Cleaning and storing 20l cubes ready for wort

[Hillsey]

Hi Everyone,
When I empty a 20l cube of wort, how do I clean it to refill it later on (weeks later) with hot wort? Do I use just normal napisan? What about bleach or milton's? Do I keep it filled with a solution until I use it next? And how much napisan, bleach or miltons do I need to use?
Thanks heaps.

 

[Stouter]

I use Napisan, or anything similar that's unfragranced, with the active ingredient being Sodium Percarbonate and most of those products have about 26% in them.
I fill my cubes with a mix of water and couple of tablespoons, leave overnight, rinse really well, then store with the lid on. When it's time to use again I give a spray with Starsan and away we go.

 

[damoninja]

I go for pure sodium perc, doesn't have all the surfactant crap or other crap in the napisan and costs a bomb less overall.

I'd do this right after emptying, remove and rinse the stuff then put starsan in it and just leave it in there until next use

More or less as stouter's mentioned

 

[Jack of all biers]

+1 re sodium percarbonate as above. Warm water, leave over night, then use the solution to clean other stuff if needed (bottles, kettle, cubes) and leave for a couple of days. Then onto the lawn, rinse, dry, store with the lid on, Starsan before reuse.

 

[Bribie G]

I rinse a few times then trickle in some Starsan and half a litre of hot water, shake like buggery and store.
About 3 times a year I fill the cubes with hot water and a whole cup of perc that strips them back to white overnight.

Cubes mostly date from 2011.

 

[pist]

Every brew i soak in sodium perc. Hose out, leave to dry with cap and bung out and sit on a shelf in the shed till i need them next time

 

[mxd]

I rinse and then half full with hot water and perc, rotate it over night, release pressure every so often then leave water with percent in till I use it. When I use it it gets a good rinse then starsan

 

[Rocker1986]

Rinse out with a bit of cold water, then hot tap water until all the residue is removed, then store til next use. I may use some Starsan in them on brew day but not very often. Usually just another rinse out with hot water before filling with wort. I wouldn't call this best practice by any stretch but I've never had any problems in 4 years. Occasionally they get a soak in perc to clean them up better.

 

[Batz]

I hope the OP doesn't mind a slight derail of this thread, but I have six 20lt cubes, clean and ready to go.
Free to anyone who would like them.

Batz

 

[mofox1]

The occasional bleach job every few uses is good for keeping them shiny.

Needs a good hot rinse and perc soak (or two) after to remove all traces of the bleach, but it is worth it.

I store mine with statsan in them, but they are always on fairly high rotation.

 

[Batz]

I hope the OP doesn't mind a slight derail of this thread, but I have six 20lt cubes, clean and ready to go.
Free to anyone who would like them.

Batz

Gone already.

 

[fletcher]

when they're dirty, i clean/soak with sodium percarbonate (or napisan if i'm out). when i need to use it i'll empty the sodium percabonate solution, rinse it with boiling water (overkill but it never hurts), then spray it with starsan once the cube has cooled a bit, give her a shake to get the whole thing foamy, and she's ready to be filled.

 

[evoo4u]

My cube was due for a good clean this morning, after having been used for more than a few no-chills, including quite a few stouts, porters and other darkish beers. So in accordance with directions, I used 60g Sodium Percarbonate and hot (62C) water, filled, and screwed on the cap.

I "assumed" that as the water cooled, it would contract a little, and since it had expanded a little over the course of quite a few no-chills, it would come back to a more normal as-new size and shape --- wrong!

After leaving it for 8 hours, it was like the Michelin man, and ready to explode! I guess the oxygen given off increased the pressure somewhat...

It's now quite rotund, and ready, I think, for the pension!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Ha.. Yeah its worth noting that mixing SP in hot water in a sealed container builds up a lot of pressure. I fill PET bottles with a carbonation cap to clean beer lines etc. The pressure build up is a bonus for that but I've had some split the bottom of the PET bottles if I forget to release the pressure.
I wonder how much volume your cube holds now?

 

[evoo4u]

I wonder how much volume your cube holds now?

I'd guess 24 litres now, maybe close on 25. If it rains this afternoon and the tank overflows, I'll fill it, weigh it, and report.

 

[rude]

My 20 L cubes hold 23 L after lots of use

 

[evoo4u]

Well blow me down - I just filled Fat Albert and, like rude's, it holds a tad over 23kg water as well (24.10 - 1.08). The way it looked, and felt tight as a drum I was sure it'd expanded more than that.

And the test water I used won't be wasted. It'll go into the HLT for this week's brew.