Cleaning Fermenters

[neo__04]

Hey all,

Haven't brewed all year and am looking to fill the kegs again for christmas.

I've got a 60L fermenter and 3 x 30L fermenters.

Earlier in the year they were left with fermenter crud, i have since pressure washed them, but they are a little stained.

Is there a recommended procedure to clean/steralize them to get them back to original for fermenting, or should i just throw em and start again?

 

[damoninja]

You don't need to do this every time you brew, after I've emptied a fermenter I clean it immediately with hot water and a soft sponge and dry in the sun for a day or so. But given it'd been left uncleaned here's what I'd do:

Hot water get as much crap out as you reasonably can (you've done this bit)
Get some sodium percarbonate, leave for a day or so soaking (throw in taps, spoons, whatever may as well)
Scrub any crud off that's left on there (not likely any will be after this) if any's been removed, leave sodium perc for a little longer
Rinse with hot water, rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse (you get the idea just get the sodium perc out)
Leave in the sun for a day or two
Store until brew day
Sanitise with starsan before adding wort

Edit: acknowledged that you've already pressure washed

 

[RdeVjun]

Percarbonate soak, repeat.
Suggest to go easy with the scrubbing as you don't want to scratch the surface, the minute nooks and crannies are nearly impossible to clean effectively and harbour infection sources.

 

[bradsbrew]

Another vote for sod perc (unscented napisan if you do not have the 100% sod perc). A cup of sod perc with two kettles of boiling water, and swirl to get it working faster, then fill to the top with tap water and leave for 24 - 48hrs. Whilst still full of water wipe the entire surface with a chux cloth, empty, rinse and wipe a few times. Then add another kettle full of boiling water put the lid on but not totally sealed and shake. Be carefull because it will spit hot water at you.
Spray with starsan and it will be right to go.

 

[neo__04]

Awesome, thanks guys. Nice to know i dont have to throw them all out.

And This brewing season, i'll make myself a rule not to leave a dirty fermenter!

 

[TheWiggman]

This question will likely have as many methods as there are posters.

Cleaning: if you really want to get it clean, use sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) at the recommended mixing ratio. Don suitable rubber gloves and eye protection and handle with extreme care. It will kill anything it touches and really is the most effective method for cleaning and killing nasties.
A safer and effective product is sodium percarbonate or other common brewery cleaner like Brewery Wash or PBW. Boil a jug of water, add a cap full of sodium percabonate and shake. Give it a solid rub with a cloth once it's cooled down and that'll do the job 95% of the time. An alternative is unscented Napisan which is ~30% strength. Use 4 times as much. After cleaning, rinse well with warm water. I like to put another jug of boiling water in afterwards to finish the job and aid sanitisation.

Sanitising: There are numerous products like phosphoric acid, pink stain remover, Starsan, iodophor and sodium metabisulphate. All do the job well, but I use Starsan simply because the supplier I used stocked it. It's a good idea to change your sanitiser regularly to keep the nasties guessing. Mix at the recommended ratio and add about 500ml of solution to the fermenter and shake well. Leave for 2 mins, tip out the sanitiser (it can be reused) and rinse or don't - I choose to rinse.
Tip - store sanitiser in a 5 or 10l jerrycan so the ratio can be calculated easily and it's there when you need it. I also have a spray bottle with it which I use for utensils, outsides of tubes, cleaning of surfaces etc.

This should bring your fermenter back to tip-top order. I've had mine since 2006 and it looks legitimately like a new one.

ED: typed this ages ago, wasn't aware of other responses but looks like we're on the same page sans soaking. I used to soak but find it to be a bit wasteful of water.

 

[neo__04]

Just on the topic above, i thought starsan diluted or something as it sat for a while and it was recommended not to premix it and store.

Otherwise i really like that idea of making a 10l!

 

[damoninja]

Just on the topic above, i thought starsan diluted or something as it sat for a while and it was recommended not to premix it and store.

Otherwise i really like that idea of making a 10l!

So long as it's clean and the pH does not rise (for whatever reason) above 3.0. Though I've heard reps from the company say both yes it will keep and no it won't...

I keep mine in a cube and draw from it when I need it also with a spray bottle in the brewing area and near the keezer.

 

[koolkuna]

Anyone used sodium percarbonate on a espresso machine??

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

I have a pretend espresso machine(Nespresso pod machine) and use citric acid dissolved in water to clean it. Much much cheaper than the Nespresso de-scaling stuff. I used to buy it and wonder what it was made from... one day at work someone spilled a bottle of CLR and after getting a whiff of it I was like "that's it! That's the Nespresso cleaning rip off shit!" Although when I did a bit of research into it, it was suggested cleaning with CLR was like using a sledge hammer to drive in a thumb tack and citric acid was a better option.

 

[Mr B]

The tablets used in the group head are percarb, at an absolutely horrible price.

Ours recommends vinegar to put through the water bit.