - that item has a thread that's described as "1/2" BSPP Female", which sounds suspiciously unlike "NPT" or "FPT" or anything I'm familiar with. What kind of thread was on the stock you mated with it? Do you have any issues with threading or sealing/leaks?

 

[Bsquared]

I responded to phlipmeese's PM , but I figure I better post this to incase people searching the forum come across this, BSPP is similar to 1/2 NPT, I have mine attached to a 1/2" NPT nipple, works great for cleaning kegs and carboys. Be sure to pick up some CIP lube to lube up the nozzle after use.