Discolured Fermenter

[Flinders Park Brewer]

Boys and Girls,

I have been an avid "lurker" for some time now, but this is my first post......please take it easy on me!

I have been brewing for about 5 months now (12 brews) and my fermenter has developed a slight brown discolouration to the plastic. It seems no amount of washing with "Pink Stain" will remove it.

Everything looks clean - although with a brown tinge to it - and smells OK.

Any thoughts??

Cheers

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Welcome FPB, jeez there's a lot of brewers in SA
I find topping up the fermenter with water and 1/2 a cup of bleach does the job nicely. You should rinse thoroughly after using bleach however. Some use odourless bleach, personally I use smelly bleach and if I can still smell it after rinsing I rinse again. Can't tell with the odourless bleach if you have got rid of it all.
There is bound to be more suggestions mate and they will all do the job I'm sure.

C&B
TDA

 

[SJW]

I fill my fermenters up with water and add a good splash of bleach, then leave them overnight. Gets em clean as.

 

[pr1me]

same here, 1/8 of a bottle of white king and fill with water, then slap on the lid and shake the **** out of it until it foams through the airlock. leave it overnight then empty it in the morning and rinse any remaining gribblies and bleach foam out.

...damn them gribblies....

 

[joecast]

damn!!! 12 brews in five months?!! thats impressive. when do you find time to clean?

seriously though, as the others have said, a good soak with some detergent or bleach and a good rinse after should do the trick. the main things is as long as there isnt a bad smell to it you shouldnt have a problem. also, you may already know, dont scrub with anything that might scratch the plastic. leaves a good hiding place for anything that may harm the brew.
joe

 

[Flinders Park Brewer]

Joecast

Once the initial apprehension was gone, I slipped into a routine pretty quickly. I brew on a Sunday arvo, leave for 13 days, then bottle on Saturday mornings while listening to KG and Cornsey!

That leaves me a day to clean and sterilise etc. before brewing again.

As far as bottles go, my mother in law cleaned all the bottles I collected/bought to get me started. I then give a quick rinse after use, wash when doing the dishes (no help from the wife though <_< ) and then sterilise prior to bottling.

All down to routine really!!

Cheers

 

[pr1me]

im usually too full of product to accurately organize a routine based on days..... months maybe... days are far to short a time span... :lol:

 

[Doc]

Pink stain is awesome stuff.
Use 1 tspn per litre and fill up your fermenter with hot water.
Leave overnight and in the morning the bottom of the fermenter will be coated with brown scum and it will be clean.

Beers,
Doc

 

[RegBadgery]

bleach for plastic and nappySan for stainless steel. I like to give all the plastic bits a good old soak in a bleach solution for a day or two following fermentation/racking or whatever.

cheers
reg

 

[joecast]

im usually too full of product to accurately organize a routine based on days..... months maybe... days are far to short a time span... :lol:

same here pr1me, plus the shift work keeps me working different days each week.
joe

 

[devilsaltarboy]

bleach for plastic and nappySan for stainless steel. I like to give all the plastic bits a good old soak in a bleach solution for a day or two following fermentation/racking or whatever.

Be very careful using bleach on plastics, particularly leaving them overnight, plastic can readily adbsorb bleach odours (chlorinated odour stuff). Napisan is a non chlorine based sanitiser (sodium percarbonate). A lot of sources (including Palmers book) agree with this.
Cheers
Peter

PS no im not getting paid out by the makers of napisan but will take any payouts offered

 

[dicko]

G'day FPB and welcome to this site,
The brown scum that you mention can easily be removed with a mild solution of Phosphoric acid.
There are a few brew shops that sell products based on this acid for example Goliaths, Grumpys, and Jovial Monks.
I have found that if you buy phosphoric acid in bulk and dilute it to suit your needs then it is much cheaper and you can clean a fermenter in 15 to 20 mins without any residue that is left by bleach etc. although a VERY MILD solution of bleach is excellent for sanitising plastic equipment.
See this site and check the posts by "Sosman" and have a look at his web site for more more info.
Hope this helps,