Plastic Carboy Cleaning

[Matthew F.]

Typically I clean my 6 gal. carboys using no dye/no perfume OxiClean. I make a solution and let them soak. 

I have a few this year, though, that have rather stubborn dirty areas that aren't going away. My understanding is that using a brush can scratch the plastic and this would lead to bacteria issues.

Any tips?

[Miguel A. Pereda]

A diluted bleach solution diluted over a period of time cleans well, but be sure to rinse the container well afterwards so that no traces remain.

[Gloria Bell]

I use powdered brewery wash.  Works like a hot dang!  Use hot water and you can either use a concentrate solution (I'd do this first) and just swirl a bunch of times or fill it right up.  I don't use anything rough on my wine buckets and it'll take the apple stains right off.  I even dissolved years of black berry wine stains on an open fermentor without really having to scrub - poured it on and watched the colour go away.

The other nice thing is it's an alkaline cleaner and safe for metals but I like that I wash with PBW rinse well then starsan.  The starsan removes any traces of PBW and the massive shift in pH is really good at bursting cell walls for any bateria ect left after cleaning.  It's a one two punch for clean.  Just be careful PBW is slippery when in solution and be careful handling anything glass.  If your hands are slippery, rinse them with an acid solution like water plus some malic or citric or tartaric acid to get them squeaky again (small amounjt of citric acid like a 1/2tsp per liter is all you need and you should just drip your hands in and get rid of that slippery-ness immediately then rinse again).  I use gloves and I don't measure but you don't need to use a ton - hot water tap water works best and maybe a tbsp per couple litres for a concentrated solution.  Directions say 6-9g per gallon I believe (or maybe it's per liter) but it will say on the bag/container.

[Matthew F.]

Miguel and Gloria--thank you for tips! Much appreciated!