Cleaning and using 54ltr carboys

[Aid]

I bagged 5x 54 litre carboys that were used for red wine. They weren't rinsed and were left in the garden for EVER!!! The result is 5 pond-stinking containers that were caked inside and out. How do you go about cleaning these big fellas?

and once clean, they're pretty heavy full, how do you manage them? In terms of positioning and racking etc.

[rjb222]

On this side of the pond we have quite a few people that use these 54 liter Demi-Johns . Are they wicker covered or a plastic basket? For the Glass part I would start with a good soak in Diversol (the pink cleaning powder) mixed in proper proportions. I would fill them on a elevated area and leave them soak for a good week or more with out disturbing them. Siphon off a good amount of the diversol scrub vigorously with a good brush inside and out rinse sanitize and put into use. Many of the people using these use transfer pumps ETC. for racking as these are quite heavy when full. If you own a Buon Vino Filter you can use this as a transfer pump. Good find by the way.

[lockwood1956]

Be careful when handling these when out of their baskets Aid, they break easier than you might imagine.

for cleaning I would use an oxi based cleaner (cillit bang or such)

rinse thoroughly and then pop in some 10% sulphite solution to keep them sweet till needed, fit a bung or airlock.

they are as you say heavy when full (approx 54 kilos heavier than when empty!) and are heavy to lift to racking height, so you may want to consider haveing then higfher before filling?

I rack using my enolmatic (vaccuum pump) and can rack to a container higher than the original one which makes life easier. but a bit of thought and forward planning will help tremendously.

regards
Bob

[Duffbeer]

Yup totally agree with both above, these babies are heavy when full, you can shunt them about on your own, but to lift one full is a two man job and without the carry basket near impossible.
As Bob has explained you really do need to plan ahead when using these unless you have some form of vacuum racking system in place.
As for cleaning well (gonna get slammed for this) you cant beat household bleach, soak for a few days, rinse & re-do, rinse well before using.
If it's a limescale residue then fill with warm water and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of citric acid, if these have been used in hard water areas the limescale can often seem like crud as it's been left to form mould or algae.

[lockwood1956]

Bleach will indeed do a good job in getting it clean, but I dont like using it, as I'm paranoid about not rinsing properly, and it wouldn't take much bleach to ruin a batch of wine (not to mention TCA issues)

I use chemipro oxi, its a no rinse product, so if i dont get it all off......it doesn't matter..

but each to his own

regards
Bob

[rjb222]

Bleach as Bob has said is a great way to clean. Like Duff said would probably be the cheapest route to go. And like both have mentioned think about moving these when full while they are empty. If the basket is wicker make sure the wicker is still sound. No sense in wasting your hard work with a weak basket. The glass in these puppies is very thin for their size easily broken but they are a wonderful fermenter.

[Aid]

I used VWP before I read any of these posts. In hindsight, since this is a one-off, I probably would have used a cheap, thin bleach. I filled one, soaked, and syphoned fluid to next etc. The last one is having a soak, the rest have a pint of 10% sulphite solution in them (after rinsing).

Outside they were caked in pond-stink, newspaper and bugs, inside was red wine deposits.

Careful planning will be necessary cos I don't have any funky racking gear. What do you use?

[Rich]

Careful planning will be necessary cos I don't have any funky racking gear. What do you use?

An enolmatic,

Or,

A mini jet

Gravity if neither of above are any good to you!

[Zebedee]

lol

start it off in the loft
then with a long tube,rack it off into the bedroom
then a final racking and stabilise when it clears into the kitchen.
Then just bottle into the cellar

as Alexander the Meerkat says *simples*

[Tuco]

lol

start it off in the loft
then with a long tube,rack it off into the bedroom
then a final racking and stabilise when it clears into the kitchen.
Then just bottle into the cellar

as Alexander the Meerkat says *simples*

lol that gimme a chuckle

200 yards of syphon hose winding round the house hehe