Carboy + Cleaning it

[Rukula]

I got my trusty plastic fermenter that I've used for all my home brewing..
I recently obtained a used 50L huge glass carboy (used for wine) for a really-really low price.

Well, I don't want it sitting around for decoration, so i want to include it in the brewing process..

Some threads, and people, mention using a 2. carboy. I haven't read too much about it, but here is what i think it's for:

After letting the beer ferment in the bucket for about 5 days, you transfer everything over to a 2. carboy, and in there you let it complete.

So! That's what i understand of it, however, i don't see the point of it. Shall i add something when i move it over? Do I want to get the bottom sediments over to the 2. carboy as well?
Should the first stage be in the plastic bucket fermenter? or the glass carboy?

 

[phettebs]

I think you are talking about using the carboy to secondary. I do this if:

a) I want to age the beer for awhile (months).
b) I want to lager it because, well, it's a lager.
c) I want to dry hop it before bottling. I usually keg and put the hops right in the keg.

More often than not, I don't use a secondary. Some do it to brighten the beer up. You transfer off of the yeast in the FV into the carboy and then add finings to it. With a carboy that large, you can primary in it if you want. For secondary, depending on brewlength, I might be concerned about a lot of extra headspace and oxygen exposure.

Baz

 

[Rukula]

Ah! Thanks phettebs!

Wasn't thinking about the increase of headroom because of the size.

Well, i just gave it a wash with my carboy cleaner and some hot water, i got allot of the dirt away, but after drying it of, i found some dirt left on the inside from an old brew.

Are there some smart ways of cleaning this out? Or do i have to go with the obvious "super long brush" ?

 

[phettebs]

I soak it in oxyclean/hot water for a day and that seems to help.