Near Miss With Dropping Full Glass Carboy.

[magnethead]

Thanks for the tip on the heating belt, It's what I use when my Brewpad heating is busy. you see the black wiring going to the plug(not the brewbelt white wiring), well there's a thermostat (B&Q) behind the Carboy at the level of the brewbelt, that is set for 20c...THen I wrap the whole thing in a Duvet....as you can see it holds a steady 20C no problem, and the room would adverage 14-15c (It's not used)

I was looking for a reason to get rid of it and that's good enough 

So did the 3-day soak manage to dislodge all that caked-on krausen material? Did it f**k!

Bazza, sounds, like you're having waaayy too much trouble cleaning the glass, (It shouldn't take more then 5 mins) there's a large Glass Brush you can get for these Carboys that work perfectly on even the most heavily crusted Carboys provided, you make the correct bends in the wire to apply pressure around the neck area. I'll post a pic later.
But I always clean my Carboys within an hour of kegging my beer, couldn't imagine waiting days for cleaning solutions to work, when all you need is a little hot water and a bit of elbow grease 

[Bazza]

Bazza, sounds, like you're having waaayy too much trouble cleaning the glass,....I always clean my Carboys within an hour of kegging my beer, couldn't imagine waiting days for cleaning solutions to work, when all you need is a little hot water and a bit of elbow grease 

Fair point, magnethead, but it was after 11 at night when I'd finished kegging so I took the lazy, post Sunday lunch, approach of 'just leaving it to soak'.

Once I got the bucket handle bent to the proper angles it didn't take that much time in the end, but I'd be interested to see your carboy cleaner. I just wasn't sure of using brushes as some can be pretty abrasive and there's also the fear of scraping the metal part on the glass.


-Barry

[Ciderhead]

I am a lazy bastard and let the chemicals do the work. So 1/4 of a glass good shake tip out and then soak with w5 and warm not boiling water
I have a carboy cleaner with the spinning flaps from the us, frankly it's just a gadget, another one.
W5 from Lidl in the purple tub will shift anything if soaked for 24hrs
Then a really good rinse with jet on hose and a spray of SS before I cover with cling film.
Before the next use which could be months a drop of SS and another good rinse and I'm good to go.

[Bazza]

Had a quick look in Harrods - sorry - Poundland this lunchtime and all they had was oxi clean (for clothes) and Cillit Bang. Would Cillit Bang do the same thing? I don't recall Barry Scott shouting - 'BANG! And the resulting  hardened Krausen material from a 2-week ferment is GONE!', but that's not to say he hasn't.

And it was only a pound.

Do they have similar shops down South called 'One Euro Fifteen-ish give-or-take Land'?


-Barry

[magnethead]

Hi Bazza,
I know it's not rocket science but this is what I was talking about, the Carboy brush is just a BIG bottle brush, but you can get enough pressure on the inside of the glass to clean off anything...sometimes you need to pull it up and down to get a bit of vertical motion going to clean the hard spots.

The Metal wire is not going to damage the glass at all 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Had a quick look in Harrods - sorry - Poundland this lunchtime and all they had was oxi clean (for clothes) and Cillit Bang. Would Cillit Bang do the same thing? I don't recall Barry Scott shouting - 'BANG! And the resulting  hardened Krausen material from a 2-week ferment is GONE!', but that's not to say he hasn't.

And it was only a pound.

Do they have similar shops down South called 'One Euro Fifteen-ish give-or-take Land'?


-Barry

They are called €2 shops typical rip off on the exchange rate 
Methinks Cillit Bang is an acidic cleaner for removing limescale etc, normally best results on fob/Krausen is with a hot caustic wash, followed by an acidic wash to shine the vessel, will check with one of the chemical engineers re Oxonia clothes cleaner and get back, we use an oxonia addition to the caustic wash for extra intense cleaning when required but I'm sure its peracitic acid.

[DEMPSEY]

What's the chemical mix used by the brewery's to clean in place. With all that crud stuck to the roof of a sealed conical fermenter you would need a fairly strong wash to first clean it off then to sanitise it.

[magnethead]

"Spectak G" (caustic detergent) to get rid of the hardcore Crud.....and then maybe some "Peroxyacetic Acid"  which just breaks down itself naturally, doesn't need to be washed out after.

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

If you think of a cake cut into 4 sections,
1st section represents Detergent strength
2nd represents Temperature of cleaning solution
3rd represents Mechanical Action ie scrubbing/ power washing etc
and 4th represents Time
if any of the 4 are reduced then the others must be increased to give the same level of cleaning.
As Magnethead has stated usually a prewash followed by a degas and pressurisation by sterile air as caustic breaks down co2 and causes a vacuum, then a caustic solution at 80C for possibly 5 wash cycles followed by a cold acid wash and sterilant rinse. Cleanliness is confirmed by ATP test, plus regular vessel inspections to ensure that crud is being removed.
This guy has developed a neat little system for cleaning Carboys and Kegs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKPlQsjh-v8

[Will_D]

I thinkyou have just found the "NHC Theme Tune"

Oh and BTW great tech response to the question re CIP.

Peracetic I know is a failrly agressive cleaner but surely leaves behind an Acetic Acid residue if not fully rinsed away  (like Cl based cleaners can leave chlorine traces) whereas caustic (NaOH/KOH) or even milder perCarbonate cleaners(Lidl w5) only leave behind an alkali that in itself is not tasteable (in very low concentrations) 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Yes Will,we use a final sterile water rinse, I meant to link to this youtube video as he gives a better description of parts and assembly,
ps wouldnt recommend switching a 220 volt extension lead on on wet flip flops but hey its probably ok on 110v in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwP-qIxNsk

[Ciderhead]

If I was cleaning a shed load or carboys or kegs maybe but you are looking at the guts of €80 worth of bits there.
There is also something therapeutic in stripping kegs for cleaning though

[Will_D]

Ah common John!

You know we are equipment freaks.

Just image:

Replace the cheap plastic with SS. Nice shinny pipes and connectors. Submersed pump. Arduino controlling time temperature and which of the fluid lines/reservoirs are being pumped:

Lower carboy or keg. Microswitch detects it and runs the cycle.

1. Hot water rinse ( 1 minute to flush out the crud ) Arduino heats the batch while the 10 min cycle is running).  Flush to waste.

2. Hot W% or VWP or solution of choice ( 10 mins ) (Recycled)

3. Cold water rinse, flush to waste (30 seconds)

Lift off, and the system resets itself waiting for the next candidate.

That way you only have to lift the keg/carboy on and off once and you have 12 minute beer break while the computer does the hard work. Plus you can wear your flip flops!

[Ciderhead]

The braumeister of washing

[alealex]

All of that is pointless, every glass carboy is going to end up like this one sooner or later