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Cleaning the fermentor

B

Bach7210

Just finished up brewing my first batch, Cream stout...very tasty. Anyhow, I'm getting ready to start up another batch and I am curious as to the best method of cleaning my fermenting bucket. This is prior to me sanitizing it. I rinsed it out extremely well after the cream stout was finished, but going back and looking at it right now I can smell the residue of the stout. I was thinking using a bleach solution and a clean sponge to "scrub" it out, then sanitizing it with one step. How does this method sound?

Thanks in advance
 
I just use a new sponge and the hottest water I can stand without burning my hands. I worry about using bleach on plastic because the plastic may retain some of the bleach... It's also part of the reason I went to glass carboys, glass doesn't retain anything.
 
After thinking on it for a bit, and looking into some different methods, I decided against using a bleach solution.  Instead, I used about 5 gallons of luke warm water and oxyclean.  Let it sit in there for most of the day and then gave it a good rinsing.  I figure that stuff at least got it clean and ready to sanitize.  I suppose time will tell.
 
Congratulations on your fisrt batch!

I agree that hot water and elbow grease is the best for plastic. I think bleach solution should be okay as long as you don't soak overnight or anything, and rinse well. Plastic is slightly porous and can harbor strong flavors and odors. That's why they recommend you forego used pickle buckets for brewing.

Don't use any kind of abrasive cleanser or scrubber; it's possible that unwanted microflora will take up residence in the scratches, and you'll never get them out, no matter how well you santize. I learned that the hard way way back when.

I'm not trying to make you paranoid about fermenting in plastic. Just use common sense and err on the safe side. Invest in a glass fermenter or three... heavy, but they're easy to clean and it's a lot more fun to watch all that churning wort.
 
I've been looking at the glass carboys for a while now and am just about to the point of buying one.  I know without a doubt that I would enjoy watching the churning wort.  As a good portion of my overall enjoyment from home brewing comes from the "science" part of it.

I do appriciate the tips  ;)
 
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