Ewwwww......

[cohenhouse77]

I had some friends attend a party this past weekend made up of amateur winemakers. 1 of my friends purchased me a glass 5 gallon carboy for 19 dollars as a gift. I received it last night and found a dead Roach inside of it. It is a brand new glass carboy but apparently these were all stored outside. Up on trying to clean it out I also found a roach egg attach to the bottom of the glass. Part of me wants to just chuck the thing. Another part of me wants to just sell it back on Craigslist as is. Deep down I will always know that whatever wine is in there used to have a roach egg in it. Does anyone have any really good suggestions for scrubbing out something of this nature?

 

[Polarhug]

Don't toss! Fill with a bleach/water mixture to kill anything & sanitize for several days. Use a carboy brush then scrub.

Can you mix it up with other carboys so you won't know what one it was? Once you get past that mental block you will be fine.

Or you could make wine with a roach in there... kinda like the tequila with the worm in the bottom

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Don't use bleach, use a regular wine/beer cleaner, ie: one step or craftmeister. Don't worry about the roach, just think as the grapes are picked in the field how many bugs of all kinds (and other things) get mixed into wine and must.
Clean it good and enjoy a free carboy.
You could always label the first batch of wine from that carboy "Roach Wine, good till the end of the world"

 

[Julie]

I agree with Brew and Wine Supply. Do not use bleach. Actually don't use bleach on any of your wine making supplies. T

 

[Polarhug]

Wow really? I use a small amount of bleach in my carboys due to the fact that my husband and I share beer and wine making equipment. There are things I use that he certainly doesn't want to taste in his beer, and likewise for my wine. Brett wine anyone?

I always use only 1tsp per gallon, soak then rinse thoroughly, Then scrub with a neutral cleaner, Then rinse again, and then sanitize with a wine sanitizer. I only do with the equip we swap back and forth. Bad?

 

[Julie]

You should not use bleach in wine or beer making equipment. IF you do, it has to be rinsed very well and to be honest I would not take that chance.

 

[jimmyjames23]

I always use bleach.

I fill the carboy with water.
Add a cap full of bleach.
Get the brush in there and scrub.
Top up with water again and let sit a few days.
Drain.
Fill 1/4 way with clean water.
Scrub.
Drain.
Fill 1/4 water a final time.
Scrub a final time.
Drain.
Add k meta and drain.
Sterile and ready for use.
Been doing it this way for almost 20 years.

 

[cohenhouse77]

You guys are awesome. Had me spit my drink out a few times there.

 

[jrvernon]

You guys are awesome. Had me spit my drink out a few times there.

A party? And I wasn't invited? Ok...now I'm offended! Lol

I agree with the bleach comments, but use pool chlorine. Then to neutralize the chlorine you can use tri-sodium phosphate. You can pick it up at most pool suppliers. I use it for sanitizing rocks and shells for my aquarium. Bleach sometimes has other acids in it or fragrances that are difficult to get out.

 

[dralarms]

A party? And I wasn't invited? Ok...now I'm offended! Lol

I agree with the bleach comments, but use pool chlorine. Then to neutralize the chlorine you can use tri-sodium phosphate. You can pick it up at most pool suppliers. I use it for sanitizing rocks and shells for my aquarium. Bleach sometimes has other acids in it or fragrances that are difficult to get out.

Please do tell.

 

[Julie]

I always use bleach.

I fill the carboy with water.
Add a cap full of bleach.
Get the brush in there and scrub.
Top up with water again and let sit a few days.
Drain.
Fill 1/4 way with clean water.
Scrub.
Drain.
Fill 1/4 water a final time.
Scrub a final time.
Drain.
Add k meta and drain.
Sterile and ready for use.
Been doing it this way for almost 20 years.

To be honest, Jimmyjames, a capful of bleach in a 5 or 6 gallon carboy full of water really does nothing. For bleach to be a sanitizer you need about a capful per one gallon of water.

Again, bleach can taint a wine or a beer if it is not rinse out completely.

 

[jimmyjames23]

Well after I dump the first full carboy it reeks of bleach.
Plus I got a used carboy 3 months ago that had a nasty red wine ring below the neck. Bleach ate it where scrubbing failed.

Never had a taint or bacteria problem with any of my wine.

I guess... to bleach his own. Lol.

 

[jimmyjames23]

You're gonna hate me Julie.

I bleach my bottles too if they've been left out unrinsed.

The horror!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Back to EWWWW! I was stirring my must yeasterday and notice something floating on the cap, a whole big snail shell, fresh, guess the yeast at him after he was frozed with the berries. I would take a few roach eggs over a whole snail any day! WVMJ

 

[garymc]

Wine and escargot all rolled into one.

 

[Julie]

You're gonna hate me Julie.

I bleach my bottles too if they've been left out unrinsed.

The horror!

LOL, you are incorrigible

 

[jrvernon]

Omg, I woke up in the middle of the night realizing that I said something terribly wrong. You want to use Sodium Thiosulfate and not TSP to neutralize the chlorine. If you mix TSP and chlorine, the results would not be pleasant.

 

[MNwino]

Why are people still using bleach or heck even Sulfite to sanitize their bottles and equipment? Just mix up some Starsan and put it in a spray bottle and just spray down your stuff. No need to rise and it sanitizes in like 1 minute

 

[jimmyjames23]

Why are people still using bleach or heck even Sulfite to sanitize their bottles and equipment? Just mix up some Starsan and put it in a spray bottle and just spray down your stuff. No need to rise and it sanitizes in like 1 minute

I have never seen starsan sold at any of the LHBS around me. So I use bleach and elbow grease.

 

[Polarhug]

I use Star San to sanitize. Star san doesn't remove the grape aroma and ring around the carboy no matter how much I scrub.