Pressure fermenter cleaning

Hi,
I recently purchased some kegland chubby 30L fermenters from MM. I’m currently serving my first brew using one. I added the dry hops shortly after high krausen, cold crashed and then started to server from my kegerator. Excellent beer, but interested in how you clean the fermenters ? I can’t get my hand into it, seems it would be tricky to get a brush in them too, I have the usual suspect cleaners, Oxy, PBW, and Enzybrew, what are you hints ? Thanks

Something caustic. Can you really not get a brush in?

Minan Carboy Brush, Carboy Cleaning Brush, 24" Extra Long Brush Flexible Bendable Brushes, with Non-slip Handle, for 3 5 6 6.5 Gallon Glass Carboys https://amzn.eu/d/d14D8Vi

MashBag said:

Something caustic. Can you really not get a brush in?

Minan Carboy Brush, Carboy Cleaning Brush, 24" Extra Long Brush Flexible Bendable Brushes, with Non-slip Handle, for 3 5 6 6.5 Gallon Glass Carboys https://amzn.eu/d/d14D8Vi

Click to expand...

Perfect thank you

It's really only a bent loo brush, and I have been using this type of brush for years. Imo the best crud remover out there (funny that )... And a bit of pipe stuffed on the end, makes them reach into the deepest drum, FV, kettle etc..

Long Handle Toilet Brush With Grip Handle, Strong Nylon Bristles for effective Cleaning, Can be used as a refill / replacement, Perfect for use at home, office or workplace or brewery https://amzn.eu/d/5ajWb6O

from kegland website:

Materials:

Food grade PET

you cant brush plastic especially not with bristles. and especially not a fermenter.

you will cause micro abrasions and or outright scratches which will
a) hold the perfect place for bugs that you wont be able to get to.

and
b) cause fogging ( just go to any aquarium with round tanks they are all fogged up from scratches) which will prevent you from seeing if the FV is actually clean or not.

a soft cloth brush may work but you definately dont need to get inside that thing.

from the chubby manual:
DO NOT use caustic soda or strong acids, as they will deteriorate theplastic material of the tank
DO NOT use steel-wool or abrasive scrubbers.For scrubbing protein residues, use of soft sponges is recommended

https://brewshop.no/images_hovedside/Chubby+Apollo+-+User+Manual+-+2024.pdf

Cleaning and Sanitation1. For cleaning, we recommend non-caustic products such as sodium percarbonate or our Atomic 15ABC (Alkaline Brewery Cleaner P/N 9006).For easier cleaning, we recommend our Fermenter Cleaning Kit (P/N 8051ND).2. For sanitising your Chubby Apollo, it is best to go with non-rinse phosphoric-acid type sanitisers suchas the Atomic 15 Foaming Sanitiser (P/N 9001) or something similar.3. Do not use caustic soda or strong acids as they will deteriorate the plastic material of the tank.4. Do not exceed temperatures above 50°C. PET is a soft plastic and will deform at higher temperatures.5. For scrubbing protein residues, soft sponges are highly recommended.DO NOT use steel-wool or abrasive scrubbers.


i thought the whole point of the chubby and why they say not to ferment in there oxebar 20l is because you can get your hand in the chubby. you must have big hands. lol but seriously cant you get a kid or someone with small hands.

i still would use the softest cloth.

i ferment in oxebar 20l's. i cant get inside there. theres a lot of threads on cleaning plastic PET without brushing.

i find a long several hour soak with oxyclean gets it spotless. and works even better than short PBW blast which cant be left in contact with PET too long or will eventually cause issues.

@Keruso I take it all back.
And I would take it back.

That's going to be a bugger to keep clean

MashBag said:

@Keruso I take it all back.
And I would take it back.

That's going to be a bugger to keep clean

Click to expand...

No problem, I have some enzybrew and sodium percarbonate, plus some PBW. I’ll try diving it a good shake first

You need one of these and some sodium percarbonate https://brewkegtap.co.uk/products/kegland-bucket-blaster

When I clean my plastic (hdpe) fermenter I don a marigold rubber glove, wet the fermenter with clean water and gently rub (like an eraser) the stains. They eventually disappear without scratching.

Obs, the glove is on the hand that’s doing the cleaning inside the fermenter. I know what you lot are like

Now the chubby fermenter isn’t from kegland is Keg King I’ve used these in the past and a cranked head brush is good for cleaning krausen I used Chemclean at 30 degrees left to soak for a couple of hours generally helped loosen the krausen ring off.

RichardM said:

You need one of these and some sodium percarbonate https://brewkegtap.co.uk/products/kegland-bucket-blaster

Click to expand...

Or a bucket and a pond pump. Blimey is that really £70

Buffers brewery said:

When I clean my plastic (hdpe) fermenter I don a marigold rubber glove, wet the fermenter with clean water and gently rub (like an eraser) the stains. They eventually disappear without scratching.

Obs, the glove is on the hand that’s doing the cleaning inside the fermenter. I know what you lot are like

Click to expand...

Tbh I use caustic and a bog brush in mine and have done, on same HDPE fermenters for years.

But these 'ere PET ones might be more delicate, designed to melt quicker and fall apart so you have to buy another one... To keep your £70 bucket blaster occupied

i got a bucket blaster and find it sits in he corner of the brewery most of the time. long brushless soaks with cleaners work just as well with less effort.

fluketamer said:

i got a bucket blaster and find it sits in he corner of the brewery most of the time. long brushless soaks with cleaners work just as well with less effort.

Click to expand...

The bucket blaster lets you use less cleaning solution to soak whatever you are cleaning.

It is very little effort to set up and then you just leave it running for 20 minutes while you do something else.

The bucket blaster is great but the pump is quite powerful I’ve had the experience of a pet fermenter flying off the bucket blaster so I would not advise leaving it unattended

fluketamer said:

you must have big hands. lol but seriously cant you get a kid or someone with small hands.

Click to expand...

You can't get your hand in the original chubby.
The new chubby Apollo you can get your hand in but it's not available in the UK yet.
And it's Keg king not Kegland.

I would recommend Bucket Blaster as it uses less sanitation liquid. And it is much more convenient as I set it up with normal water to clean for 20 minutes and then another 20 minutes with sanitizer to sanitise it while I can do other things. However, the fermenter should be placed securely at I once had had it tilted and all sanitizer was wasted as it leaked to the floor instead of the bucket

I use one table spoon of sodium perborate dissolved in warm water and added to the fermenter 12 hours later clean as a whistle, no scrubbing required.
Before.

After.

I use the same method on the Juniors and Chubby.

Your whistle still seems to have a ring of Krausen around the midriff.
But I'm sure that would come off with a microfibre cloth.

RoomWithABrew said:

Your whistle still seems to have a ring of Krausen around the midriff.
But I'm sure that would come off with a microfibre cloth.

Click to expand...

They are the oxy clean bubbles.