Cleaning HDPE water Jerry cans and No Chill Cubes

[aero-spaced-out]

Hello all,

Just getting ready for a brew and will be my first time treating my tap water.
Went to hunt out my 25L HDPE water containers and came to find that there was condensation on the inside and they were sealed. (No chill cube is fine but it is also HDPE so included it in the title)
They've been like this for at least 3 months now.
There is not growth on the inside of them or anything but would a normal hot water with PBW/Oxy and through shake to agitate be suitable for these to get rid of anything that may have decided it likes the conditions in there?
They held RO water that I used for cleaning at one stage.

What's the best way to go about cleaning these properly and thoroughly?

 

[Caramel Ox]

I have never cleaned the containers I use to fetch and store RO so I’d suggest doing nothing.

 

[Rwilts]

With my no chill cube (used yesterday) I wash out after use ,add a kettle of boiled water and the give them a flush with starsan. Then when I next use it I flush out with boiled water and fill. I have a few dark patches inside but they haven't caused any issues.

I did retire my first cube after about 20 odd brews just because it just looked dirty inside and I had another.

If I use the cubes to collect RO water , which I did a bit in 2023 I just made sure they were clean to the eye.

 

[Clickeral]

I rinse mine out with the hose after I empty the wort out of them, then they get a teaspoon of plain sodium percarbonate (PBW etc would be fine) and a full 1.7L of boiling from the kettle. I shake it, release the pressure, shake it release the pressure and then seal it up to leave upside down so the handle and lid get contact, (I normally clean multiples at once) by the time the kettle has boiled for the next one I loosen the lid of, reseal shake release pressure (so it pops back to shape) and then store with the sodium percarbonate solution until I empty it and add no rinse sanitizer (which I empty out before filling with new hot wort)

Never had an issue, some of the guys I know also rinse the sodium percarbonate out before adding no rinse but each to there own

 

[MashBag]

If you think beer is good and drink, anything that comes into contain with it needs to be "could eat off it" clean.

If this was a water carrier for a camping trip, I venture you would rinse it out, with tap water.

If you feel the need for chemicals this is the only place I would use a campden tablet (sodium or potassium metabisulphite)

 

[aero-spaced-out]

Welp.
Just double checked my no chill cube and there mould.
I have a lot of swear words I could say right now but I'm now looking at chilling in the kettle and pitching tonight before bed.

No chill has been filled with boiling water and plenty of Oxy to see if I can get it cleaned well enough for use again. Then I'm going to rinse the living hell out of it with boiling water multiple times to ensure if there was anything there before, that it won't be anymore.

Had to do something similar with a vessel in my last job to get mould out of a vessel a colleague had intentionally filled and just left out of spite when they quit, albeit rinsed with dilute HCl and NaOH solutions with several rinse outs in between and using room temp DI water. Wasn't ideal but it worked and the micro results proved it so here we go with some questionable cleaning

 

[aero-spaced-out]

Now beginning to wonder if I could use a keg as a no chill vessel

 

[Rwilts]

Some on here just leave in boiler to cool.

Keg may be too small

 

[MashBag]

Now beginning to wonder if I could use a keg as a no chill vessel

I won't. As the hot liquor cools it will implode the corny.

 

[aero-spaced-out]

I won't. As the hot liquor cools it will implode the corny.

Yeah I was considering this too tbf

Half way through my attempt to clean these HDPE containers
Have one finished and not a smell or sight of anything in it so let's see if the other two go just as well
Nearly 4 hours from the cleaning commenced.

Will keep you all posted

 

[MashBag]

A splash of cheap vodka keeps closed vessels perfectly clean. And it's no issue, if you forget to drain it.

 

[aero-spaced-out]

A splash of cheap vodka keeps closed vessels perfectly clean. And it's no issue, if you forget to drain it.

Noted!