Cleaning stuff (glass) ???

by **Phantom** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:22 pm

Ok, so I've got a mountain of glassware that I use for brewing i.e. demi-john jars etc.
Now some of it has been used before and I got it 2nd hand, so it needs cleaning. Some of the DJ's have white stains in them, and I'm taking this as limescale type deposits. The half gallon DJ's where originally used for cider (60's and 70's they used to sell cider in half and 1 gallon DJ's) and these are where the DJ's were returned to the cider producer for re-use.
Anyway, glassware like that went out of fashion as blow moulded PET bottles became more easily available (and cheaper), so they're only really used by home brewers now.
I've done a bit of googling about this, and I'm also currently conducting a mini-experiment.
It seems that the best of the limescale removers is hydrochloric acid (HCl), but that's hard to get in small quantities with reasonable concentrations. Sulfamic acid is also (apparently) a good descaler but again it's hard to get in small/concentrated quantities.
The mini-experiment I'm trying is to fill one of the DJ's with "Ritchies" cleaner/steriliser (from the local HBS) made up slightly stronger than the instructions say - but it's a bleach based cleaner so I'm hoping that the concentration will remove the limescale - I've also got another DJ filled with a mixture water/"Cilit Bang" cleaner descaler - which is acid based, to see if that also might shift the limescale, though I suspect that the acid element of this won't be very strong.
I'm also gonna try mixing a litre of vinegar with water and filling another DJ with it to see if that has any effect.
It's rather annoying that the "bottle brushes" available via the local HBS aren't very good quality and don't have a lot of bristles on them as it seems that something like that with more bristle might do a better job, when used in conjunction with one of the cleaning materials I'm trying.
Has anyone got any ideas about what else might work ??

by **Phantom** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:54 am

Well it seems that just vinegar and water do the trick - it's got to be about 1 litre plus in a gallon of water.
After a couple of DJ's I found that I needed to put some more vinegar or some of the Mr Muscle in it, just to replenish the acidity of it.
So I'll just make sure that when it seems to stop working I'll just add another quarter of a litre of vinegar to retain the acidity (14 pence for 250 ml's of "value" malt vinegar in the local tescos).

by **quietman** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:40 pm

I use denture cleaning tablets, seems to work for me
Regards, Ian

by **Phantom** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:49 am

I use denture cleaning tablets, seems to work for me
Regards, Ian

Now I hadn't thought of trying that.
One of the DJ's that I'd filled with the SS Kentucky Sour Mash bourbon, looked "as clean as a whistle", but after it was emptied and had dried out a bit, there was still some "water mark"/limescale showing.
I'm gonna try washing soda when I can get some - the idea being that a high enough concentration should dissolve the limescale so after rinsing, would be gone...
When we go shopping I'll get a pack of denture tablets and see what I can do with them.

by **quietman** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:33 am

Hot water in the dj, 2 denture tablets and they fizz away all the hard to shift grime while you watch. Hope it works for you.
Regards, Ian