Cube maintenance and lifespan

[TheWiggman]

I'm going to be devil's advocate here and suggest that filling the cube is unnecessary unless you're trying to address the stains as shacked wants removed. A thorough clean after every use should prevent the staining negating the need for a hardcore solution.

For a 23l cube invariably a few litres are used to rinse before and after soaking. Then it's filled with 23l. Total wash water is in the order of 25-30l for the cube of a 23l batch, disregarding all the other water used for cleaning of the gear following a brew. That's a significant amount of water for 23l of beer and even though I might bath in the stuff, I like to be efficient with water in this oft parched country.

A good clean immediately after use uses 3.5l of boiling water and maybe 3-5 litres of rinsing water, so all up 9l at worst.

I used to be a fill-it-to-the-brim bloke, then a fill-it-halfway-and-flip-it bloke, and now I wash aggressively straight after use (advice from Manticle in a post somewhere). Same with my fermenters. I've noticed no change in cleanliness or added staining so unless there's good cause not to it's how I'm going to do it from now on.

 

[Mozz]

I'm giving mine a triple rinse straight after empty. Then half fill and store with Starsan. I don't care about staining. Come fill time it's tip out and a quick rinse without worrying about residual chemicals.
Does anyone see a problem just using Starsan because I'm only trialling it as a minimum stuff around method?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I'm giving mine a triple rinse straight after empty. Then half fill and store with Starsan. I don't care about staining. Come fill time it's tip out and a quick rinse without worrying about residual chemicals.
Does anyone see a problem just using Starsan because I'm only trialling it as a minimum stuff around method?

Star-san wont clean, it really only sanitises. It is a contact no-rinse sanitiser.

Very good stuff and highly recommended, but you still need bleach, sodium-perc, caustic soda for the actual cleaning and soaking.

You would use star-san if you had a clean dry cube that needed sanitising just before filling. You would only need about 2 cups ( 1/2Lt ) diluted and shake it around until it fully foams up, let it sit for 10-20 then tip out the star-san. Dont worry about the foam as it is harmless to beer. The foam is very important to how it works

 

[Mozz]

Cheers Stu. I find it hard to drain every last drop out of the corners of the cubes so I'm paranoid about residual chemical in the beer. That's why I'm trying the Starsan as a no rinse sanitiser. A bit of residual is no concern. I'm only really worried about the sanitisation. A bit of residual tannin doesn't worry me. However I'll probably run a sodium perc/bleach clean every 3 runs or so and do a big rinse.

 

[Mozz]

I guess what I'm getting at nothing should grow in the Starsan solution when I'm storing the cubes?

 

[real_beer]

It seems to be that the plastic cubes are being stained at the molecular level :huh:, and the only thing I can think of that could possible get the stain out quickly is if you could get a mini sized NutriBullet through the lid hole and pulverize the stain with its molecular level high speed blending capabilities :icon_chickcheers: . It would have to be waterproofed of course to avoid electrocution concerns , but it definitely a molecular level problem. Probably best just to treat it like the staining from Iodophor and don't worry about it.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I guess what I'm getting at nothing should grow in the Starsan solution when I'm storing the cubes?

Correct, but there is no need to specificly fill them to store them, but it wouldn't hurt to leave 1 or 2 cup fulls and santise before storing and just leave it in there until you go to use it

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

It seems to be that the plastic cubes are being stained at the molecular level :huh:, and the only thing I can think of that could possible get the stain out quickly is if you could get a mini sized NutriBullet through the lid hole and pulverize the stain with its molecular level high speed blending capabilities :icon_chickcheers: . It would have to be waterproofed of course to avoid electrocution concerns , but it definitely a molecular level problem. Probably best just to treat it like the staining from Iodophor and don't worry about it.

Surprisingly the Nutripulverizingbullet thing looks to have the same thread on it as the cap for cubes....you could be onto something

 

[mfeighan]

i use my sprinkler head cip thingo i made, clean 1 50l fermenter, 2-3 kegs, 2 cubes with about 10l of fluid. Depends on my mood i will either use pbw, napisan + tsp. Both turn out brilliantly. The cip is usually at ~90c as once up to temp thats as slow as my nasa burner can go without being blown out by a breeze

 

[Curly79]

Little Off Topic but if anyone around the Greensborough,Eltham,Hurstbridge, Kinglake area would like a New 25 Ltr cube I've got about 8 to give away. PM me if your keen. Cheers

 

[shacked]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll fill 'er up to the top with some sodium perc and see how it goes!

 

[fdsaasdf]

I soak my cubes with PBW for between a day and a week after tipping into the fermenter, other than that they are stored with 1-2L of Starsan in the shed, usually upside down. For one cubed FWK bought from CB I had trouble lifting sediment so between a PBW soak and rubbing a towel wrapped on a bottle brush on the trouble area... No dramas.

At least a couple of my cubes have done >10 brews since I've had them. I have mates who've been recycling the same couple of cubes with frequent brewing for years without issue...

 

[Brewman_]

I'll add my 2c worth,

I agree with lots of the above, but not all of it. I think Hot water is better, but I don't use it.
Things I think are important, and the process I follow.
1) Good cold water rinse after use. Including the lid and bung being removed. This is just a litre or two a shake and tip it out, say 3 times. Place the bung inside the cube and bung the cube with a tap or a spare bung, even remove the o ring from the bung that was previously used and toss it in as well.
2) I think Sodium Percarbonate is sufficient as a cleaner for this job. But I mean 100%, not Napisan, or use 4 times as much Napisan, and make sure it has no scent.
3) I use cold water, but hot would be better.
4) Full soak. Squeeze all the air out just like the wort.
5) Soak a day at least, 2 days is ok. But I never store cubes wet, ever.
6) Drain and rinse with cold water.
7) Pull bungs, and lids off and let dry completely. The sun is great, but the HDPE is un-stabilised so it will shorten the life of the cube if you leave it in the sun for too long, but it dries it fast and allows the process to be complete.
8) Loosely fit a lid and a bung. This keeps dust out and lets any potential condensation to escape. Bugs won't grow when it is dry!

Prior to use.
1) Spray the cube off with a hose inside and out.
2) Add a small amount of a good sanitiser from your LHBS, diluted at the correct ratio, splash around allowing the sanitiser to flow / spill out of the loose bung and lid.
3) Toss other equipment in the cube for sanitation, such as the racking tube / hose.
4) Leave that soak after splashing around for the prescribed length of time on the instructions of the sanitiser.
5) Nip up the Bung!!!!
6) Drain the sanitiser out the cube. Rinse / No Rinse as designated by the sanitiser you are using.
5) I personally follow up with a rinse of the cube with Boiling water, and drain. I love Chemicals, but hey, no more than what I really need.
6) Fill the cube with your brew
7) Squeeze out all the air.
8) Seal it up.

That's not the only process. It is what I have done, and works for me. And I have been using the same cubes for a long time.

Cheers Steve

 

[Mr B]

Would you learned gents consider the below to be staining?

Cold percarb/meta mix doesn't really work, I just got some caustic from Coles to give it some stick. Doesn't affect the brews, but it bugs me (cause it's also at the back of my mind that it could be GROWING!)

 

[indica86]

Bleach removes that **** from mine,
A little in some water and rotate the jerry every few days.